So I did a thing this year. My book club and I wrote a book together. Please click on the link and enjoy the stories that we have individual have written. I hope to keep up my writing and work on another book soon. This year has been full of surprises. I hope you enjoy these stories.
So we all have struggles, right? Well, this is my struggle right now. Do I read this wonderful book or do I write? For some reason, I can’t do both. To be honest I haven’t written for this book in a long time. Yes, I have been writing but not for this book. Does anyone else have this struggle or is it just me? So do I read or write???? Yes, the struggle is real.
As I’m sitting here drinking my coffee I thought I have so many new readers I need to let them know who I am. So let me introduce myself to you. My name is Colleen and I’m married with three young adult children. I was born and raised in the Midwest and now live in Texas. I’m the only child that my mom has but the second child that my dad has. Some fun facts about me: 1. I love anything royal and British. Yes, I have binged watched the Crown and Bridgerton. 2. I love 90’s R&B music ( I don’t really care for the music out now) and also love classical music. 3. I love washing dishes it’s very relaxing for me. 4. My favorite flowers are tulips and lilies. 5. I’m a very outgoing person and I’m a feeling person, which means I lead with my feelings all the time ( I’m working on that). 6. I’m an avid reader and I love writing. 7. I love cooking and trying new restaurants. 8. I’m a homebody who likes to travel sometimes. 9. I’m a huge football fan. I love the Pittsburgh Steelers and Texas A&M Aggies college team. I love all football from arena to NFL. 10. I’m a giver. I love giving gifts to people and surprising them.
I hope you have learned a little bit more about me. If there is anything else you would like to know just ask in the comment section.
I was the type of person who made yearly goals and when they seemed so out of reach I started making monthly goals. But I must admit I have been slacking in this area. I have neglected what I need to do because I had lost some motivation. But I know now that I don’t need to make unrealistic goals that I may not be able to reach. I have this huge expectation that I have to do so much with so little time. And I have noticed that when I rush and don’t take my time I end up going back to fix all the mistakes that I have made. I use to have like ten to fifteen goals on my list, but not anymore. I have to be more realistic in the future and even now. I need to understand that there are somethings that will just take longer and that I need to focus on myself a lot more. Things will get done and Rome was not built in a day. 2021 will be the year that realistic me gets things done. Just because you set the bar high doesn’t mean you have to stress about getting everything done. Set small goals and watch yourself crush them. Baby steps are what I’m taking.
I listen to a sermon today it was about being all in. And it made me think about a lot of things. What am I all in and what am I not all in? I’m all in when it comes to my marriage. Just learning and growing with one another has made me appreciate who I have in my life. I’m all in when it comes to being a mother and also when it comes to my friendships. But one thing I don’t seem to be all in about is my writing. I seem to doubt myself and read other people’s work and I just stop writing. But I know what I have to offer when it comes to my writing so why am I not all in? That is a question that I don’t have an answer for. I know that I have a story to tell and I know that the story that I have to tell will help and bless someone. I haven’t written since my friend passed away. I know that this isn’t an excuse, but I have to be all-in when it comes to what I’m passionate about. So what’s your all in?
I’m learning that writing is a marathon and not a sprint. I love all the feedback that I have gotten from my book so far. One thing that I didn’t realize is that people want more. They can tell where I was holding back and they want me to not hold back in this book. They also want more information about things. I’m happy with all the feedback and I didn’t expect people to want more from this book. I see now that I’m going to have to go deeper and open up more. For anyone who has ever written a book, what I thought was easy is not. For all the authors out there I have nothing but respect for you when it comes to writing. I may not like every book that I read but I know when an author was genuine about there story and when they are not. Like I said I thought that I had a date where I wanted everything completed, but I’m going to go with the flow and not rush. It’s a marathon and not a sprint. It took a friend of mines three years to get her book out. So I’m going to take my time and write this book.
Hey everyone,
I wanted to give you an update on my book. So I sent out the first 5 chapters of my rough draft. And so far everyone is loving this book. I got some words of advice on a couple of chapters. They want me to dig deeper and open up more. This book is about my life and some of the chapters are emotional and some of the chapters are about my struggles with things. And you never know how someone will react to what you write. This is my baby and to let others read it had given me some anxiety but the feedback has been amazing. I’m working on some of the feedback as well as continuing to write the remaining chapters of my book. One thing that I’m doing that I noticed that others haven’t is I’m not worried about the word count our if all chapters are the same. Some chapters will be longer and some shorter. I have to go with my heart on this and not follow certain rules for writing. I know that some won’t agree with me and that’s okay. Welp back to writing.
I must say that my weekend was great. We didn’t do anything at all. I live in the DFW area so Friday there were storms, tornadoes, and hail in some areas. Then on Saturday morning, we had some snow. I was truly excited about the snow because I’m from the Midwest and it doesn’t snow here in Texas. But one of my favorite things about this weekend is the talks that my husband and I had. It was so nice to be able to open my heart and let him know how I was feeling. It made me feel closer to him. I’m learning that people do care about how you feel and what you say. You just have to give them a chance. It was nice to hear my husband say that I’m communicating better with him about my feelings. I’m on this journey to get better as a person, one day at a time. How was your weekend?
Betrayal can come in all types of forms. It can be a betrayal of a friend, spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend or employer. I’ve never felt more hurt then I did with the company that I use to work for. How could I have put my trust in them, just to be betrayed? I worked for this company for almost two years and I felt like people where genuine, but it all changed when my co-worker got fired. It felt like certain people changed toward me. All along I felt like they understood me and cared for me. But in reality, they didn’t. As soon as I put in my two weeks’ notice the girl that they fired they asked her to come back. A true shocker to say the least. I don’t understand how you say we have a zero-tolerance policy workplace but then hire her back??? And the bad part about it was the fact that people thought that I didn’t know. Oh, they showered me with kind and loving words. But little did they know that I already knew. I was hurting but I never took it out on them. I came in and did my job and made sure everything was good before my last day. But the fact that no one had the respect to let me know told me all that I needed to know. You are easily replaceable. You’re not as important as you thought you were. I worked hard every day doing the right thing but only to be betrayed like this. It hurts but in the end, I know that I made the best decision for me. This a huge learning moment. There are people who I knew were genuine and only want the best for me. And then there are those who don’t really care. I don’t wish them ill will. I wish them much success. This moment has made me better. I’ve grown up a lot because I would never have had peace to be able to pray for them and wish them the best. I know that in the end, I will be okay. I’m glad to be growing and learning important life lessons.
I’m thankful for my healing. See I have been through so much within the past several months. And I’m finally beginning to heal from all the hurt that was done to me. I held on to the hurt long enough. I’m thankful for the hurt that has to lead to healing. There is a process in all this and I’m thankful. This healing process is going to belong and it’s going to be needed to make me a better me. There are always blessings in lessons. You just have to want to learn them. I’m thankful for this time to heal. I’m going to be better than I was before.
Conversations on finding and loving who I am 