Life + Self

2015 Year in Review: Did I Create?

December 29, 2015 by Abbigail Kriebs 7 Comments

My word for 2015 was CREATE.

I set out to stop putting off my side-hustle and start working hard on what mattered to me: creating rather than consuming. I had big plans to finish a novel, but my real goal that I really only ever said out loud to myself was that I was going to blog every Tuesday and Thursday in 2015. It is so easy to make blogging into the thing that gets forgotten or put off as the week gets busier. As with most things, it is easier to break a promise to yourself than it is to break one to other people – at least it is for me.

So I said CREATE would be my word and it was, with blogging twice per week my way of measuring it. It’s a little harder to measure whether or not a novel is “done” – or if you are even making progress. So blogging it was, and up to today I have been successful: I have blogged every single Tuesday and every single Thursday of 2015 (I already have my post scheduled for this Thursday, so I’m declaring it a big WIN).

I did it.

I did it for no one else but myself.

I make no money from this blog (or at least as close to zero as can be rounded down to nothing, really). It has not been a client-generator for me (yet) or even a traffic generator (I usually see less than 30 views per day). It really and truly did nothing for me this year other than make me happy to have accomplished it.

It was both easier and harder to accomplish than I thought. For starters, the sheer number of posts – 104 total – is kind of a lot when I lump them all together. It didn’t seem like much to say twice per week, but 104 posts? That seems like a large number.

But I did it. For no other reason than that I promised myself I would.

Somewhere around June it started to feel automatic. I knew without having to think about it that I need to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Period. The End. Some days, that post came down to the wire and I was finishing it just before I walked out the door at 7:45 in the morning. Other times, I’d have two full weeks of posts queued up and ready to go (and then of course I would get lazy and not write for two weeks. Human condition, and all.).

What This (Somewhat Strange) Goal Accomplished

Discipline.

I’m good at putting everything else before my own projects, so this goal was a good reminder to constantly keep moving forward with my own self-imposed deadlines. It’s far too simple to prioritize work for the office (paying work), time with family (which is important, don’t get me wrong), and even just taking a night off to chill.

Prioritization.

Instead of working on whatever side project I felt like working on, I found it easier and easier to internalize deadlines and know what I needed to work on when. It was refreshing to not get so overwhelmed, but to really sort through tasks and work on what was most important in the moment.

Accomplishment.

I’m not going to brush this off as not a big deal: it was. Committing to something and not backing out even when it would have been easy to make an excuse to do so was really and truly rewarding. I feel like I crossed a really big hurdle for myself, in doing something that seems pretty simple but was actually hard.

Progress.

Was every post out of 104 a home run? No. In fact, I would say less than half of them were really exciting/earth shattering/something that caught people’s attention. But instead of holding back until I was a “perfect blogger” (hint: no such thing), I clicked “Publish” and pushed a piece of myself out into the world each day, for no other reason than that I needed to do it.

Also, habits are not formed in a day. Or a week and sometimes not even a month. It took me until JUNE for this to be automatic… why would anything else be any different? I need to remind myself this when I get frustrated that I don’t settle into routines as quickly as I think I ought.

So, Goal Accomplished. What’s Next?

I’m not sure.

I’m still plotting out 2016, and I’m giving myself the rest of the week to do it. I know I’ll be making some changes, I’m just not entirely sure what they are at the moment. I’m tackling a new joint project with a friend (top secret – sharing soon!), and I really would like to finally finish that novel.

I’m giving myself a week to think about it.

What about you? What are you planning to change up in 2016?

A Song of Joy & Sadness on The First Christmas

December 24, 2015 by Abbigail Kriebs Leave a Comment

That first Christmas, there was joy. There was wonder and awe and salvation.

There was also sadness. Christ’s coming meant peace on Earth, but it was not immediate.

That first Christmas also held devastation. Mary’s joy was the joy of a new mother, a joy made infinitely more full as the mother of the Christ child. Her joy would become our joy, for centuries to come.

But there were others that would mourn that year, as another king of Israel sought to interrupt God’s place for peace on Earth. Other mothers welcoming new babes and unable to raise them.

An excerpt from John Blase’s Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas:

We sang that night as we had never sung before. Those shepherds believed they were the primary audience. True, they were important—the Mighty One has always favored the lowly. But there was much going on that night.

The other reason we sang in the fields was to hallow the ground where Rachel would weep over her sons. There the graves would be dug, the graves for the little boys of Bethlehem. Herod’s rage soon stripped dozens of firstborns from the breasts that nursed them. Those so fresh from God, so quickly silenced. Slaughtered like animals. So much blood.

The town had no room for Mary, as Herod’s heart had no room for another king. He would not share his glory. He would destroy this threat if he had to go through all the firstborns in the kingdom. Although we do not exist in time, there are moments when the affairs of earth are hard to endure. Even angels desire vengeance…

And so we sang: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please Him. And Gabriel said, “Again, louder.” We sang again.

What the shepherds heard as an anthem, the innocents would hear as a lullaby. We sang as we had never sung before. A song to bring Him into the world, a song to guide them safely from it, and a song to help her endure it…”

– An Angel

As I sink into carrying merry and bright with me into the new year, I am reminded to pause and to remember, as well.

What’s Making Me Smile Lately

December 10, 2015 by Abbigail Kriebs Leave a Comment

December is crazy, and the last six months have been, too. I’m taking a minute to re-listen, re-read, and remember some favorites from the past few months.

I’ve been listening to Ásgeir’s Tiny Desk performance for months now.

I love this article from Let Why Lead about how to find a photographer that fits your family’s style.

Sarah’s article about wanting less came out back in July… and I still think about it from time to time and go back and read it, mostly for this sentence:

What would our lives and futures look like if we gave ourselves permission to want a little less?

Anna Holmes takes a look at fictional characters Scout Finch and Harriet Welsh and how their stories are connected in this article for The New Yorker.

I realized that both novels contain meaningful scenes in which the protagonist dresses up as a foodstuff…The distaste that Harriet and Scout have for these roles can be read as evidence not only of their discomfort with the idea of the traditionally feminine—soft shapes without hard edges—but also with the idea that existing in the world often requires the assumption of costumes, the displaying an inauthentic self, and even lying. But each comes to learn that subterfuge and dishonesty are occasionally useful, even necessary.

In the midst of a crazy Christmas season, completely unexpected jokes on Twitter are what make me pause and smile each day.

What is making you smile lately? Share it in the comments below!