Living in the moment

Yesterday on her blog Susannah Conway had a post about living in the right now. She suggested we be more mindful of where we are, and she encouraged us to take a picture of the moment we were in. 

Living in the moment is a concept I have a bit of trouble with. I'm not one of those people who thinks she'll be happier *when*...when I have a boyfriend or when I make more money or when I can travel. I may be a daydreamer but I'm also a realist and I've seen too many people fall into that trap, and they're never happy, even when their *when* comes to fruition. I'm content with what I have, and I know I'm blessed. I do get bogged down though, and for awhile now I've felt like I was stuck in a rut. It feels like all I do is work and when I'm not working, I'm thinking about work. As a writer, there's no 9-5 Monday-Friday. It's more like 8-14 hours a day sometimes seven days a week. 

I just finished writing my third novel, so now my mind is constantly whirring with thoughts of having to revise and edit not just book 2 but also book 3. I have to deal with beta readers and editors and proofreaders and get reviewers. I have to think about cover design and formatting and promoting. Besides that I have a book blog, my author blog, and this blog. I read a lot for the book blog, and for pleasure since reading keeps me sane. But that's my life. That's pretty much it. I go out once in awhile. My big, exciting weekly trip is to the library. I'm always multitasking and it's exhausting. I keep thinking 'if I could just get caught up, I could relax' but I never seem to get caught up. 

I need a break. I want to travel so bad that sometimes it's like a physical ache. I just want to GO. I want to do and see and be. But it's not possible right now, so I need to learn to live in the moment - enjoy each one - and not try to do so much that I completely lose my mind.

So this is my 'in the moment' picture from yesterday. I'm actually kind of embarrassed to post it, but the truth is my desk usually looks worse than this! I wanted to clear it off before taking the picture but then I realized that's not a real, true representation of my daily life. I'm an artist - I'm crazy and I'm messy and my life is chaotic. And that's ok.  I'm living my dream. How many people can say that?