The End – Part 1

"It's your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you." -RumiIt’s an interesting challenge, coming to the end of an overly long slog: The finish line is so close you can taste it, but the weariness of having crossed all the previous hurdles makes it difficult to actually dot the last I. Over the weekend, I discovered that this semester my “end-of-week” due date has actually been Monday at midnight rather than Sunday at midnight–as it had been for all previous classes. Given that general sense of mental fatigue, and the fact that I have actually completed three of my four assignments, and have mostly completed my final paper… I’m going to count my schoolwork goal as having been met once again this week. For the penultimate time. I’m so grateful that a couple more pages of a strategic plan and a capstone project are all that remain of this 2+-year death-march to an MBA. It’s been my road for long enough, I’m grateful there have been people who’ve tolerated my presenteeism, so Rumi’s quote this week spoke to me.

Apparently I need a few weeks of indulging my fictional escapism, or maybe a few movie nights with hubs to clear my palate of this academic bloviation.

😀

Not that that is going to happen. Marking these milestones off the calendar means we’re that much closer to picking up our puppies. Going from a 2-dog to a 1-dog to a 3-dog family in the space of two months is something we’re all going to have to adjust to. At least Natasha is enjoying the return of the cooler fall weather, and has figured out that the whippet next door will chase her up and down the length of the fence between our two back yards for at least some kind of canine interaction. She’s more than ready for the new furbabies’ arrival.

And November is right around the corner. I’m still not entirely sure I’ll have the mental capacity to turn on a dime from academia to scifi, but I have such a shiny plotbunny, I have high hopes. Plus, even though it’s been one of those mentally exhausted weeks, I did manage 429 words on Jasper’s Tale. I know doing NaNoWriMo the way I’m supposed to (new story, from scratch) means I’m leaving two others half-done, but I figure if I can harness that inner competitor who likes to compare progress against others to re-establish a daily writing habit, I will finally reach the end with those stories sooner than later as well.

On the other hand, we have gotten back into the swing of things with our walks. We took four, for a total of 8.3 miles. I think part of this is because hubs found an article about the important components of self-love. That whole finding a happy place? If I’m not reading, taking a walk and watching Natasha’s antics as she thrills to the sniffs she finds out in the neighborhoods and parks we traverse are an important piece of my peace of mind.

Part of making sure I’m taking care of myself stems from a life-long view of body as temple, but almost 20 years ago I ran across the experiments Dr. Emoto was running on the impact of what I’ll call “intent vibrations” on water. His book and pictorial evidence painted a profound image for me of the power of our words. I was very sad to hear of his passing this week, and hope there will be others who carry on something many may consider a fringe branch of science, but for me, underlined yet another component of my inner call to writing and words.

Until next week, consider the impact your words have on yourself and those around you, and visit some of the other ROW80 participants’ blogs to see how they’re managing. I’ll be back then, to report on my own progress.

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2 thoughts on “The End – Part 1

  1. I hadn’t heard of Dr. Emoto – but his experiments sound fascinating. As a teacher I know just what effect words can have on students. All the best in the weeks ahead.

  2. A few weeks of fictional escapism sounds divine 🙂 You make an excellent point about considering the power of our words, especially showing support and kindness. The support I get from the community is a huge lift. I hope to catch up with you soon.

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