Mission Accomplished
The mission for 2021 was to create daily. The vehicle was this website. I followed a road to blog daily (“the 2021 Dailies”) but it led to a highway designed for greater things.
Dailies; thank you. I am creating more than I ever have. Mission accomplished.
2021 is a creative highway.
I had a very sedentary year last year. Whether or not COVID-19 played a part I cannot say, but I guess it did. Is there anything in this world COVID hasn’t affected? Ultimately, my inactivity during 2020 wasn’t plague-related. That I know for sure. It was a melancholy taking its due course.
In March, through one thing or another, I swallowed a gallon of bitterness. It took the following nine months to come full term. I spoke words too cruel for anyone’s ears. So desperate was I to vent I said them out loud to myself, shouting uncontrollably at times, I ate and drank too often at hours of the day that should’ve been dedicated to bedtime reading, or sipping cups of tea. Not me. Not then.
The most active and productive thing I did all year was clean the oven. It would have been a satisfying accomplishment had it not been for the fact it took place in the middle of the night. That was the moment I knew life in 2020 was out of kilter. I am a sleeper. Cleaning is one of my least favourite things to do. If I’m cleaning, not snoring, at 3am, I’m either on amphetamines or screwed up.
I wasn’t (and I’m still not) on amphetamines.
Come December much of the bitterness had subsided but by then my unhealthy actions had become habits. A drink or two after work, a packet of chips sitting on the couch, a zombie-like state as I literally stared into the nothingness separating me from the television. Every night.
“What do you want to watch?”, my husband would ask. “I don’t care”, I’d say. “Watch whatever you want”,
I didn’t care. I didn’t care for the television, I didn’t care that I wasn’t photographing. I didn’t care that I wasn’t writing. I didn’t care that I wasn’t creating anything other than a few extra kilos on my behind. The unhealthy mental and lackadaisical lifestyle of 2020 could well have carried over to 2021 had it not been for the timely reminder friends Sam and Kerry inadvertently gave me through their Facebook posts on January 1. They chose their word to represent what they wanted 2021 to be for them and this inspired me to choose mine. I chose CREATE. It all went from there.
I began writing consistently in my journal, blogging daily (The Dailies), and I reinstated my membership with Writers SA. I took on a writing mentor without any idea of where it would lead. I just knew I needed a guide, an experienced writer to provide feedback and most especially to help me understand my voice. How blown away I was, when the idea for a book came to me. A book! Never in my 53 years had I dreamed of writing so many words. I mean, I haven’t even read a book (fact) let alone believed I have it in me to write one. I took myself to Port Elliot on a writing retreat and by chance was able to photograph the live cross of the Channel Nine Today Show weather segment. Nine picked up my images and published them on their website. Back in Adelaide and a week later I attended Writers’ Week for more inspiration. It worked. I’ve purchased four books in as many weeks. A record for me.
Registrations for the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival opened 1st of March. I checked in with Nella, a talented painter and friend since year 3 primary school, to see if our casual conversation of months past where we joked how fun it would be to exhibit together, had substance or not. We both agreed we were serious about this venture and we set about the beginnings of making it a reality. So smooth and hassle-free has been our experience so far, I think the Law of Attraction has taken our enthusiasm and run with it. Excited is an understatement. Nella and I both have such a good feeling about what’s ahead.
Amongst all this creation The Dailies stopped. Bigger and better things are happening creatively. So with this post I am putting a full stop to The Dailies and dedicating space and time to my book and SALA exhibition. Blogging will continue but will be exhibition-related and posted monthly on the SALA webpage, with the first post going up at the end of March.
Dailies; thank you. I am creating more than I ever have. You started this and now I hang up this hat. Mission accomplished.