Welcome to another month of story starters. Please use these prompts to inspire you to write about anything you like, whether a fictional or non-fictional story, poem, narrative, journal entry, etc. Just be creative! And be sure to leave me a link or a pingback so that I can find all of your lovely writings. Have a great month, everyone! ~M xo
Week 1 (April 1-7) – The tree responded to the touch of his hand.
Week 2 (April 8-14) – Time was precious and neither one forgot.
Week 3 (April 15-21) – The words painted a picture.
Week 4 (April 22-30) – Black, white and remnants of gray.
If you’re new to prompt writing, and don’t really understand how to use the prompts, please consider the following writing exercise.
Settle into your favorite place in the house with a hot drink to warm your waking bones. Once you’ve warmed up a bit; grab your journal, a trusty pen, and a timer. Then, set your timer for ten minutes and begin writing about one of the prompts. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, neatness, or anything like that; just write! Write about anything and everything that comes to your mind, and don’t stop until the ten minutes are up.
I often find myself writing short stories or poems during those ten minutes, but you can write about anything you like. And don’t be alarmed if what you’ve written doesn’t quite make sense. The whole idea behind doing this exercise is to get your mind ready and working so that you can begin your day. Just think of it as exercise for your brain, and once you’ve done your ten minutes of writing, you’ll feel more prepared to tackle the rest of your day.
As always, I will be writing and posting over on my other blog, which can be found here. So please come visit me if you get a chance, and hopefully I can keep up with all of you!
And one last thing before I forget! I made a quick tutorial for those of you who have been having trouble trying to figure out how to Pingback your posts. Please go here, if you’d like to view the tutorial.
This past year was not the best year for my physical and mental health. I think the fact that I stayed home the majority of the time was a big factor, but I have also had some recent health issues and found out that there are some lifestyle changes that I need to make. With all of that in mind, I decided to set some goals for myself. Here are some of the changes that I want to try and make part of my daily routine.
Goals:
1.) Drink one gallon of water daily, which equals four water bottles.
I have always had a problem staying hydrated, and recently my blood pressure has been really high. So I did some research and found out that drinking more water can help lower blood pressure. The reason water helps is because when your body becomes depleted of water, it tries to secure more water by retaining sodium, which can then cause high blood pressure. Of course, I also learned that drinking too much water can cause high blood pressure and other health issues, so I plan to stick with the daily recommended amount, which is one gallon of water per day.
2.) Lose 5 lbs. a month until I’m at my goal weight, which is 125 lbs.
I’ve noticed my weight slowly increasing over the past year. I went from 127 lbs. to 140 lbs. I think a lot of this is because I’ve been less active, but I’ve also been eating larger portions of food and eating when other family members are eating instead of when I’m actually hungry. So I think by adjusting when I eat and measuring out my food, I’ll likely do better.
3.) Eat oatmeal every day to help lower my cholesterol and eat Cheerios as my snack, which is healthier than chips.
Oatmeal is supposed to be a good way to lower cholesterol, and I recently had two different doctors inform me that I need to get my cholesterol under control. I really don’t want to go on medication, and I’ve been told I’m too young to be having this issue at my age, so I know I need to make some drastic changes to my diet. I’m planning to watch my intake of greasy foods and eat more whole foods. I also love eating chips, and dill pickle chips are my favorite. So I’ve decided to switch to Cheerios, which I also enjoy.
4.) Finish reading one book every month.
I find myself starting a lot of books but not always finishing them, and I really do love books. I also find reading to have a very calming effect on me, and since I’ve been struggling with a lot of anxiety lately, I thought putting reading on my goal list would help provide me with a reprieve from the daily stresses.
5.) Walk at least 10,000 steps every day.
For the majority of 2020, I walked 10,000 steps a day. Last month though, I had some knee issues, and I completely stopped walking. Over the past few weeks, since my knee is better, I’ve gotten my regular walking routine back, and I’m starting to feel so much better because of it. So I just want to continue doing this, and it’s probably a goal I will try to continue for the rest of my life.
6.) Do a seven-minute workout every day.
I recently found this app called “7,” which is a free daily workout app. (It’s the blue one in case any of you decide to look for it in the app store.) I love the app already because you just hit the go button, and it gives you a different seven minute timed workout for each day of the week. I ended up doing the workout with my family today, and it really kicked my butt. Lol… It just shows me how out of shape I really am.
7.) Journal at the end of each day and keep a daily planner.
Keeping a journal is something I’ve done off and on for years, but I want to start sticking with it more often, even if I don’t write a lot. Plus, with the new school semester starting soon, I need to have a daily planner to keep track of my studies and daily goals.
8.) Control portion sizes of food.
As I already mentioned, I need to be better about this, and I think measuring out my food will help.
9.) Avoid adding butter, salt, and creamer to foods.
I always lose weight when I eliminate butter and creamer, and I figure cutting out sodium can’t hurt either.
10.) Avoid soda and alcohol.
I always feel so sluggish when I give into my cravings for soda, and I don’t typically drink a lot of alcohol. Still, in recent months I started drinking more wine than I usually do. So with all the medical issues I’ve been having, I’ve just decided to eliminate alcohol to see if it helps me feel better. I figure it can’t hurt, and it’s something I can certainly live without.
Anyway, these are just some of the changes that I’ve decided to make. I think all of these goals have the potential to become permanent changes in my life. I hope everyone can do better in this new year. We just have to keep on trying.
