Relentless flexibility.
That was my coach’s advice this spring as we wrapped up a series of calls around me getting my butt in gear. I’d had big plans for myself after finishing graduate school. My shiny MFA was in hand. I was going to focus on my coaching certificate next, and then start taking clients. I was excited. And scared. So naturally, I took a three month nap and woke up not sure what year it was.
Does that ever happen to you? You reach a big goal and instead of feeling thrilled and motivated, it’s like you hit a wall at light speed? And then you get admitted to some inter-spatial traction unit to regroup and figure out what’s next?
I know what’s next. I just have this thing where if I can’t do it all perfectly, I don’t want to do it at all. So my coach’s advice hit home. Relentlessly flexible. I have it on a sticky on my wall to remind me when I get all cranked up. Relentless is something I’m good at. Flexible, even, when it doesn’t matter. Like, “Ces, where do you want to go for dinner?” “Oh, I’m flexible. You know that.”
But relentless flexibility? I just don’t even know.
So in May, I decided to try it. I made some insane plans to blog 400X more and start a moon journal group. You know, in between being a semi-single mom engaged in coaching school and job hunting and vacuuming Cheez-its out of the sofa. I’m relentless for sure.
The good news is, I had a good time.
The bad news? Welllll, maybe reading 4 books a month AND writing about them was a little more than humanly possible when combined with the other stuff. But I’m relentlessly flexible now. So I’m going to reset that particular goal and make it 2 books a month. Because as I pointed out last week, life is way too short to stress over self-imposed deadlines and rules.
So this June, I’ll be finishing up my YA horror reading list from May. I already posted about The Rules and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Coming up this month, I’ll be rereading and posting about Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares in terms of how to deliver on a sequel (I think).
Which leaves me with an open slot toward the end of June for another YA horror novel written by a woman. I’d like to go pick something off the shelves at our local small bookstore. They usually have a lot of YA there, and that seems like the flexible thing to do. So if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
Happy summer reading!
