Tag: Changes

  • January 7, 2024

    What could you do differently?

    Oh, boy…there are so many things. And, what a time to be asking such a question, only a week into a new year? These mile markers in time – new years, birthdays, equinoxes, etc. – all herald the opportunity for change, for a new approach to moving forward.

    For the last few days, as the winter break has been fading away, I’ve been trying to think about the things that I want to accomplish in 2024. All of them require something to be different. A change must take place for anything new to be had. There’s no way around it.

    Simply put, it all amounts to me wanting to be better than I am. Progress. The list itself is just what I’m identifying as my criteria for success. If I get x done then I’ll be that much better. If y also gets done, I’ll be even better. Z is going to be a little harder to do but it’ll make me a little better, too.

    I’m not convinced that getting everything done will lead to a fundamental change. What will be different, of course, is that I’ll have done a few things, and crossed some things off of my to-do list. The change is superficial. Fundamentally, I haven’t done anything differently, have I? I’ll just have done what I knew how to do to achieve something I knew I wanted.

    Maybe this is how change begins, with the things we already know how to do. Believing in oneself and one’s ability to do something differently toward something one hasn’t ever achieved, that’s certainly something I could be doing differently. It’s the finding comfort in being uncomfortable, the self-confidence in one’s ability to fail well, and the self-assurance that one is successful in the attempt that leads to real change.

    I would love for our cats to have a catio, too. Of course, I want to build it and make one of those hamster wheels for cats.

  • September 13, 2023

    I think today was the sixth day of school. Already, I’m muttering under my breath, swearing out loud when I think no one is around, and annoyed with students’ behaviour. I will say that I do really enjoy wearing the tongueless shoes I got in the summer. They’re rather comfortable.

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  • August 26, 2023

    August 26, 2023

    A lot of things seem to be moving right now. I’m moving stuff over to the new workshop and Hannah’s moving stuff into here. We’ve already started talking about when we plan to go to work next week. There’s also the cats, who are getting to know each other and moving around the apartment. We’re trying to keep things in balance, but, as the saying goes, it’s like herding cats.

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  • May 24, 2023

    May 24, 2023

    I’m having a hard time trying to think of something to write about today. I have a book of 301 writing prompts. Instead, I’m going to write about why I’m not going to go get it.

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  • May 3, 2023

    May 3, 2023

    When is it a good time to make a change?

    Now, right?

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  • My Favourite Drinking Glass

    My Favourite Drinking Glass

    Visiting my folks always brings back a flood of memories. This isn’t the house that I was born into but it is the one that I left. Even still, it’s full of things that remind me of all of my past.

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  • You Can Also Write When You’re Sober

    You Can Also Write When You’re Sober

    One of my biggest reservations about quitting drinking was that I thought I wouldn’t be able to write. Alcohol lubricated my fingers as they swept over the keyboard, typing out what was flowing from my head. Sometimes it was a breached dam and other times it was a gentle, meandering creek. Whichever it was, alcohol was my canoe.

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  • Why I’m Going Sober, without all of the details

    Why I’m Going Sober, without all of the details

    I had my first drink two weeks before my 18th birthday. The last drink I had was two weeks before my 38th birthday. 20 years, almost to the day. It took me that long to figure out my relationship with alcohol. In the end, I had to put the glass down.

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