I feel like my heart isn’t in anything right now; I don’t want to do anything; I don’t want to go anywhere; and least of all, I don’t want to socialize. People are reaching out, trying to ask me if I’m ok, and to most, I can’t even respond. I keep asking myself, “What kind of person am I?” That I can’t even respond to a simple email, phone call, or text message.
I sort of feel like I’m floating on a raft in the middle of the ocean, and there is nothing for as far as the eye can see. And I want to be here; out of reach of most anyone or anything. I’m alone without a plan as to where I’m going, and I just don’t care. I don’t want to do anything else, except for simply float peacefully along, and leave everything else behind.
I don’t think I’ve ever isolated myself as much as I am right now. And there are times when I question why I’m doing this. But I feel like I need it. The quiet has been soothing to my soul. I’m loving the peace of not having to talk to anyone, to explain myself, to share all the horrible ugly things that I’m so often dealing with. I don’t want to talk about any of it because then it becomes real. And I can’t deal with the reality of the things that I know I will eventually need to face. I just don’t want to right now.
The funniest thing is, I start a social media communications class next week. It’s a requirement for my major and one of the last general education classes that I still need. 40% of my grade will be the discussions I have with other students. So much for being anti-social! Lol. At least I don’t have to talk about my personal life, but still…
Anyway, so here I am, floating along. It’s rather calm at the moment, but that usually means there’s a storm brewing on the horizon. And even though I can’t see it, I’m sort of securing myself to the raft right now; bracing myself for what’s to come. I just hope the storm passes quickly if and when it finally does arrive.
At the beginning of this year, I finally decided that I couldn’t keep going like I was, and so I asked my doctor to put me on anti-depressants. I’d gone all 46 years of my life without them and felt weak for having to ask for them. I have always tried to do everything on my own, and even to this day, I hate asking for help. My anger is what usually fuels my motivation when I’m left having to do something that seems overwhelmingly hard. And rather than ask for help, I usually just use all that built up negative energy and say a slew of cuss words to complete those difficult tasks.
I think this incessant need to do everything on my own, comes from the way I was raised. I was always made to feel guilty when asking for anything as a child. I would get reprimanded when even asking for the simplest of things. And so I learned how to do most everything on my own. This way of being raised had its benefits in many ways. I think I am a much more self-sufficient person because of it and I never give up on anything.
I think if I had to choose one word to describe me, it would be “determined.” But sometimes, I feel like I just want someone else to take care of me for a change. I would love to have someone there to help me, without me even having to ask. To say to me, “That’s enough; you’ve done plenty; let me help you.” And I want to feel like I can say yes to that, and accept their help.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to change. I’m getting older and more set in my ways. I’m just plain stubborn most of the time, and my girls would agree. They see how irritated I get and how I try not to ask for help. It usually takes breaking something, for me to finally give in and let them help me. Usually, it’s me that gets broken because of the stupid things I try to do without help. And of course, it doesn’t seem to stop me the very next time, from repeating the same act of stupidity. I guess that’s what stubborn people do. We’re a glutton for punishment.
I just ended the anti-depressants yesterday. They seemed to help at first, but then after several weeks, I started feeling anxious all the time, extremely restless, and shaky. My doctor slowly decreased my dose over the last week, and I do feel more like my old self again. I have mixed emotions though. I really did feel better for about the first three weeks, and I’m trying to figure out why I started to feel so bad the longer that I took them.
I still feel like I need to do something to control what I believe to be depression, but I’m not sure what to do to help myself. I think journaling is the best thing that I can continue to do for now. At least until I find a better way to help myself. I’d love to have someone to talk to. Everyone always talks about having a therapist, but I have never had one. I suppose that’s a luxury that I will never have. If my insurance covered that sort of thing, I would see a therapist in a heartbeat, but unfortunately, it doesn’t, and so I have to keep on sorting things out for myself. Anyway, I feel like I’m starting to ramble, so I’ll end this for today. Thanks for reading. ~M
I woke up feeling better about things today. I think I’m starting to realize that I’m holding on to too much from my past. It’s hard though when you suddenly get a reminder of past wrongs. I can forget all the past hurts for a while, but then they seem to crop up again. A few weeks ago, I was triggered by a family member, and since then, I feel like I can’t move past what they did. And what they did, made me feel like I no longer matter to them. It feels like they’re trying to erase me from their life.
I’ve been trying to let it go, trying to rationalize why they did it. Some people just don’t even realize that they’ve hurt someone. I would like to think that they weren’t intentionally trying to hurt me, but in the back of my mind, I just can’t shake the feeling that they were. I’m at the point now, where I would rather not care one way or the other. But I do care because it’s someone I’ve known my whole life.
It’s been good for me to be off social media. I think it was the best idea I’ve ever had. There were so many reasons why I finally broke free of it, but I think one of the biggest reasons I left, was because I was constantly being reminded of how I don’t really fit into my families lives anymore. They all live so far away, and I’m no longer a part of all they do on a daily basis. It often causes me to resent my own husband, for leaving me secluded like I am, away from everyone. But then I wonder, am I better off anyway? Perhaps it’s saving me from all the drama that comes from family relationships. And I agreed to all of this, so I shouldn’t be blaming anyone for how I feel. Maybe it’s just better it all turned out like this. I don’t really know for sure, and I doubt I ever will. So for now, I think I just need to let these thoughts go. I need to do a better job of trying to forget the past hurts. I just need to let it all go and try to get back to feeling like me again.
Putting My Feet in the Dirt 