How do you make time in your life for being the best you that you can be right now, while also doing the work and setting the stage for who you can be, want to be

I find that if I’m doing my best right now, being the best outreach specialist, club president, friend, fiance (okay, that one suffers), sister (okay, that one suffers worse), daughter (no really, it’s bad). There’s not time to think about becoming better. Like that half-finished Joy Plan that’s sitting on my nightstand underneath a book on becoming a better writer that’s barely been cracked.

How do you be the best you possible, and still put a focus to the you you want to become? Is there even time to find out who that is? A better writer? A manager? A big shot advertiser? A gym rat? Someone who has a clean home and healthy, home-cooked meals every evening? A mom? Someone who has a strategy for the way they live their own life?

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… it happens. And there’s no sense in making myself feel bad for it.

But I do not need to stop being grateful. Being so busy, I get caught up in the stress of it all and can’t forget that actually taking the time to write. it. down. makes a difference in my whole life. So today, I’m grateful for:

• The ridiculously amazing team of young professionals that made the launch of this website out of this world amazing.
• Support from those that have come before us, that believe in us and simply show up for us (me).
• The Feeling from after a really great workout. Must remember that feeling.
• The incredible company I work for. I get to learn every. single. day. I get to wear jeans to work. Oh and did I mention, they’re giving me 10 days off so I can GO TO ISRAEL NEXT MONTH?!

So, that’s just a snapshot for right now. Because things are busy. But they aren’t going to slow down any time soon. So maybe you’ll hear from me again soon. Maybe it’ll be July before you do. I’m not sure … But I know I want to hold on to this feeling for as long as I can …

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It’s been more than a month since my last gratitude post. Do you ever feel like you need to be beaten over the head with stuff?

writing makes you feel good

thud.

hey, working out? it is an immediate lift to your spirits

thud.

yeah, that gratitude thing? it works, babe.

thud, thud, THUD.

So today, and for the past month, I am super grateful for:

• Looking back on this and letting it make me smile.
• My seriously brilliant fiance for his endless support in LITERALLY. EVERYTHING. that I want/love/need [I feel like this is on basically every gratitude post, but it's true].
• Old friends, new friends, the excitement that comes with meeting someone new and you get each other.
• My little sister; without her, I literally could not survive.
• Supremely healthy meals cooked at home that are literally gourmet.

What are you grateful for this week?

*let’s pretend it’s still Wednesday, hmm?

Prompt: Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (from Karen Walrond)

What a funny prompt this is. I find that I’m accidentally reading several other posts, and finally writing my own much later in the day. I didn’t realize I was doing this until Alex pointed out that she was attempting the opposite. And then I saw what fun the crowdsourcing angle can be. And then I stumbled upon this gem about how we are all tragically undifferent. At least that’s how I read it. But I did agree with one point – your own opinion on what makes you different is skewed and unnecessary.

i actually struggle with this thing all the damn time.

Originality doesn’t exist. Everything I’ve ever said, done, written or thought has already been discussed, executed, written about, contemplated. In a world where it’s cool to be different and hip to be uncool, where the hell does that leave those of us that have been uncool since it was uncool to be uncool? [wait, what? You heard me.]

so where does that leave you? or me? or anyone?

Leave differences. And similarities at the door. We have something in common that we bond over? Awesome. We are different and that makes us bond? Spectacular. You do you and I’ll do me and lets let that be good enough.

let the love in. that’s what’s beautiful here.

so what’s this?

#reverb10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. Get in on this.

Feeling icky and wallowy today. I know this blog, writing, showing gratitude, is not a miracle pill, but hopefully it helps a little …

• The way writing, seemingly miraculously, clears my head. I mean, duh, how many times do I need to relearn this one. Still grateful.
• Brad, for at least a besquillion items, but right now in particular for: cooking dinner, listening to my nonsensical dribble, lighting the Hanukkah candles with me, giving me time and space to write it out, building anything and everything, taking good care of my heart …
• #reverb10 for challenging me to broaden both my writing, and my community.
• This photo, for reminding me how important it is [both for me, and my loved ones] to be true to my feelings:

my mom and i on her wedding day

Prompt: Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? (from Alice Bradley)

2010 was actually not much of a “letting go” kind of year for me. It was more about settling down and finding adulthood. In October, I was forced to let go of complacency. I was forced to let go of my sense of security. And in 2011 right now, I’m letting go of fear.

so what’s this?

#reverb10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. Get in on this.

As the holidays begin to close in on us, the days are quickly getting away from me one by one. I have been feeling like I need to “get caught up” on all these reverb posts – both reading and writing – and I do. But today I realized it doesn’t necessarily have to be in order. I do plan on writing on every single topic, because it’s my goal as a writer to answer every prompt. (Yes, I realize the objective is to get myself writing on the daily, not just on each prompt, but hopefully in pushing myself to write on them all, I’ll try to avoid letting them pile up like this again.)

So, on to it.

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (from Caligater)

So, did this happen to anyone else? You graduate college, and then suddenly a year or two later, discover that there’s all kinds of hobbies and clubs and crap out there? You suddenly realize you have time for all the stuff you were too busy studying  to enjoy back in school. No? Just me?

In 2009 I was all “OMG bikes and blogs and clubs and yoga and stuff!”

In 2009, I discovered a lot of communities.

and in 2010, i started to build one.

