Recalibration
Day 31 of 31: 200 Words-A-Day Challenge
This is my final entry for the July 2023 200 words-a-day-challenge. I’ll hope you’ll join me one last time or if you’re just arriving here, please check out the complete Directory of Prompts. Since few of them are time-bound and sequence doesn’t matter, just pick one and write… JUST WRITE. I hope you’ll share too, either in the comments or via Notes. And thank you for landing here.
Recalibration
Whenever I’ve been away from home for a while, whether voluntarily or out of necessity, it always takes me some amount of time to re-enter my normal world. How long varies depending on what I was doing while I was away.
This re-entry is more than a simple slide back into my day-to-day routine; I call it ‘recalibrating’ because when I’m gone more than a few days, coming home becomes a wholesale reevaluation of how I spend my time. Upon my return, I see what I do on-the-regular with fresh eyes and that makes me ask, “How much do I want to do this or that? Is this truly how I want to spend my time?”
When I first started these recalibrations seven years ago, they would sometimes backfire. Rather than my to-do list being culled, doors would open for FOMO, my intense curiosity, and my desire to always be learning to take command, leading to a heavier schedule than ever. Oops.
Looking back though, I see a trend toward increasing discernment and more respect for myself and my time. Like a clay artist who takes away excess and builds up other areas, refining their piece, sometimes even starting over, I’ve added and taken away, experimented, filtered (in and out) in both my life and my business.
How fitting that I’m back home now from two weeks of caregiving and I’m recalibrating once again… just as the month-long 200-words challenge is ending and I’m stepping toward sharing my fiction online!
Each recalibration has inched me closer to my heart’s desire.
Your Prompt / Day 31 of 31
Is there something—a passion, a calling, or simply a longing—that never makes your to-do list? Is there something you want to spend time doing that’s getting buried beneath your daily responsibilities and yet never stops clawing toward the light of day?