If you had the ultimate power to edit your life in 2015, what would you change? Do you have people who don’t support you? Do you have a home that doesn’t support you? Do you have a habit that no longer serves you? The good news is that you have the power to change these situations!
In 2015, I want to edit my novel and my life.
Novel Editing
I’m three highlighters deep into editing my first draft of my novel from NaNoWri (excerpts in case you missed them). I bolster myself to be brutal each time I pick up the highlighter. No mercy! I think.
Where I thought I would have to cut a lot, I need the opposite. My novel writing style seems to mirror my poetry writing style: sparse. I need to put some weight on the bones of the words I already have and fatten the story up!
Life Editing
As for editing my life, I see it in two parts: home and self.
Home
My home needs streamlining. We have too much stuff for the space we live in. That is the reality.
This realization helps me to not feel guilty. No matter how many systems I try, the problem is more stuff than places to put it all away.
To start, I focused on our bedroom as the place to make spacious and open.
First, I removed all the boxes I stored under our bed and moved them to the bathroom. Who knew I had so much memorabilia? How much do I need to remember?
I still have to go through all the boxes and steel myself to edit their contents with a hard eye. If I try to hold onto everything, I won’t have space to welcome the good things that are coming to me.
So memorabilia weeding is in my future. For now, the space under the bed is clear so I am called that a success.
Next, I saw the floor of the closet after a big cleaning out. I’m afraid I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen that floor. I know it didn’t happen in 2014. Now I can actually walk in my closet. Novelty!
Self
The editing of self comes with healthier eating, regular exercise and working with God.
For 2015, I created a healthy four-week meal plan. This will help reduce our costs and shopping time. With our meals already decided, a menu will free my mind to think of other things. I built in making extra of some meals so others are already taken care of. So far, it’s been efficient. I will let you know more about it later after we’ve gone through a few cycles.
My exercise plan focuses on making exercise a daily habit. Some days, we only do eight minutes of yoga. But I call that success! My sister taught me the power of accumulation. Even a few minutes a day adds up to something respectable for the year. At the end of 2015, how proud will I feel if I say I exercised every single day? And even if I only do eight minutes a day, I will have 48 hours of exercise total.
Finally, my plan for spiritual growth will be a new prayer for wellness this year. Last year, I held the word simple in my heart. I sang about simplicity. I felt these prayers work in my life. Today I have less intensity about acquisition.
This year, I will focus on wellness and well-being:
- I know things will work out. With God, all things are possible.
- All is well.
- May my loved ones be well.
- May my valued readers be well.
Did you make a New Year’s resolution to change something about your life? Even if you haven’t had success this first week, it’s not too late to try again.
Think about your life as a practice in editing. Make little changes and those little changes will add up to a good story. Never give up! Keep practicing so you can feel happy of yourself!
Do you have prayers about wellness or hopes for the new year? I welcome them in the comments! Have a wonderful week!
Light to grow in; reflections by Genevieve Howard 