Photo by Holly Burns
“Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing.” ~Adolph Monod
I should warn you that it’s about to get contrived and cliche up in here. Saying that will not make the following any less true but at least you know what you’re getting yourself into. YOU’RE WELCOME. The point of Camp Mighty wasn’t just to snuggle with my dearest friends though, that part was pretty lovely. It was to take a good, hard look at your life and remember what you want out of it. You only get one shot at this whole living thing so you might as well do it up now.
Returning back to work this morning I was asked how California was. Superb? Wonderful? Fucking fantastic? These are all true but what happened deep down was moving from a place of unhappiness about myself and my life and giving myself the time and place to think about what I want to do to change the above. I am wont to forget that I am in control of my life thus sending me spiraling into ‘woe is me’ territory when things don’t go my way.
Each attendee was told to pick five things from their Life List they would like to accomplish over the coming year. I tell people that I want to do X all of the time only to cower when the time actually comes. Excuses are made, the fetal position is taken and there goes the opportunity. Mostly because I am afraid of doing whatever it is, I worry that I’ll fail or that I’ll come in last and then people will use me as an example of what not to do. The point of the exercise is to say what you want from your Life List out loud and hopefully others will hold you accountable. For me, the purpose was that if I say these things out loud, I’ll feel like an idiot if I complete zero out of five (again with the fear of failure) (but it’s true). So I told a group of mostly strangers – save for Susan and Heather – what I wanted to do over the next year:
1. Make my apartment into a Home
2. Run a half-marathon
3. Learn to snowboard
4. Be a more vocal proponent of women in politics
5. Go to London to observe Parliament
Just like that I put out there what I want for the next 365 days and the conversations swirled. I talked about where I was headed and where I should be and why I’m not there. I did it all with a phone on silent and absorbing the atmosphere and the people I was surrounded by. To say that I needed three days of just this – just me – would be an understatement but again…the truth. It’s hard to remove yourself from the day to day and think about what you really want but I did and it felt good.
And now I’m home and I’m back. In more ways than one.
*With many thanks to Maggie and Laura for being spectacular. It was great.
“Runners just do it – they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first.” ~Author Unknown
Sub-par Housekeeping
“Things do not change; we change.” ~Henry David Thoreau
1) Charity:Water winner: To those of you who participated in my Camp Mighty fundraising efforts I truly appreciated it. As I have already written but would gladly recap: the weekend was magical and every few minutes I’d exclaim how happy I was. Genuinely. Thoroughly. Truly. The lucky winner was one Mr. Gav Martell. He now gets a choice of $50 iTunes or Amazon gift card. His wife thinks it’s for her. Perhaps he’ll share. Hooray for clean water and I like giving so we’ll do more of that in the coming year.
2) My whereabouts: When I started this site I was 21 going on 22. I hated being an adult and didn’t know what to do, where to go and who to turn to. I felt alone hence the birth of this site. Fast forward almost 6.5 years later. I am 28 or as my family says “like fucking 30” and I’ve matured. At least enough to know that not every thought that enters my mind needs to be put out for the world to see. Shit happens or I step in it and while the 2005 me would yell at the top of my lungs to all 36 visitors, the 28 year old me takes deep breaths and puts on her boxing gloves to go toe to toe with the bag. I can’t write the way I used to. I’m still honest and me but I am different. Does that make sense? I have learned that to me irreverent is fine but not at the expense of another. I also have realized that telling the stories I have are fine but more in terms of how I was impacted rather than talking just to talk. Are you with me here?
Shorter: Things have been happening but like hell am I going to write about them.
Even shorter: LIFE!
Of course if you follow me on twitter you know that I’m there and ever present. And maybe it’s the 140 characters that has ruined my or all blogging or maybe I no longer feel the need to make what could be a sentence into four paragraphs.
3) The future: And I bet with that last bit you thought I was going to announce the closing of this little venture. HAAAAAA! But no. I’m here to stay. No Pasa Nada is my baby and I can see in this site exactly where I have done some growing (in the hips mostly. GET IT. GET IT) and where I want and need to go in terms of my writing. In the New Year this site will get a much needed facelift. I’ll be exploring different areas as I learn to stretch myself into what/who I want to be and remember; it’s 2012. Shit will be going down over at Poliogue.
4) Poliogue: It’s where my passion lies and it’s 2012 and there’s a huge primary going on and I just saw and iPad app that tracks electoral votes and…and…please hold while I fan myself. I’m positively giddy about the potential of what can be done with the site as the field slims down and the general gets underway. Anyone who has read even a smidgen of what I’ve had to say over the years knows that when it comes down to it I am a writer, no doubt, but I’m a writer who will writer her face off about politics. It’s not about right and wrong and rallying it’s about finding the essence of democracy and what drives people to the polls.
I’m grinning like a fool right now as I think about how to incorporate me into something for over there. You don’t have to enjoy politics but you do have to live with it. And I just want to be there to help get you through it.
5) So ch-ch-ch-changes! Are you excited? I am. If you have any suggestions, comments, concerns and/or hate my guts and would like for me to fall of the Internet all together let me know. Either in the comments or by email (nopasanadablog@gmail.com) or on Twitter where you can do it in public!
There will be a few more posts – like literally three – between now and the New Year and after that new! Fun! stuff! Get ready. This is going to be great.