What Is Your Why? What Is Your How?
So, I’ve been a little quiet on here recently, mostly because I don’t think I’ve had much to say. Shabbat has become something I’m more used to with each coming week. Depending on where I am for the day and if people need me more accessible, I may keep my texting on, but other than that I’ve gotten pretty good at putting my phone away. I wish I kept the meditation a bit more, but I think that will simply depend on where I am each weekend and whether that feels accessible and useful to me or not, which I’m okay with.
Anywho, I’m writing now to ask for your guidance, readers. I’ve been telling myself for a while that I need to find some time to reevaluate my life. Not in a negative way, just as a way to ensure that I’m spending my time on the right things. I think for the past year I’ve been adapting to this new life here in DC and that has taken up a lot of my mental bandwidth, but I’m also not sure I’ve made any progress in myself as a person. So, my next goal is to ensure that my life has purpose. (And to finish decorating my new apartment, but that’s a different story.)
For example, I haven’t done any volunteering since I moved to DC. That’s something that’s important to me and I want to make sure I integrate that into my life. There are a few organizations I’m interested in, so I need to make an effort to get connected with them and give back.
I also want to write more. I’ve started venturing into blogging, clearly, but that’s not the end goal. For a while, my grandmother was the only one who knew that I was working on a novel. She’s a writer herself, a woman I greatly look up to, and it meant a lot to me to hear her say, “I know you’ll succeed at this. You’re being so purposeful about it, that’s how I know. You will do this.” She didn’t know a single thing about the story, but she believed in me and my process and her faith in me matters greatly. Recently, I also shared my idea with my mother, and she had some great thoughts and questions about the storyline and the book itself. And now I’m telling you all: I’m writing a novel. Three of them actually. Some of the ideas are much more full-baked than others. One of them I’ve actually truly started; the others I’ve only written small excerpts of to get the ideas down. I want to devote more time to this and begin prioritizing it in my life.
These are just two things that I feel have been missing from my life recently. I want to sit down at some point, evaluate what I’m doing, and determine what it is that I want from my life, what I want to be committing my time to, and whether I feel like I’m achieving the right things or not. I also want to really evaluate what my strengths are and what I can do to improve myself.
So, has anyone else done something of the sort before? Is there something I should be reading? Questions I should be asking myself? This is something I definitely want to do, but I’m not really sure where to begin, which might be why I’ve been thinking about it but not actually making any progress. I’m entirely open to suggestions, whether they be “Try this self-help book” or “You’d be a much better person if…” (but please phrase nicely, I have a decent-sized ego, but it’s not that big.) Basically, help me be a better me! Please!
