Celebrate 34 Challenge
“Celebrate we will for life is short but sweet for certain.”
So I gave up writing for Lent.
That’s not true. Not entirely. I have in fact taken a nearly 40 day hiatus from my writing habit but that was not at all planned.
You know what was planned? Celebrating. It’s true. I even wrote that in bold on my February calendar page. And February celebrations bled into March celebrations. And before I knew it, it was Easter and I had missed a month and a half of writing.
No apologies here. For celebrating is the sweet spot of life. In the moment, particularly in this constant state of exhaustion that is parenting young children, celebrating can also feel overwhelming. But I have found when given space and time away from the celebration, the sweetness lingers much longer than the chaos.
This is why I write. To give myself space and time between the chaos and sweetness of life’s greatest celebrations. So at the end of March I sit here with a readied heart and clear mind to remember what all the celebrating was about.
We celebrated great work and generous donations at the first Upbring Red Ball.
We celebrated the 33rd Birthday of this special dude.
We celebrated 52 kilometers skied by the same birthday dude.
We celebrated a First Birthday (More to come of this. So. Much. More.)
We celebrated a great award won.
We celebrated the opening of visitor season with friends and our littles meeting for the first time.
We celebrated a Mama-to-Be.
We celebrated Gran De and Grampa arriving for a month in Texas.
And yesterday, we celebrated that He is Risen.
Yet among the sweet celebrations I still felt a longing. A longing for this space where the clutter and hum of my thoughts leak out through my finger taps. Where a quiet space in the morning is filled with hot coffee, a warm candle, and me. Just me.
The next month on the calendar is April. My birthday month. I get a whole month. Don’t you?
My birthday gift to myself this year will be the gift of this space. I have longed to challenge myself at some point with a daily writing routine. I want to practice the art of simplifying my writing process. And I believe that by showing up, every day, just for the challenge and practice, I will not feel burdened but feel fulfilled.
To celebrate my 34 years, I will write 34 days. Beginning today. With the hope and goal of challenging myself in a positive way. I will greet the morning, my favorite time of the day, first with coffee, of course (In my new favorite mug! Thanks Kelsey and Adam! I feel legit now!) a lighted candle and a moment for creative reflection. I have written up an editorial calendar, having no trouble at all coming up with ideas to fill each day. 34 days of reminiscing and sharing and deliberating and challenging and fun and tears and all of the things. I call it the Celebrate 34 Challenge. I can’t think of a better way to honor my life and creative habit.
So let’s celebrate. To life and to writing! It is certain to be sweet.