Quests for Light: 2017 in Review, Hopes for 2018

Time to look back and ahead!

A quiz on Facebook last December gave me the following predictions for 2017:

· A journey that will change your life

· A year of success and growth

· You can look forward to new friendships

· Good health will make you happier than ever

I did take several trips that were great changes to my daily routine. From a family trip to Florida to two concerts in Chicago and another live show in Milwaukee, it was a year of variety. I developed new friendships on social media from a range of interests and have shared my book with some people I did not know of in 2016, but who have taught me some important lessons this year. My health is pretty good- I’ve bobbled some lately, but I feel on the mend and have continued to run, dance and lift weights routinely.

To me, these are all lights. Lights that brightened my outlook and fed my body, mind and spirit.

Blog:

I had hoped to receive 10,000 hits and reach 6 continents on verbostratis.com. While I am suspicious of some of Google’s data, I believe I can legitimately claim the 6 continents at least. People in Columbia, India, Ireland, Australia, Canada and Kenya all saw my blog. I’m also up to over 1,300 followers in Twitter and I’ve also started up another blog just for my book.

My most popular blogs? The power of KPop shone even for me, with 2 of the top 5. The remaining 3 all dealt with dear topics to me and I was glad to see they resonated with others as well. Stronger by Falling, Hopes and Opportunities, and What Drives You Forward? all deal with getting back up amongst struggle.

Book:

I published Dear Teachers on April 30, 2017. I’ve sold 32 copies on Amazon and distributed an additional 114 as either direct sales or gifts. Not bad for a completely cold start-up without advance advertising. I’m so grateful for everyone who have given my book a try!! Taking expenses into account, I’m only about $250 in arrears overall and have learned so many things!

Published articles:

I had 3 articles accepted and published on websites this year. It was fun to try different voices and receive feedback from a variety of editors.

TeachThought's Professional Development Blog, July 8, 2017

Dear Teachers: Don’t Forget To Take Care Of Yourselves

https://wegrowteachers.com/dear-teachers-dont-forget-take-care/

Notre Dame Academy's Fall 2017 Women of Vision magazine

On Being Beautiful...Confidence and Kindness

https://issuu.com/notredameacademy/docs/wov_fall_2017/4

Beyond Type 1’s Share Your Stories blog

To Love, Honor and Cherish

https://beyondtype1.org/love-honor-cherish/

Looking to 2018:

I am thoroughly enjoying the writing process, however, I need to improve the monetization of my ventures. The reality of life is barging in on my craft, but that’s OK! It’s as it should be. I will continue writing. I will continue networking. I have published a book of my own words and that’s what I sought to achieve.

My goals for 2018 are vague. When I try to picture myself in 12 months, I just hope to feel connected. 2017 was excitement and change. 2018, I just want a better sense of place. I have a rough draft of another book, but it is disturbing me. I’m not sure where it will take me. I have another book idea of chapter titles that I could begin to flesh out and ½ of a novel that I really should complete, too. Perhaps this wintertime will help me reflect and nurture something as I pause by the hearth. I’d also like to explore a script idea for a video I have with someone with that kind of experience.

One thing I was reminded of in 2017 was that there are amazing people around the globe. Huge hearts. Huge brains. Huge lives of drive and conviction, seeking to breathe life into amazing ideas. It’s not all gloom. It’s not all hate and anger. My voice is one voice. There are many others. The more we speak out, the more defined our links will become, and the stronger we will become.

I guess that’s what I really want for 2018: to experience and be a part of helping light rise out of the darkness. Let’s all be a part!

Not Fun and Games

My husband was playing a quick round of Clash Royale this morning. He’s a serious gamer, but his face folded into even deeper creases than usual as he tapped the screen. Then he growled, “I’m playing against someone who’s screen name is a Nazi’s name.”

I confess that I’m paraphrasing him. He said the name, along with some colorful adjectives. We both knew the name. We knew the name was intentionally chosen. I choose not to put it down in print yet again.

I’ve written before about the importance and weight our words have, in The Word Soup We’re Living In.  I also went into the concept of constructive or destructive words back in January, with Are We Cultivators or Killers. That piece, in retrospect, is child-like in the examples I shared of destructive words. I think the overall validity of its message remains true, however.

Where we let our minds linger affects us all.

All too often, we hear excuses such as, “I was just joking.” or “I didn’t do anything.”. In this world with more information at our fingertips than ever before, we also repeatedly hear “I didn’t know.” and “It wasn’t *that* bad.”. There is a real or perceived disconnect between self, one’s actions and others.

Excuses. Feigned Ignorance. Self-Preservation. Anger. Fear.

It doesn’t matter which one it is, we have to stop. It’s possible to change and imperative to do so. I’m still a firm believer in the potential good that each individual human can cultivate, despite the vast array of examples on the opposite side of the spectrum. I believe our potential altitude goes both positive or negative: for however far down someone falls, I bet there’s someone somewhere doing something that much better than was done before.

Positive messages are out there.

Organizations such as Playworks bring inclusive play and social skill development to playgrounds and schools. Restorative justice systems exist that bring victims and their offenders together for real healing and growth. Grist magazine publishes a list of 50 Fixers who are putting their skills and passions in building better ways around the world. Musicians are stepping up to improve the lives of diabetics (Nick Jonas’s BeyondType1) and children worldwide (BTS’s campaign Love-myself.org with UNICEF).

We all can participate. Every time someone helps a neighbor or volunteers at a school- no matter how insignificant it may seem- they are exemplifying the idea of constructive living.

Constructive lives don’t have space for destructive ideas and ways.

Teachers around the world are working hard to create environments that offer opportunities for personal growth for their students. Increasingly, there are pushes for students to create products during their learning that can be offered to their world at large. Whether large scale like Design Learning's problem-solving competitions, or in more homegrown projects, I believe we need much more of this. We need to embrace this as an expectation of our youth: you try and you give. Don’t do something for grades. Do something to help and connect.

When youth connect with their communities and our communities see the talents and energy our youth can provide the whole, real change and improvement can occur. We can teach each other. We can learn from each other. Working together, we’ll have far less time and temptation to “joke” about (or, let’s face it, not joke, and emulate) such horrifying people and times as was exemplified by the Nazis and the other groups who seek to divide and belittle the “other” to this day.

The more purpose we feel, the more optimistic we feel. With optimism, dark times & people will lose their appeal and they will go back to what they should be: painfully acquired lessons on what NOT to do and be.