Archives for March 2020

Feelings: Over Around and Upside Down Getting Through the Covid19 Pandemic

March 31, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Weekends for me tend to be busier than weekdays and during these days of quarantine, it is not different. I stay where I am and I have the meetings I would have had out and about. I leave my home to write haiku and I come home and I have more meetings.

Earlier today I was so tired I really wanted to opt out of my later-in-the-day meeting but I didn’t. I was actually energized afterwards. Yay me for showing up anyway?

I did some decluttering and purposeful television watching (Little Fires Everywhere) and now, I give myself the gift of a touch of writing before I either make a video or do some decluttering or both.

I look back up and see the graphic I made earlier in the week,a quote. “A word after a word after a word is power,” and I think “She’s right. Margaret Atwood is right.”

What I was feeling before I sat down to write was anger.

I saw a writing prompt and it made me mad.

But I pushed that mad away and pretended it hadn’t existed and allowed the distraction to take center court and then again, “A word after a word after a word is power” so here I am.

I am angry. This unknown is stretching out in front of us with no end in sight is starting to get on my nerves. I can pretend it doesn’t bother me and get all into spiritual mode, but I am afraid to go into grocery stores and I am out of cranberry juice and that makes me feel angry, which highlights my privilege and makes me feel ashamed for getting upset about something like not having cranberry juice when lives are being lost.

Someone is texting me as I write and my phone buzzes. I more than likely don’t want to talk to them (or text with them.) Right now I would like chocolate. I am angry that my default is still chocolate. I am angry I have had a chocolate addiction for almost my entire.

My spiritual better half is whispering in my ear to practice self-forgiveness but my mad as hell and I’m not taking it anymore side is escalating. Clackety clackety clackety up the roller coaster mountain my anger goes…no relief in sight. No relief in sight.

I put my head against the back of the chair and watched videos of my trip to the river this morning. I allowed myself to feel whatever was gurgling up. I stopped feeling angry and remembered I am in control of what I do with my anger.

There may not be the relief I would like to have and there is relief in knowing I have tools like writing, meditation, daily virtual Coffee Date Conversations, music, 27 fling boogies, art journaling, all of it will get me closer to feeling better even if these circumstances continue longer than I might want or like.

“A Word after a word after a word is power,” says Margaret Atwood.

My words, “I have the ability to process. I gain strength daily. I have the resources I need to get through this just like I’ve gotten through many other setbacks along the way.”

Grace flows because my heart knows – a word after a word after a word is power.

AFFIRMATION TO USE:

“Grace flows because my heart knows “A word after a word after a word is power.”

Writing prompt:

Right now I feel…… (write without editing or judgement. End your writing with 5 gratitudes and the affirmation, “Grace flows because my heart knows – a word after a word after a word is power.”

Women holding mugs of coffee, tea, mocha to represent a "virtual coffee date" held virtually during the 2020 pandemic. — Join us for our Virtual Coffee Date on Zoom, every day at 1:30 PDT. Click this link to register for free. Yes, even on weekends!

Julie JordanScott is the Creative Life Midwife. She inspires people to live their life as an artform and then take action towards their best results. Her specialty is writing – her easiest way to express what she does is this: She Coaches. You Write. Your Readers Win! During the 2020 Pandemic she is also leading daily Virtual Coffee Dates, Facilitating Intentional Conversation so people will feel less isolated during this time of social and physical distancing.

Hold Onto Your Vision & Your Ideals – Even & Especially During This Pandemic

March 27, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

This afternoon I felt like a deflated balloon.

One minute I was smiling and energized and when I switched the off button if I didn’t have a body I might as well have just fizzled flat and evaporated instantly.

If I wasn’t myself and I was one of my closest friends I would have walked me to a comfy bed and tucked me in. “You need a break, Julie. You have clearly been pushing yourself… and doing a good job, too, by the way.”

Instead I stumbled into the fresh air on my front porch and called Jennie, my friend who once lived around the corner in her “zen house” where I used to go to get filled up when I felt like an emptied balloon.

I didn’t vocalize all of what was bothering me, but later I spent time writing and old storylines poured off the end of my pen.

So many worries about not being good enough, not succeeding in what felt like a true sense, not making a difference…. and even as I write these words I have the compulsion to add a caveat, “I am not writing this so you will either reassure me or tell me I am being ridiculous, I am writing these words because at this moment, at this time, it was what I felt.”

