I’m on a deadline….to fulfil my dream

Ok where do I begin, 2022 was a crazy year, even by our proportions, it included a lot of uncertainty, a lot of back and forth not knowing what could happen, and in the middle of all that, was also my daughter’s GCSE’s, myself training to be a coach, and the usual drama of life and for those close to us too.

I am of course mainly referring to the house move which we started this time last year. I can confirm that it is easily one of the most stressful events you can go through! We were meant to move around April time but instead ended up navigating a tricky house move chain which lasted 8 months and had more twists in it than a Poirot novel, all within the many events of 2022 in the World that everyone has witnessed and been through.

It was such a relief to get into the new house, we are so grateful to finally be in our dream home

These will continue of course as we head into 2023, more bad news filters through on a daily basis although to be honest I’m trying to avoid watching it, but I know it’s there like a big black cloud hanging over everyone, and I‘m desperate to get through the dark grey weeks of Winter in the UK and emerge into the warmer, more positive days of Spring.  

But in the meantime, it is vitally important that I don’t waste time, and stride into 2023 with purpose, trying to avoid the temptation to curl into a blanket and hibernate like a hedgehog!

And this is because for the past almost 7 years, I have not accomplished the one big thing that I have wanted to do. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not beating myself up too badly here, I don’t believe in doing that.

I have achieved other things beyond my wildest expectations, challenging myself on things I’d never thought I’d do, starting and growing my creative business, coming up with new ideas all the time, trying different avenues, finding out what works, failing fast, learning the lessons, and moving on.

And one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most is helping others to build their own confidence, try new things and achieve their dreams through sharing what I’d learned on here, via podcast interviews, social lives and posts, and through Coaching sessions and my small business accountability group, WOW Wednesdays.

Plus of course doing all this during an 18-month period of being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and going through Chemo and Radiotherapy treatment before becoming ‘In remission’ in Feb 2021.

BUT, you know those deep-seated dreams that never quite go away? The one’s that keep prickling your skin like an annoying scratchy label? The ones that make your heart beat faster when you imagine them coming true? The one’s that still feel impossible, challenging, but that you know you will never forgive yourself if you just don’t keep trying?

Well, it seems that every time I meet an author I admire (like below) or every Summer (when I get to enjoy a good book on holiday) and every January when it feels like a restart, it always comes back and slaps me in the face to say, ‘Come on Juliet, I’m not going away, EVER’. And now it’s even more important because I am most definitely on countdown to the DEADLINE.

Some of you will know what this is, but may be unaware of the self-imposed deadline. Some of you may even think it’s a bit of a cliché, but I chose this cliché long before it was one! Since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to write and publish a book. I’ve written a few first drafts but then got bored. I wrote a better one, when I left corporate life, although it still took a long time, but then got distracted with this Blog and building The Curious Creative Club.

And then it got to an almost complete first draft, but then I got diagnosed, and despite not believing Chemo brain was a thing, I can annoyingly confirm that it is! My memory was useless for day-to-day tasks, let alone trying to remember which character did what, to whom, in which part of the book!

But I didn’t want to give up, I love writing, and it kept me focussed when I was in treatment and feeling well on the second week of each round of Chemo. Writing the blog posts every few weeks became my therapy during that time, and then I had an idea;

What if I wrote a none-fiction book instead?

By that point I was close to 100 blogs on the subject of creativity, and it suddenly hit me how much creativity has always been a part of my life, what if I used all my experience I’d gained within the Blog, researching, and writing about these topics, and turn my growing knowledge into a book?

These thoughts marinated for a while, and eventually a 3-part structure emerged;

• My own personal story of how creativity had shaped my upbringing and life
• The human nature of creativity and how everyone can utilise it for better wellbeing
• Prompts, tips, and support to get you started

The beauty of this none-fiction idea was that it wouldn’t be as reliant on my memory of fictional characters, this was my own story, all I had to do was tell it, although of course it’s not that easy!

This also came at an apt time I thought, when people were locked in because of Covid and people were beginning to try new creative activities, originally out of boredom, and then finding that they really enjoyed it and continued practicing and learning new skills.

I did get a third the way through, which took me to around November 2020, and then life had a way of messing up again, I needed some extra treatment, 3 weeks of daily radiotherapy which took up 3 hours a day, my Mum and Stepdad got Covid, my step dad very badly, thankfully he pulled through after 12 days of hospital and almost going on a ventilator, and then the blumming dog got sepsis, she got better, all good – but you really couldn’t make that month up!

After all that and then getting the remission news, I was determined to make up for lost time with the business and put the whole cancer experience behind me, and suddenly the book took a backseat again as the business grew and I gained better health and more energy for new projects.

