Save Yourself

You need to write 500 words a day, six days a week, through December 31, 2020. You, yes you reading this right now. You ended up here because you’re interested in a life-changing retreat, or you read one of my books and want to hear updates, or you saw the title of this post and thought you’d give it a click.

However you ended up here, you need to write 500 words a day, six days a week, through December 31 because the world is on fire.

I see pain and fear. Generational trauma. A reckoning.

There are concrete things we must do here in the United States. Vote. Vote early if you can. Volunteer at your polling station if it’s an option. Wear your mask. If you are white, straight, and cisgender, seek out the voices and experiences of marginalized folks and listen with humility. If it sounds wild, check it don't spread it. Get your news from a reliable source.

And write 500 words a day, six days a week, through December 31, 2020.

You can journal, you can outline, you can blog, you can write a short story or a novel or a memoir. Just make the words true to your experiences and emotions whether you're writing a deeply personal essay or typing up world-bending sci fi. If writing fairy tales appeals to you, check out this Healing Fairy Tales project my friend Allison Quaid created. If you're interested in crafting a focused short story, novel, or memoir, it's so important to me that you write regularly that I opened my Retreat Yourself course early and am offering a 50% discount through October 18, 2020*. If fictionalizing your most painful experiences to be free of them once and for all sounds appealing, check out Rewrite Your Life, available through local libraries. If you prefer less structure, here's some writing prompts.

You don’t have to write Good or Important or even Correctly-spelled words. You just need to write 500 of them a day, six days a week, through December 31, 2020, because we can’t go forward until enough of us go within. It’s corny and it’s trite and it’s true.

The pushback you’ll experience is real, and it will take nefarious shapes (I’m busy I am a bad writer It’s a waste of time I’m a failure Writing is stupid I’m no writer There will be a better time Writing doesn’t change anything It hurts). The amount of pushback you will feel toward something so harmless, so easy (500 words=two pages), so verifiably, incredibly powerful is an indication of how important it is.

If you’re someone who’s already doing this work and you have the mental capacity to support one other person’s journey, please share the above resources with them and offer to hold each other accountable. If you know of other resources, please put them in the comments below.

The only way out is through.

*The more diverse the voices, the stronger the community. That's why, if you're living in the U.S. and are a person of color, a member of the LGBTQIA community, or a person with a disability, I am offering a 90% discount on the Retreat Yourself course through 10/18/2020. The 10% you’ll be paying covers the cost of mailing the Book in a Bag kit to you. I trust you to self-identify if this discount applies to you. You can access this discount here.