Having high ideals and wildly wonderful dreams is challenging enough when the world feels familiar, but in this surreal time when we feel like nothing works like it did just weeks ago, it feels impossible.

Here’s the thing: even though it feels impossible, moving forward anyway – allowing ourselves to recharge and get back into our purpose and our vision and try again – is my most important work right now.

There’s no saying “wait until tomorrow” with this.

Today is tomorrow.

I rested my head against the back of my chair. That makes no sense, today is tomorrow. Except in reality, I started this yesterday and am editing today – so yes: today is tomorrow.

I also know that sometimes when things don’t make sense they make the most sense of all.

Hold onto your high ideals and your vision. Allow your purpose to sustain you. Open your arms, your eyes and your pen to catch your “what’s next” even if you don’t quite succeed.

It’s our time to stay in the game.

Julie JordanScott creates content to inspire creative people to lead more satisfying lives even during this pandemic. Walking and sitting at the Panorama Bluffs helps her feel centered.

Mugs of coffee and comforting drinks connect us during this time of the 2020 Pandemic.

Permission to Feel & Love Grey (or Not) #covid19support

March 25, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

A tree in the grey fog on a cold looking morning gives us permission to feel whatever we feel, thank goodness.

It is a grey day here in Bakersfield. I realized after being awake for about an hour I was feeling grey as well. Not dark, not light, just grey. Just grey simply grey and I didn’t and don’t have any fierce predilection to change.

I don’t even know if “predilection” fits there but I like how it sounds, so I am keeping it.

I overslept so I opted out of bed yoga and pre-rise meditation because I wanted to be on-time for my poetry livestreams.

It was cold on my porch, but I livestreamed anyway.

It is drizzling so I didn’t walk though I did take a photo of a sunshiney house in my neighborhood on a street I have always loved and wished I had the vision to push to buy the house on that cul de sac those thirty years ago when I was buying a home.

I decided to light candles and write because it is something I could do, right or wrong, I could simply opt into doing something.

My coffee is brewing and the smell is rising which brings me comfort.

The garbage was collected as always and that gives me an expansive feeling. Am I the only one who enjoys filling my trash can to be picked up? Because I house sit I have two trash cans to fill and I am doing it with such joy I think I must be more than odd and I accept that.

I give myself permission to be how I am and to feel what I feel and cherish this all whether I like it or not. I am holding my grey feelings close and loving them, not trying to change them or “make them better.” I am reminded my wedding china was “Glories on grey” by Lennox, partially because I truly love grey and partially because I deeply cherish the neighbor of my childhood, Mrs. Elder, who had a carefully curated Lenox collection. She took her time in choosing her china and the little me loved her for it.

These days of separate togetherness will look different from day-to-day and our feelings will vacillate – may we grant those around us permission to feel how they are feeling as we continue to grow in compassionate understanding to live and love what is.

Coffee mugs lifted - an invitation to join the Virtual Coffee Conversations - a way to stay intentionally connected during this time of social distancing. — If you would enjoy “hanging out” with a welcoming group of people during this time of social and physical distancing, join us in our Zoom Meeting. We meet daily from 1:30 – 2:30 PDT. Registration details are listed below.

To register via Zoom, please visit here. We also have a Facebook Event where people within the conversation will see recaps of the Coffee Conversations and resources mentioned there. To mark yourself as Interested or Attending and to see what we’ve been up to, please visit here.

What Creative Activity is Calling You While You Social Distance?

March 22, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

An invitation to creative practice while you are experiencing quarantine or social distancing.

I woke up this morning and knew my notebook was calling me so I chose not to putter, look at my instagram feed, check the latest news or otherwise distract myself, I sat down to write. I set my timer for an hour full of creative process.

I stumbled into a thread of Thoreau writing about lives of quiet desperation and Tagore writing about bird song… and I might as well have been on a writing retreat in a tucked away North Carolina cabin.

It felt so good to pay attention to the light.

It felt so good to honor the call to creativity.

It felt so good to take action instead of thinking about and talking about and considering writing – instead I wrote.

Did I write the start of the best American novel? Definitely not. Did I write a poem that will be quoted for a generation and then some like my beloved Mary Oliver? Not in the least, not even a rough rough draft of such a poem. Make that not even a triple rough draft.

Did I write sales copy for my next creative coaching program that will bring people from everywhere to enjoy the journey with me? Nope – although I did do a bit of business processing writing.

