Hello, Daring Souls! It’s been more than a minute since I blogged. I hope 2024 has been going as well as can be for you!
As the year winds down, I feel called to wrap up my thoughts and feelings about the years: the wins, the challenges, and a little bit of visioning for 2025. So take a walk with me down the 2024 memory lane and into the future!
Wins!
I started doing daily drawings back in 2022 during Inktober. I’ve been going strong with this art practice. I miss a day or two sometimes, but I get caught up. In recent months, I’ve put reels of my drawings on TikTok, so you can check out some of them there. Or if you don’t mind cruising back through Instagram, they are all there as well. It feels good to stay true to this practice, and it’s also my way of honoring the Palestinian people who are faced with the terrors of genocide. Every drawing since a few weeks after October 7, 2023 has featured something in support of liberation in general or a free Palestine. (If you want to become more informed about what is happening in Gaza, I recommend you follow Bisan Owda’s social media.) Below are a few drawings from January through March.
I launched Living Daringly (LD) as a business!! I participated in Oh Hello Buisiness‘s 45 Day Business Launch program, and I launched on May 16. From that I hosted my first online art workshop, which was well received and fun to offer. Also some of my greeting cards went home with someone who will send them to loved ones. With hurricanes and election season, things with LD scattered later, but I’m proud of launching and I look forward to continue growing the business!!
I experienced the total solar eclipse on a roadtrip with my mom. We drove to Ohio to experience the eclipse with family. Then we meandered back to Florida through Kentucky, Tennesee, and Alabama. It was a nice trip, and I’m glad I took off work to experience it with Mom.
Challenges
The first things to come to mind are the hurricanes: Helene & Milton. The house took a bit of damage from Milton, from water pushing under my back door and breaking the shed that goes around my water heater. Not the biggest of damage. I was hoping for FEMA funds to help with that. I’ve been denied twice, but I got a letter the other day requesting more information. So maybe some day… There was a lot of psychological stress that tagged along with both storms. And a lot of cleanup, some of which I’m still dealing with. I still haven’t fixed my water heater shed!! One of my winter break tasks. It was a lot. The silver lining is folks in my neighborhood really began coming together to help each other during the storm, and those efforts are continuing.
The second set of challenges was the elections. My job gets busy around the elections, and doesn’t leave a lot of time for … other things. Mostly I end up feeling frazzled and like I’m dropping all of the balls, even if that’s not 100% true.
Then, of course, there’s the outcome of the elections, which has also been stressful. And, again, the silver lining has been folks coming together. And the folks I’m in contact with, we’re talking about making those relationships and that work long term, instead of just fizzling after a bit of reactionary time.
Visioning
There’s the idea of “what you practice grows stronger.” Which is true for actions. And it’s true for energy.
If I use the majority my personal energy being a cynic and curmudgeon, well … , my life is probably going to be a bit grumpy and sad. And, trust me, I can absolutely go there. I consider myself to be a recovering cynic. I used to be addicted, and I can fall back into the habit if I’m not careful.
And that’s an idea that I’m mulling about for 2025. When things got hectic and busy, all of my healthy habits fell to the wayside. Well, nearly all of them. I did keep my daily drawings going. But creating art? Exercising? Eating healthy? Meditation? Yoga? They all went bye-bye.
Now, I want to be clear that being a Coalition Organizer is incredibly meaningful work to me. And I work hard at it. I even think I’m pretty good at it, and have received validation for that. And, if I want to be the best I can be in doing that work, I need to take care of myself. In *all* of the ways I just listed.
So as I move into 2025, I’m rebooting my healthy practices. I’m prioritizing myself and my health, so that I can be a healthy (mentally and physically) contributer and participant in my community. Stress and an unhealthy diet (via heart disease) is the #1 killer of women in the US. If I get sick, then nothing is getting done. So it’s time that I invest in myself along with the other things I invest my time and energy in.
I’m already setting up tools to help me get back in the habit and practice of prioritizing the different things I need to be healthy. A friend recommended the app Habitify, and I signed up for it and am using it to help me track all of the things. I’m also putting my exercise and morning practice time on my calendar, and treating it like any other appointment I would have with anyone else. (My morning practice is ~1 hour split among yoga, meditation, and journaling.)
Summing Up
With the larger-scale things happening in the world, 2025 is going to be weird. I’m wishing you the best in the weirdness. If you aren’t a resolution setter, please still keep the following good practices that we are going to need country and worldwide:
- watch out for and take care of friends, family, neighbors – vocally and visibly show up for them when you can – set up text group chats or Signal group chats to check in on each other (Signal is a secure app)
- contribute to mutual aid organizations near you when you can, in money and/or with labor
- please learn about Palestine and get involved in some way with stopping the genocide (here’s a place to start) << Learning more holds true for other places genocide and oppression is happening, and yes, it’s happening around the world.
- find a political home – If you think, “I don’t do politics,” you are 100% part of the problems in the United States. We need everyone to take an active role in how our world operates. That role can be different for everyone, but we need folks to get involved. So find an organization near you that is working to create a world that everyone deserves to live in. If your work has a union, join it. (Or form a union in your work place!!) Go to some meetings. Get involved. Help financially and/or with your labor when you can. Take a friend. If you need help finding an organization that might be a good fit, e-mail me and I can offer some recommendations (christy@livingdaringly.com).
A blessing to take us into the new year
May we share kind* thoughts
kind words
and kind actions, intentions,
and love into 2025.
*Knowing the kindness does not mean that we have no boundaries and are pushovers in the face of hatred, bigotry, and fascisim.
Wishing revolutionary love for our one human family and our biosphere.