You’ll note that whilst this was all pretty full-on, it could also be seen as a long list of excuses and procrastination, and you’d be right, but it is also life and being human and sadly I’m not perfect. But also, it doesn’t mean that the dream is over, far from it, and like I say, now I’m heading to my self-imposed deadline, maybe it was meant to be this way all along. I’m pretty good at meeting deadlines after all.

Over the last few years, the life lessons for me have been all about dealing with huge uncertainty, being patient and resilient – isn’t that kind of what you need in bucket loads to be a writer? Maybe this was the right moment to finally get real about my dream and take it on this year?

And so, I’m taking the bull by the horns so to speak and getting deadly serious about this long-held dream of mine. I’m doing the prep work, and this is what I’ve done so far, to give myself the best fighting chance:

>I’ve been selecting my guiding word/s a practice I’ve done for the last 7 years; I’ll reveal them at the end of this post and if you’re interested in finding out more about this process and how it can help you, click here

>I’ll also be creating my 2023 Vision Board, another process that I love doing and helps keep me focussed throughout the year

>I’ll be writing more Blogs again because I have missed it and it helps exercise my writing muscle

>I’m keeping up with Suzy Walker’s Facebook group – ‘How I wrote my book’ which I joined last year and it’s really helpful for support and accountability

>I’ve created smart goals around my writing, worked out the detail, and the word count, and this will be going into my planner

>I’ve even written a list of all the excuses I will potentially /most probably make, to call myself out with and note in my planner if I do to help keep me accountable for my choices!

>I’m listening to motivating podcasts, especially Mel Robbins podcast as she kicks some ass and calls you out on bullshit excuses, it’s not for everyone, but I like her honesty and find it galvanising.

So, these are the tools that I am going to use, to help me progress, and that’s what I’m after, progression, not perfection. It’s progression that counts, and to keep moving forwards, one step at a time, until it is done! And then the even harder part will start with edits and figuring out how I get it published, but I’m not focussing on that right now as it becomes too big, it needs to be small achievable moments moving forwards.

So, what are the guiding words that will help me with this big goal, and all the other ones I still have for my business and life this year?

Well, the main one is Diligence, and that has come from many things that I have learned this year through the work that I’ve done and how I’ve got to know myself and become more aware, particularly through the Coaching training I’ve done this year with Noorworks.

Diligence has several meanings, here are a few:

‘Constant in effort to accomplish something’

‘Attentive and persistent in doing anything’

‘Done or pursued with persevering attention’

‘Steady, energetic, work effort’

I like all the words included in the meaning of diligence above; steady, constant, and regular consistent effort all feel stabilising in some way, reliable, and that’s what I need after a turbulent year.

Then there’s perseverance, persistence, energetic, that seem to have a determination and passion about them that I like – it’s that driving life force that will keep me motivated

And then there is the attentive side and the feeling that this is a very conscious and intentional process, and this is important to me, as I’m often thinking forwards and not in the present state.

This then leans into my supporting words for this year which will be;

‘Presence’ and ‘Patience’.

Patience has been the constant lesson thrown at me over the last few years and is always such a sticky challenge for me. I’m impatient by nature, and the house move highlighted how having that inbuilt, became such a source of stress for me in the process and not having control over it.

So, I know I need to listen to that same message that keeps coming up, and learn from last years’ experience and get a grip with the patience skill!

The beauty of these words too is that they have similar sounds, which makes them soothing and attractive to me, strange I know but they have to have that appeal to work well for me.

Diligence, Presence and Patience have a nice ring to them I think and will make them easier to remember and call upon when I need them.

Diligence also means to me to go into deeper work, discover and research more, keep using my brain whilst it still works! I feel like I have relied upon my connections and curiosity skills to take on lots of new challenges this year, but now I want to do less projects, but more involved, multi-layered work, if that makes sense, that has a deeper impact on both myself, and the people I work with.

Work that keeps the discovery of myself and others moving forwards too. I feel I started that work with Noorworks, and I want it to continue because I find it fascinating to dig deeper into the human psyche and soul.

I hope this has been useful and given you food for thought on what you would like to achieve this year or do more of, and less of too, to keep aligned to what you really want.

For now, I’m signing off, but it feels good to be back here, tapping away on the keyboard – there’s something very therapeutic about even doing just that, so I’m hoping that will stand me in good stead for writing lots this year! I’ll be checking in with you more regularly from now on, and finishing off with my latest book word-count at the bottom of each post!

I would love to know in the comments what you are up to, and what your creative or other goals may be this year or if you have also chosen a guiding word/s? How will you set yourself up for progress?

Remember we are in control of our own destiny, the only thing getting in the way of that is ourselves, our own thoughts, and the excuses we create – wouldn’t it be better to use that brain power to create something amazing instead?

Until next time…wishing you a happy, healthy, and harmonious New Year.

Juliet, The Curious Creative x