Did I write a screenplay, an inspirational essay, a thank you note, a something tangible that would make people like and appreciate me more?

No, I did not.

What I did was enjoy my process. I literally sat at my art table as the sun was coming up and enjoyed the dance of her rays hitting my page. I made a short video and noticed for the first time how my pen actually creates its own vacuum when the letters I swirl magnetize their message (that will be on my Instagram story later today.)

I planted some trees on my focus app which always makes me happy – silly and true.

Because I was sitting at my table instead of squirreled away in my room, Emma could pronounce to me she saw an opossum in our backyard! Hooray for opossums!

Before I went to sleep last night, I knew writing would be the best way to start my day. I have known this for years. Today, I took action. I smiled as I wrote and I wrote as my coffee perked and I wrote as I lived fully despite being “stuck” in my home for who knows how long because the world and the people in it deserves my cooperation.

Next up is my morning walk, which I am now calling a haiku walk.

Later today I will attend my friend Paula’s art zoom and then host the Coffee and Connected Conversation Zoom I’ve been hosting and will continue to host for friends – some of whom I have never met “in real life” and some I have.

What is calling you into connection today?

How will you honor that call?

To be inspired by joining a group of people in a Zoom “Coffee Date” you may join us at 1:30 pm today (we meet daily, you may pop in whenever you’re available.) Click this link to register now.

Julie JordanScott is a creative life coach, writer, poet, Mama extraordinaire and mixed media artist whose greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here.

Intention: Unlimited, Infinite Love and Creativity

March 19, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

I watched a video made by a group of Italian citizens last night. It sent a joint message of hope to the rest of the world. It was a window into their tenacity, a collaborative role model for unlimited imagination.

The message was one not of chaos, but of beauty and creativity and love drenched optimism.

I have been impressed with the artful expressions of surprising joy I see coming from the country which right now is at the epicenter of the COVID-19. Planes flying in unison, in their wake leaving the colors of the Italian flag while operatic strains playing in the air is one example. Another is people standing on their balconies, singing together.

I would not normally think this would be the behavior of people in quarantine – people who have seen so many deaths in such a short amount of time. Their celebrations of creativity, of life itself, brought tears to my eyes and shone rays of light into my heart.

White vases with white flowers and a tea pot on a window sill leave an impression of optimism, a metaphor for surprises from Italy during the Coronavirus pandemic.

We must not allow ourselves to be limited by other people’s opinions, complaints or false narrative.

We must give ourselves permission to create deep and wide visions of possibility, of wonder, of deep gratitude.

If this resonates with you, please consider joining a group of us gathering daily at 1:30 PDT for Intentional conversations on a “Virtual Coffee Date” – a gathering of friends and strangers-becoming-friends where we may inspire, delight and comfort each other as we are separated because we are honoring one another’s health.

People sharing coffee drinks like we share virtual coffee drinks, tea, water or whatever we care to drink during our intentional conversations via zoom during the pandemic. Easing loneliness and amplifying connection worldwide.

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

One Step at a Time: Open the Door, Find the Light

March 12, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

This morning I attempted to write an inspirational essay prompted by Emily Dickinson’s quote about the soul standing ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

Normally this fits my passionate process quite well and I am able to flip a less constructive mood quickly. This morning, my sour mood wasn’t going anywhere. I sat in my writing corner digesting the previous night’s emotional turmoil which had turned into an emotional hangover larger than my usual.

I am a tender soul. A tender human. I am sensitive and I seem to fall down and skin my spirit like as a child I skinned my knees when I tripped and fell and skid across the playground,

Emily Dickinson's ecstatic soul ajar lesson isn't always immediately accurate

I vacillate between “can’t wait for the next thing I’m doing it is the be-all-end-all and I am being magnetized toward it…” and then something happens and my face is close to the pavement, again.

Last night when my emotional skid happened it was after my son sent me a scathing text: a long one, based on one of his ongoing gripes with me about something that happened years ago.

He doesn’t tap dance around my history of fear in regards to his life. He goes for the jugular, knowing or unknowing the guilt I haven’t effectively let go yet. My response to his anger is to stand there and take it.

When he was a little boy and couldn’t put his frustration into words, I would stand still when he pummeled me with his fists. I have never forbid him to channel his anger, though now I think a boundary is overdue.

