We’re over three-quarters through January and I’m looking back at how I entered this new year. In my post 2026: Focus on New Year’s Being, I was feeling residual restlessness, an irritated spirit from what had been a long holiday season. The most important thing was to check my anxious thoughts, my “immediate sensitivity” and become an “objective observer.” Reading that post now, I see that I need to do that on a daily basis to have better control of my thinking that guides my responses. The more I’m able to have a clear mind and peaceful heart, the more I’ll be able to live in the present moment and focus on my continuing goal from 2025 that rolled into 2026:

“Unlike previous years, I don’t have a new list of resolutions or the announcement of a big goal for the year. Instead, I’m continuing my memoir writing goal.”

I did complete that Book 2 sequel to He Heard My Voice and submitted it to my critique group. Meanwhile, I’ve looked at the resources I need to achieve my goal of writing Book 3 this year. When I set a goal in 2024 of walking the Camino, I needed a support network of like-minded people; I found that when I joined the Raleigh Chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino. Writing is a very solitary activity and it helps to find another who shares that goal. There are so many steps to completing and publishing a book that it’s hard to go it alone.

Now, in addition to my critique group, I have a writing friend who is skillful and has experience publishing a memoir. We both have a goal of completing our books this year and have agreed to partner in this huge undertaking. She is the ‘person in my path’ on this journey that’s before me in 2026.

I’ve felt energized by having a partner in this goal. Last Sunday evening, I organized my journals and schedulers for the years Book 3 will cover–2019-2024. I highlighted sections of my journal and brainstormed how to proceed with the opening chapters. Because the book opens with the discovery that my marriage would be ending, it wasn’t an easy task. I sunk into tearful memories of that hard time. That night, I had disturbing dreams.

The next day, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to work on the book in the evening; better to write early in the day so other thoughts and images would be on my mind at bedtime. Over the years, I’ve mostly written in the evening. When I was working, that was the only time I could clear space to sit down at my computer. But now that I’m retired, I do have time in the morning. I need to make a change in how I do things. While I kept the same goal for this year, I need a new way of approaching that goal.

Besides a pattern of writing at night, I’ve had a habit of going for walks in the morning after I finish my coffee and devotional. The need to go outside started for me as a farm girl, when I either had to be outside or wanted to be out early in the day. But this week, the weather conspired with my realization that I should write in the morning. It’s been in the twenties when I’d usually walk and it was better to wait at least until mid-day when it would reach the forties. Now, I linger with my coffee and start into that first draft of the book. Once I push beyond my resistance, I’m able to read journal entries and then use those memories to write the first draft. I become so absorbed that the time goes by quickly. This week I completed the first two chapters.

I sent my writing partner an email about my disrupted sleep after reviewing my journals. Her response was empathetic and supportive, what I needed to help me keep going. Memoirs are deeply personal and she suggested a way to move through, which she likely used when she wrote her memoir:

“Put it on a new page, hold it in your hands and heart, turn it to let the light catch the facets, and see where the memories take you.”

I realized that writing down those memories will be difficult, but they also offer an opportunity. This time, I can use the same strategies that came to me with handling my restlessness during the holidays. I can let go of my sensitivity and anxious thoughts, and this time through be more of an objective observer; I know how things turned out. I can pray for God to help me let go of any lingering hurt, anger, confusion and to see the bigger picture, where I arrived after that storm.

I wonder, how are things going for you in these opening days of 2026? Did you set goals for this year? Are you discovering new ways of Doing or Being?

Are you a writer and also working on a story of a difficult time in your life? How can that process also be a time of healing?

I wish you the best in discovering your right path and having the people you need to provide support.

Connie