About Me — Erica Rose Shannon
Younger me would want to kick older me’s ass. Younger me was rocking the nineties, full of fiery rage and sporting combat boots, pegged jeans, and a tank top covered by an open flannel. Today, you’re likely to see me donning hippie skirts and smelling of essential oils.
Younger me bounced all over the place and wouldn’t know grounded if it hit her in the forehead. Forty-one-year-old me does yoga, prays, and meditates every morning, which helps me center. Meditation has helped me find an anchor in my breath. Having an anchor is pretty handy when I’m facing a deadline on a paper for my professional writing courses at Missouri State University. Anchoring, in my breath, also comes in handy when my six-year-old son refuses to pick up his toys and stomps his feet in protest.
Parenting has taught me a lot of patience. I’ve come to realize I don’t have it all figured out about parenting. When my son Jack was younger, I thought I had more insight and wrote a parenting book on pregnancy through toddlerhood, called Bold Truth Mama.
Back when I was writing that book, I had just finished my associate’s degree and pulled through the separation of an eleven-year marriage. Parenting a young child on my own while getting a college degree made me feel like quite the badass, so naturally, I wrote a book. It’s what any self-respecting writer would have done.
From being a busy mama who writes, I learned that setting down to the keyboard an hour a day will get you a book in under a year. I also learned that writing was my sanctuary and enrolled in a professional writing program at my local university.
I’ve decided to be a freelance writer as a profession, feeling it will empower me to stay home with my young son and allow me to make my own hours.
I love to write and couldn’t imagine doing anything else for a living. I want to be happy, and that means doing what I love.
I long to earn enough money to buy a little house in the country and have a small hobby farm just big enough to feed my family. I’ve practiced organic gardening whenever there’s a patch of land I can get my hands on. I love getting my hands dirty and my face in the sun.
At home, I have several potted plants to bring me joy. I figure they’ll tide me over until the farm comes.
I treasure the small things in my home. If you visit me, you’ll find an altar with statues and pictures of loved ones, affirmation cards, and random symbols from whatever season we’re currently in. I love to stay connected to the rhythms of life, collecting bits of nature during each season and celebrating the passing holidays.
I’m pretty excited about fall this year. Fall is when I make scrumptious crockpot meals and crochet hooded cowls to give as gifts at Christmas. It’s also when I get very excited about my Christmas gifting. I strictly finish all of my shopping by November first.
It’s not that I’m so put together as I get so excited about gifts that I buy them all year’ round. I have no care for what I receive. I adore giving gifts. The look on people’s faces, the feeling I get inside when I know the present I’ve chosen is treasured, that’s the best gift of all.
On the other hand, my birthday falls in the Summer, in August, and for that, I make a big deal about me. We have two cakes, one for dinner and one for the party. I invite friends out to dinner to fill my evening with friends.
Again, I don’t focus on gifts, but I insist my day be filled with good food and the people I love.
Filling my life with the things and people I love has been a recipe for my happiness. My home is full of treasures that give me joy. If it doesn’t bring me joy, I don’t own it.
I take the slow pace whenever I can, lounging on the porch, enjoying the breeze and sunshine. I lavish in cuddle time with my two kitties. I smell my coffee before I sip. I truly savor the moments in my life.
I am grateful for all that I have been given, and the best way I can show that gratitude is to enjoy my life.
I can’t imagine my life any other way than it is. Sure it’s had its twists and turns, grief and hardships, but in the end, it turned out this way. I became a writer with a life filled with friends, family, love, and gratitude. It doesn’t get any better than that.