I responded to his text with something like this, like I have said and texted many times in the past:

“I did what I thought was best. I let fear guide me too many times. You are right, I could have chosen differently.”

I am wondering how much he wants to hear about his autism diagnosis and why what happened early in his educational experience caused a wall to be built between me and many educrats, teachers and administrators.

His anger at me isn’t about the totality of me, it is about how I interfered in helping him pursue his vision and continues to impact him now.

What I noted today that I hadn’t ever before is how much this guilt I continue to harbor also builds walls against my creative process. It burrows into my softness, my tender heart, my sensitive soul and I end up pushing away the keyboard.

Yes, I was almost always afraid for my son. He went through hell when he was little and then when he was not so little and even in the months before he graduated we had yet another crisis to navigate.

Sylvia Plath wrote, “It is the hate, the paralyzing fear, that gets in my way and stops me.” In Plath’s case it stopped her from writing the short literary fiction she longed to write at the time and for me, my work flow dries up. I spent much of the day in silence, not even reading or jotting notes.

I went to Toastmasters and gave a quality evaluation and then was worthless until about ninety-minutes ago.

Writing Prompt related to Emily Dickinson's quote that invites personal reflection before ecstacy.

Like my son, after taking time to process – I felt better.

Sometimes when the soul is ajar, it doesn’t go fast forward into ecstasy, as Emily Dickinson suggests. I like to think she knew her fair share of waiting for ecstasy with a side of bits of grief and struggle and “not quite ready” yet moments.

Emily Dickinson quote image with stars and a circle, "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."

Portrait of Julie Jordan Scott, Creativity Coach and Creative Life Midwife

What Joy Will You Share Today? Prompts & Inspiration for Your Journey

March 10, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Writing prompts, or prompts for creative reflection, make a big difference for people.,. These are about describing joyful moments. Try one!

This Anne Sexton quote reminds me of the gratitude quotes I cherish, the wise quotes which serve as reminders of how important it is to share what we are grateful for… which is something I think I mostly have down.

Mostly.

Gratitude and joy have the same “positive” root, yes, and I see gratitude as a state of being that is quiet and reflective – in my mind’s eye and my heart’s embrace I feel my friend Maria’s energy. Joy, on the other hand – is more like character in the movie, “Inside/Out”

Writing prompts may be used for creativity, converstion or contemplation. Describing joyful moments helps us remember and create new ones, for example.

Joy is a bit rambunctious and loud, definitely a physically energetic jubilant sort of space. JOY is me when I jump up and down and clap my hands because I do, actually, jump up and down and clap my hands.

It is not something I plan to do, it is something I do spontaneously.

What is your perspective?

PROMPT: Write for 5 minutes about a recent joyful moment.

Write for 5 minutes about a long ago joyful moment.

Write for 5 minutes about a future joyful moment –

Woman with brown hair and glasses sitting in a park, enjoying the blue sky and trees before she gives an inspiring talk.

Stories are Waiting to Be Heard: Are You Listening?

March 9, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

What makes us better story tellers?

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved listening to stories. As I grew older, I fell in love with telling stories, both written and spoken. There is something sacred especially in telling about a moment in time in your life when something happened – something clicked and you knew… something you hadn’t known a moment before. It is in that knowing something new, that a-ha or epiphany moment that compels us to share whatever it was because we know, we just know, this may be a contribution to someone else.

It isn’t always easy to find a place to share our stories: with grown children there isn’t shared mealtime anymore and my friends are often busy with their own thing so when we are together we are sitting in a dark movie theater or seeing a play or talking about minutia rather than what matters.

As I wrote these words, I realized there is an a-ha within this situation itself. On those occasions when my stories are heard by others who value what I am saying, I feel my most alive. I feel valued, I feel worthy, I feel grateful to have people taking me and my message seriously.

I am a member of toastmasters so I have a regular, formal outlet for sharing curated stories which are then evaluated and assessed by my peers. This is helpful and heart opening and it isn’t necessarily the same as sitting around a circle for hours, speaking and listening with laughter and sometimes tears punctuating the vulnerable connections made because we are listening and speaking with our hearts.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we spent more time listening and speaking for no reason except for the joy of it?

Prompt for Writing, Creating, Conversation or Contemplation:

“When people listen to my stories, I feel…”

“When I listen to other people’s stories, I feel….”

