I keep hearing we should push past our limits, work harder, longer, smarter. Put in more, add extra effort, kill it at your day job, dedicate hours to your passion project, steal downtime minutes to double down on the side hustle while you somehow juggle a personal existence, me-time, and work-life balance. Phew.

The entire mess leaves me feeling apprehensive, frustrated, and exhausted. I have pushed myself to do my best, do it all, and move outside my comfort zone. The result is I became more stressed and more anxious. My productivity fell, my enthusiasm evaporated, and I was irritable and angry. Pushing beyond my limitations drove me straight to burnout. And to what end?

Limits exist for a reason. They protect us from unrealistic ambition, work overload, and total shutdown. No matter how many times they say it, you can’t give 110% for days and weeks or years. Learning, truly mastering your subject, requires immersion, hands-on commitment, and space to appreciate the excitement for your dream.

Let me escape the programmed fate of some device-driven, optimized, maxed-out hustling, and artificially balanced being. Yes, sign me up for waking when I am rested, for rediscovering the joy of internalizing knowledge, for attaining the goals that resonate with my soul, and for connecting with friends who help me see the best parts of being human.

Have you gone too far?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

New Year, new goals, feeling invincible, wanting to erase past hardships, and replace them with better expectations can lead to an overloaded schedule. My calendar confirms the legitimacy of that claim. I am exhausted from reviewing my commitments. There are lingering projects I am determined to place in the finished column. The siren call of exciting adventures begs me to commit and start the journey. Other factors make me pause. There is the day job, family responsibilities, household chores, grocery shopping, exercise routines, and snow shoveling competing for my limited time. I need a nap.

Even with added responsibilities and heightened expectations, I included a few more items to my daily program. I am taking care of myself to keep my energy at optimum levels. The recipe calls for rigorous adherence to getting enough sleep. I wasn’t kidding about the nap. They say the best results are relaxing for 10 to 30 minutes between 2 and 3 pm.

I have committed to observing my water intake, ensuring I am well hydrated. Monitoring alcohol consumption is another priority, as it can contribute to dehydration and feeling tired. I know it is easier said than done since taking care of yourself can seem self-indulgent. I have long maintained how important it is to take care of yourself if you want to operate at optimal levels. You help others best when you are healthy and well-rested. The last thing I am adding is a recommitment to my yoga practice as it helps me remain centered and calm when confronting stress. But first — that nap.

How do you take care of yourself?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

I took a self-assessment quiz the other day, and the results suggested I am a rebel. I laughed, closed the tab, and dismissed it as a highly flawed waste of time. Nobody adheres to rules, follows formulas, and the “right path” better than I do. But as these things happen, I started thinking. What does it mean to be a rebel?

The first impression that comes to mind is a troublemaker who won’t accept directions, instructions, or social norms and who disrupts everybody’s pleasant day. Have rebels gotten a bad rap? Sure, they challenge the status quo, question everything, and wonder “what if.” They challenge the idea that events must follow a prescribed manner and balk when the answer is “because it’s the way we’ve always done it.” What if there is a better process or a simple solution? What is the point in obeying every rule if we can’t cut loose and dance?

I see many of my peers get caught up with following self-proclaimed gurus and their “10 Steps to Success” rules. I know I have fallen into the trap and experienced feeling inadequate, stupid, uncomfortable, constrained, and a complete failure when I didn’t achieve the promised outcome. Then I stop and remind myself one size does not fit all. Those authorities are experts of their history, their journey, but not mine. Thank goodness we are all different, or the world would be an incredibly uninteresting place. We don’t travel the exact path. We can’t live another person’s life. We are distinct individuals, rare creatures, with unique perspectives, and we all harbor the heart of a rebel.

How will you celebrate your inner rebel?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

It happens to the best of us. We plan and schedule, set boundaries, minimize distractions, and we still get blindsided. A family emergency, a burst water pipe, a bout of flu, a flat tire, or an unexpected snowstorm slated for the exact wrong time of day can derail a meticulously crafted itinerary and create a time jam. We live time-crunched lives where everyone’s default setting is “busy,” and we wear the badge with pride.

Sometimes situations run amok we discover cannot manage, and we follow our training, shift into overdrive, and race down the road toward burn-out. Along the way, we begin our battle, declare war on reality, and wonder why we can’t have our heart’s desire right now.

If your days are like mine, my schedule sometimes consumes every waking moment. Keeping yourself off the casualty list when everything goes sideways is often about your perspective. We want good things to happen, and it is the main impetus behind the work. There is no reason to carry the burden alone. It is ok to ask for help. Asking is difficult, and it hurts my soul, chips my ego, and proves I am human.

The human condition embraces ambition, the need to leave a mark, improve our life, and lend a hand to others. A packed calendar is my ticket to making improvements possible, and being dead dog tired at day’s end ensures a decent night’s sleep. I find when I have a compelling reason, I run a decent chance that help will arrive at my door. Besides, it is better than sliding into cruise control and binging Netflix.

What reason drives your busy schedule?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

My daily writing periods are an opportunity to sow idea seeds. I prepare my space, set the conditions, and hope for a positive outcome.

Seeds come in a vast array of sizes, colors, and shapes. An epiphytic orchid has the tiniest seed. This baby at 1/300th of an inch (85 micrometers) and 1/35,000,000th of an ounce (0.81 micrograms) is not visible to the naked human eye. From the mother plant, they float in the air, and with luck, they find a home with an ideal environment in the rainforest’s upper canopy, perfect for germination within a month or two.

