Outside In

While sitting in bed
This view I often admire,
Even when rain falls
It brightens, deepens colors
Giving assurance of life.

There are days the power of living seems beyond our strength. Then we reach into our chests to massage our hearts and set lightning to our minds to galvanize our thoughts. Overcoming is then a mustering of the will, for we shall not surrender giving up the light. Love, we are crusaders for beating back the encroaching night.

Had we not witnessed others who kept up the fight, we might have fallen by the wayside. Many have created work amid the devastation of life’s catastrophes, and now we experience their harvest. It motivates us to succeed.

We are whoever
We can be in the moment
Not always by choice.

This moment thrusts us
Into what lies before us
Sometimes unprepared.

Happiness is huge
A state we negotiate
In our agile minds.

A note on the formatting: This post was done sitting in bed on my cell phone. If the spacing is distorted, that is the reason.

I hope each of you is well. If you wish, follow Haphazard Creative, if you rather, return as you can. Comments are always welcome. God bless you all.

©Jo Ann J. A. Jordan.

It Ain’t Over

In December of 2013, I needed a watch. I had a Samsung Galaxy S3, but I have always needed time at hand because I do not do time. I ordered an Invicta from Amazon, and it was damaged when I got it. I saw something somewhere that the Samsung Gear would be released in December. It would have a pedometer.

At this point, I weighed in over 200 pounds. I found out the date of the Gear release knowing it would sync with the S3, and I went that day to Best Buy and got one. That changed my life.

I used the pedometer and an app called MyFitnessPal and journaled in a notebook each day. By the end of 2014, I lost over sixty pounds.

Losing my mother and my beloved Hope caused extreme stress and threatened all I had done. More recently, I have fallen back into my binging due mostly to depression and feeling less than worthy. I have gained some weight. Now when I need support most, MyFitnessPal has begun predatory pop-up ads. I will not deal with advertising. I took the app, after almost seven years, off my devices. I still walk, lots of days over 20,000 steps. The pain I experience makes this a trial.

Now, I am not counting calories for the first time in ages. I know what to do. I am trained. So, I am working this in a new way. If I can avoid the binging, I will lose back down, but I am a sweet nut. Nutella, Airheads, Peppermint Patties, Hershey’s Chocolate, we could go on, binging is hard to give up.

Understand, I have worked so many programs since I was a teen. I know nutrition, I know exercise. Most of us do, the thing is staying stabilized emotionally so we can work the loss. Eating is comfort, consumption is companionship, food is the reward. This is a battle for our lives. Make no mistake, fat cripples, and obesity kills.

Today, I wanted to drive to Douglasville, go to Dairy Queen, and have a Large M&M Blizzard. I had a headache because I was craving so hard. I took a nap. I later made a glass of Almond Milk with Pure Honey, mixed and mixed and mixed. I did not have that over 1000 calories of Blizzard today.

It is the small victories added up over time that win the war. I am going to take that frigging hill again. You can too. We should never die young.

The Problem of Choice

The reason for the clutter
Is not so simple as believed,
It is deep, wide, high, and low,
Motivated by a passion for choice.
Very few situations are settled
With one acquisition, no, understand,
If there is one thing available
There may exist the desire
For another, opportunity; pick – choose.
Being unable to settle, decide,
It complicates the simple life,
Leading on occasion to misadventure
Better left off, given avoid.
Variety, a hazardous habit
With methods challenging to break,
Most likely with all remedies
Unwanted in any place.

By Way, High Way

2020-04-15_By Way_High Way

So much of what you read gets its first run on these pages from my pen. Sometimes I think maybe seeing the process, rough, will encourage you others to engage your creativity. It is always my hope and delight to have the opportunity to encourage and inspire. Today has been very productive. I love days when the writing does not stop.

If you would like a prompt, think about how you can recover the zeal of new love in either a relationship or some creative endeavor and make something representative.

I appreciate your visit here at Haphazard Creative and hope you will follow the site or come back often. I am in the midst of my 2020 Creativity Project, which requires at least one post per day here. Somehow committing to that has set me up with much more work than I have done before.

Your comments are welcome. I try to answer them all promptly.

I hope you are dealing well with the pandemic. This is an incredible time.

Thank you, and many blessings to you. Keep writing and creating.

In The Moment

We have no time to
Spend in the past, memory,
We must invest in
What is at this time present
For now is here, happening.

Tomorrow may be
What is coming, but it is
Still a day away –
Today, with its dire troubles
Or sweet pleasures, is enough.

Yesterday ashes,
Tomorrow draped in clouds, mist,
We will live this day,
Building, realizing dreams
With our best abilities.