5 Minute Writing Prompt: I remember the time last Fall when…. write about anything at all for five minutes without stopping, using shopping, Thanksgiving, Halloween or an unexpected surprise as your topic.

Julie JordanScott looks to heaven as she takes a pause in her writing.

Julie JordanScott is the Creative Life Midwife. A writer, speaker, life coach and multi-creative who “walks her talk” she provides the world fuel for creativity, intentional connection and purposeful passion in order to eradicate loneliness and the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Writers: Think First of Your Readers – Wisdom from Adrienne Rich

March 8, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Poet Adrienne Rich's quote is within a pink circle which is surrounded by starts. The quote says, "I know you are reading this poem in a room where too much has happened for you to bear."

I collected quotes for Women’s History Month looking mostly for women writers I admire, I trust for their quality, and the quotes I offer are not “overdone” – seen constantly and shared constantly and overdone.

This quote from Adrienne Rich was chosen, graphic was made but I didn’t give myself space to listen to it or allow it to get close to me until it was time to add it into a post. It was then its power slayed me.

A writer standing at a white board looks down at her notepad, listening to the advice "Writers, speak to your readers." She smiles in understanding.

One of the first things I learned as a writer seeking publication was to write with my audience in mind.

In the writing workshops I facilitate I sometimes lead a visualization where the participants imagine a stadium filled with readers of their future book. In our mind’s eye, we drop into the stadium and float around watching the faces of the readers as each person reads the works-in-progress which in our imagination has now become a thoroughly enjoyed book.

It is a sort of holy silence in the stadium, eyes steadily scanning the pages at slightly different points in the story since we all read at a different pace.

I never took that exercise into where people might actually be reading our books, except for me with “Dear Autism Mom” I imagined a mom at the park, holding onto the book and reading it as she sits on a bench and her children play independently.

Perhaps this is because I remember being a younger mom, reading books while my children played, enjoying the respite except for when the needed my help to get momentum going on the swings.

In “Dedication” by Adrienne Rich, we are greeted, each person who reads her words, in a line of the poem. She speaks to the reader directly – and for me, the line “I know you are reading this in a room where too much has happened for you to bear,” reached out and pulled me close. It was like looking at myself, nose to nose, only it wasn’t me. This meant someone else was listening.

Someone else was listening to me and recognizing what I was saying as sacred.

Someone else was understanding me, someone felt compassion for what I was going through.

When we do our jobs as writers, our readers feel as if they are not alone. They sense they are a part of something bigger than themselves. They expand to become a part of the world you created with them, in a collaborative process from writer to reader and back again.

Prompt:

Take a moment to read “Dedication” by Adrienne Rich. In the link there is a recording available as well as the written poem.

Note the intricate, individualized awareness Rich has toward her readers.

Now it is your turn.

Write a list of qualities of your reader.

Bring them to life through description, description that uses multiple senses and where possible, use a setting as well. Take five minutes and write a short essay, story or poem in which you “break the fourth wall” and speak directly to the reader you describe thoroughly.

Julie JordanScott typing a love poem on the edge of a foothill of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

How to Create a Goal that Moves Your Mind, Body & Spirit

March 7, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Sometimes a goal is much more than a bunch of colorful sticky notes on a bulletin board. It goes beyond setting goals, making plans, get to work, stick to it, and reach goal. Find out more why.

Sometimes a goal is much more than a “GOAL!!!”

It took me a long time to understand this fully and completely, with my whole heart. Recently I created a goal about travel. No, it isn’t about the Top 50 Destinations to reach before I turn 50, it is a goal about how I want to experience traveling.

It is stated in the present AND it is part of my overall life vision for the next ten years. Here is how I wrote my goal:

Travel is regular, sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and extra comfy.

Imagine my delight when the goal first came to fruition within two months of writing it. That trip became a good model for future successes with this same goal.

Last Fall I joined a book club. This is not unusual, I have a propensity for joining book clubs. I love books, I enjoy hanging out with bookish people and this particular book club filled a different niche – it is an empowered women book club. It only meets once a quarter so why not? I have a goal to read 52 books this year, so adding another book club helps me to keep my reading choices unique and fresh because they aren’t necessarily what my hands would reach for first.

I was also meeting some brand-new-to-me people.

One of these younger women recommended a book to me by Rachel Hollis called, “Girl, Stop Apologizing.” I quickly discovered the writing voice of the author is not one that is appealing to me. Her personality was not one that was appealing to me. Her content was extremely familiar and I might have put it down and forgotten it under other circumstances, but since it was an ebook I checked from the library, I breezed though it grumbling much of the way until…. Rachel Hollis wrote of crafting a ten-year-vision plan.

At first I scoffed at this. Let’s be real, I am too old to be reading this book by the chirpy Rachel Hollis whose other New York Times Best Seller was “Girl, Wash Your Face.” Furthermore I am too old to be writing a ten-year-plan.

“I almost died in October” seems to be a common refrain for me lately.

There was something in her message, though, something that compelled me to consider and complete a list of ten separate goals to make up my ten year vision plan.

That one small yet not small action has changed everything for me.

Twenty-two-year-old Emma sits at a kitchen table in Flagstaff with her two elderly Grandparents. The sun is streaming in through the window. Everyone is smiling and happy. Traveling to visit family is important, always.

Last week I returned from visiting my parents in Flagstaff. This is something I had wanted to do since last May but never did. In December when I visited Katherine and Donald in New Jersey, I declared I would be going to Flagstaff and nothing would stop me!

I would visit for my birthday! It would be great!

January 29 rolled by and I was still in Bakersfield.

I became even more vehemently determined, possibly because between my visit to my daughter and her husband, I created this goal as a part of my ten-year-vision plan.

Travel is regular, sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and extra comfy.

The thing about a ten-year-vision-plan is it isn’t something “to do later” it is something that is perpetually living and breathing and morphing.

My trip to Flagstaff with my middle daughter, Emma, was the first challenge of this goal. It was my first test of the ten-year-vision plan. I originally wanted to go on this trip alone (which would have insured the “smooth sailing” part of it) but I didn’t want to leave Emma behind.

I wanted to see my parents more than I was going to let a possibility of not smooth sailing or not comfy get in my way.

My elderly parents live in their own home in a neighborhood on the western side of Flagstaff. They bought it “when we were young!” my father said. They were about my age now, which I will gladly claim as young.

My mother now has Parkinson’s Disease and has balance issues and moves much more slowly than she used to move. My father is also much slower. Their daily highlight is going to the senior center for exercise classes. For the most part, they stay home other than that and running errands like going to the grocery store.

This required our daily visits to their home to be much more of a collaborative art of… sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and comfy. My parents didn’t know of my goal, yet they gracefully helped me fulfill it.

No one was rushing, no one had anywhere else to go or anything else to do except be exactly where we were. Everyone was in a good mood and happy to be together.

Emma and I stayed at a nearby motel that included an indoor pool and Jacuzzi and was located next to a bookstore and was close to downtown. We were able to explore what fascinates us – for Emma that meant Vegan dining and an fabulous crystal shop, for me it meant lots of places for haiku writing and photography in tucked away alleys and places with history. I also visited a park and took a short hike I had forgotten I meant to take more than ten years ago.

Do you have a travel goal as a part of your overall life vision?

2020 is the first year I am able to respond with an unabashed “Yes!”

In my ten-year vision plan, my overall travel goal sounds like what you have read repeatedly in this article:

Travel is regular, sacred, joyful, smooth sailing and comfy.

I am thrilled to report we met all of these goal-oriented sign posts during this trip to Flagstaff. The visitwasn’t about sprinting around to see how many places we would visit or doing any particular activity, it was about the quality of the experience.

I’m looking forward to deciding where I will visit next: I have a feeling my nomadic adventures are going to start sooner than I thought – and with this visionary goal crafted, I know it will be achieved in a soulful way.

How may you create and fulfill a travel goal with the same amount of pleasure and ease?

Consider how you would like to feel during your travel.
Consider the sort of memories you would most like to have when your travel is over.
Think about your traveling companions and modify your plans accordingly.
Stay committed to clear communication throughout the experience.
Set your date for travel and start reserving accommodations!

Stop putting off what is most important to you. What October taught me was not only about my mortality, it is about how interconnected we all are – and how much joy the simple things in life bring.

If it will help, commit in the comments to your next travel adventure. Next, return to let me know how it went.

woman in a hiking hat creating mixed media art.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is committed to Eradicate Loneliness through intentional connection, passionate purpose and creative expression. Sign up now to stay connected with the movement and receive inspirational emails to insure you will minimize loneliness for yourself and those you love. Visit EradicateLoneliness now to sign up for free.