I am the president of a four-person club called Ad2 Reno (that’s DOUBLE our membership from a month ago, thankyouverymuch). It’s a club I almost let die, and it’s a club that is constantly reminding me why I’m here, living this life, working in advertising, doing what I do. I mean, advertisers are obvs the most fun. But Ad2 helps foster something in me that is essential to my well being. In Ad2, I get to teach, to lead. In Ad2, I get to make my very own local community a better place in a very real, tangible way, through public service. So yeah, I’ve found community there. I discovered a national community that is there to support me and my baby little club.

and in 2011?

We’re going all the way. We’re creating a community for young advertisers, and I’m going to deeply connect the crap out of it.

so what’s this?

#reverb10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. Get in on this.

Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? (from Leo Babauta)

You know, writing for prompts is a funny business. It forces you to think about something that you may never thought was worth thinking about. Or to look at something in a new way.

There are at least 100 things I can think of that don’t contribute to my writing. Some things contribute to my life, my livelihood, which indirectly contributes to my writing.

All #reverb10-ers should probably read Matt Chevy’s post today on second guessing. I second guess myself all the time, and my writing is no different. But I think the one thing I can – and should – eliminate from my day is the separation, the divide, that exists from the writing I do for work and the writing I do for me.

It’s almost an entirely different process. In some way, I’ve been incapable of seeing how the two writers in me are the same.

one voice

Though I agree with Liz when she says originality is dead, one thing that I have is my voice, my heart. It’s what got me here today. When clients come in to my office and say, “I just love your blog,” what I hear is “I love your voice.” And while writing style is different here than it is when I’m drafting a client newsletter, or press release, the process needn’t be.

Because, if I’m going to call myself a writer, the writing I do for work can, and should, be infused with as much passion as there is here. And you know what? I am getting there.

so what’s this?

#reverb10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. Get in on this.

Yep, a SECOND blog post from me today. I’m impressed, too.*

feeling especially grateful today for:

• Incredibly smooth travel last week. I was sure Wiklers were cursed when it came to travel. But somehow, we drove to Sacramento (over the recently blizzarded** Sierra Nevadas) twice, got on six flights, made four connections AND received our bags at baggage claim twice.  Over Thanksgiving weekend. If that’s not a holiday miracle, I don’t know what is.
• Hugh, the incredible man my mommy just married on Saturday (and my new step-dad? Ok, that’s a little weird.) I know he will care for her for the rest of their lives, and I’m so grateful my parents have each found happiness in their new partners.
• Every single amazeballs person that’s participating in #reverb10. It is seriously inspiring to read [ok, no I can't read all 1,100 peoples' blog posts, but the ones I have read are incredible]. I know, without a doubt, I’m becoming a better writer, a better person for participating in this. Not only for the writing I am doing, but for what I’m being exposed to. I mean, just wow, you guys. Just follow the thread.
• The tingly feeling I get when I remember I’m gonna be his wife in just under two years. #mushy
• A new fridge on Friday!
• Hanging things up on walls, and how it makes our house feel even more like a home.
• Playing cards with sibs and giggling at things that make no sense at all.
• Trying my cousins delicious vegan Thanksgiving food (SERIOUSLY, the vegan pumpkin-chocolate bread pudding? SHUT UP.)

*Yep, it’s definitely been six hours since I first started this draft, but since I was traveling all Wednesday last week, and never really had a break to blog on Thanksgiving, I NEED to be publicly grateful right now!

**That’s right, blizzarded.

Prompt: One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (from Gwen Bell)

It’s only 9 a.m. and I have seen quite a few posts on change already. While 2010 was a big year of change for me [for everyone on the planet, I think] – I went through a specific kind of change this year.

adulthood.

My word to describe 2010 is adulthood. At some point over the course of this year, I entered it. I came to the bold [or perhaps completely not bold] realization that this is my life that I am here living. There’s no one moment to pinpoint when it happened. It was a gradual change, over the course of almost the entire year, from going through the motions to real-live-functioning-grown-up.

scary, right?

Let’s look back, shall we:

• I got my first promotion, at my first big-girl job. I was given more responsibility, and I liked it. I was ready for it.
• I used everything I’ve learned in school and on the job to stand on my own [okay, with a ton of support] and manage the media for one of my community’s most cherished special events.
• I redesigned this blog and have been more committed to writing than ever before. It’s not a perfect streak, but I’ve been committed to writing on this blog more often than I have not in the last 12 months, so that’s something. Right?
• I became a leader.
• I learned that I can learn something from everyone.
• I bought a house.
• I got engaged!

So here I am, in what appears to be true adulthood. I think that part of welcoming myself to this era [that's not the right word, but go with it] is knowing I’ll never stop learning things, getting to know myself, finding my footing in this world, confronting demons and growing into a more conscious individual.

push.

My word for 2011 is push. 2011 is about knowing that I can do what’s been set out before me and do it awesometastically. And be true to myself, and take care of myself all the while. It’s going to require a lot of pushing. I don’t mean push* in the negative, get-down-on-myself-if-I-fail kind of way. It’s not really like me to do that. I mean push as in making time for the things that are important to me, moving past lazy or reluctant tendencies, and living up to the get-shit-done person I want to be.

It might seem like a lot of pressure. And it is. But it’s what I need to remove myself from the complacency I’ve been living in. Again, this is my life that I am here living. Time to start living it 100 percent.

so what’s this?

#reverb10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what’s happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead. Get in on this.

* Is my repeated use of the word “push” making anyone else think of Mean Girls? “I’m a pusher, Cady, I’m a pusher.” No? Just me then …