Over dour decades, a giant redwood attains heights of 100 feet and begins with a small 1/8-inch-long seed. The world’s largest seed belongs to the Coco de Mer Palm, which weighs in at almost 40 pounds with a circumference of 3 feet. The seed reaches maturity in 6-7 years and needs an additional two years to germinate. Mung beans are about the size of a pea and sprout by day five, ready to add to your salad.

I never know the precise identity of the concept I select until I sit to write. Some ideas drift with the wind. Is it a fluke they discover me, take root, grow, and deliver an exotic blossom? Other stories are epic, and they anchor themselves deep in the ground before soaring skyward. Some require heavy lifting, never-ending endurance, and the ability to imagine a far distant future. The cosmos sometimes delivers my fiction in a flash and by the bucket load. Images explode, words overflow, filled pages become a deluge, and my writing sessions run past the appointed stop time.

How do you nurture your idea seeds?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Inspiration and creativity are indelibly linked. Inspiration materializes from the ether, exploding like St. Elmo’s Fire. The event is awe-inspiring, and it forges a connection to powerful energies and the motivation to create. You emerge with certainty, clarity, and a vision. A concept to launch your project, intuition on how to proceed or a novel way to complete your task is the product of your transcendental experience.

Recreating the encounter is an exercise in futility, and chasing it makes it more elusive. When I hit a wall, the best solution is to step away from my screen and do something else. I have a laundry list of preferred activities. I shovel snow, do yoga, walk outside, indulge in a hot bath, or brew a pot of coffee to sip with fresh baked red velvet cake. Ideas have struck while weeding, crocheting, arranging a bouquet, listening to the wind dancing in the trees, and feeling the sun warm my skin.

Some writers report success with reading, finding quiet moments, immersing themselves in nature, or engaging in other creative pursuits. I have discovered taking risks helps me tap into my source. I often start a new project without knowing what I am doing. By creating high failure potential, I cause the cosmos to take notice. The payoff comes when a story appears, the entire piece written in my mind before my fingers ever touch the keyboard. The common thread is a willingness to let go, play, and consider possibilities hidden within the realm of the seemingly impossible.

Where do you find inspiration?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

If I’m being honest, I don’t understand the love/hate titles assigned to Friday afternoon and Monday mornings. Sure, I look forward to certain weekend activities, eager for the experience, but I find a brand spanking new week equally thrilling. Many individuals slip into a depression on Sunday, dreading the next morning’s alarm. Maybe they only require a slight shift in thinking.

Researchers tell us a part of our brain seeks pleasure. What gets lost in translation is, you activate that section when you expect pleasure, not the actual pleasure itself. We can leverage this. It needn’t be an extravagance, overly complicated, or time-consuming. Queuing your prized playlist, wearing a favorite shirt, or planning lunch with a friend, may create sufficient excitement for your pleasure-seeking brain.

There are standard recommendations about getting enough sleep, creating a plan, and preparing specific tasks over the weekend. Consider starting your day early, avoiding those who complain about Monday, or catching ten minutes of something motivational, like a podcast or a video. See Monday like a fresh opportunity. Listen to your inner voice telling you, “Get up. Stop stalling. Get a move on. What’s taking you so long?”

How will you start your Monday?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

We are creatures of habit, comforted by familiar routines, and driven by homeostatic responses to maintain equilibrium. The world changes, we change, and what once brought a sense of security stops working. We must question our beliefs, values, goals, duties, obligations, hobbies, commitments, possessions, and even our relationships when they don’t deliver.

How do we handle old stuff? How do we release what no longer holds value as we reach for the new, the improved and updated, and the innovative? Items received as gifts can create feelings of guilt when we contemplate disposing of them. Things we grew up with cause nostalgia to rear its ugly head. Then there are the hard decisions. We bought the perfect piece they guaranteed would change our life until it didn’t. Dumping the item means admitting we made a mistake.

We carry baggage, burdens collected over many years, that we can’t seem to relinquish. My grandmother said we should use it up, wear it out, or pass it along. If something is not helping you move forward and attain your goals, it is hindering your progress. Letting reminders of the past go takes strength as we struggle to summon the courage to face a brighter future.

What weight are you carrying that is holding you back?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

It is a secretive club. The members rarely advertise their affiliation in public. They recognize their peers when they meet, and something passes between them, a nod, a smile, a bond. We are people who read. Research seems to support the conclusion that brilliant individuals, the ones who affect the world, read. They expose their minds to diverse subjects, and submerge themselves deep into a topic, knowing the exercise will propel them to higher standards of personal and professional excellence.

When avid readers meet, their conversations move with ease, covering their preferred genres, recent reads, classics, excellent reads, transformative books, and the hallowed ground of life-changing tomes. Details aren’t necessary. We know the feeling of reading a story that alters our chemistry, transforming us from the inside out. Words lift our mood by confirming we are not alone. Memorable characters have lofty aspirations and impossible dreams. They struggle to do the right thing and become better humans.

Good books are mirrors reflecting our inner truths and revealing the pathways which connect our past and present to our hopes for a brighter future. As we turn the pages, we laugh, cry, tremble in fear, and rejoiced in the protagonists’ victories. We increase our intelligence, develop our brains, improve our imagination, and boost levels of concentration and focus. If we are lucky, exposure to knowledge changes not just our life, but the lives of those around us.

What is on your reading list?

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Make way for 2021!

2020 was a mad, mad year, but I am so grateful I had you by my side. You made the year better by being in it. Thank you for sharing the ride, a smile, a laugh, or a well-timed bit of advice.

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. —T. S. Eliot

No matter how hard the past is, you can always begin again. — Jack Kornfield

Cheers to a new year!  Here’s to discovering brilliant success and effervescent happiness in this new year.  Here’s to another chance for us to get it right.

Happy New Year.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer