Homogenous or Heterogenous?

 
I had this post all written up and sounding brilliant earlier today.... in my thoughts. Then I fell asleep and poof it is gone like the wind, typical ADHD adventures. I have the gist of it in my head so we'll see what I can come up with and stay on topic.... butterfly.... ummm, yeah. ever onward.

Recently I came to the conclusion that one of the struggles I've had with maintaining a blog is trying to find a niche, advice I've seen given for successful blogging time and again. I had three public blogs going trying to keep each one in a particular topic. All I managed to accomplish was to create more stress for myself, worried that I had to keep regular posting in each of them so not posting at all! Talk about creating my own problems.

Perhaps one day I can settle myself down to one topic, perhaps not. I've grown a lot in the past year: finding where my spirtual path is and beginning to follow that; learning to accept some of my personality traits that I've tried to supress, or at least hide from others out of fear of rejection or ridicule. I'm reaching a point where, though the opinion of others is still more important to me (more than I like) I am able to step out and be more of myself openly. One big part of who I am is my eclectic interests. Trying to find a niche topic is not in me.

I'd like to invite you to join me on this journey, where my world is as ADHD as I am.... interests waxing and waning and changing sometimes daily. Some activities I jump in with both feet, researching, buying books and supplies only to find it really doesn't fit me. Then there are others that I revisit time and again in cycles over a few months or even years.

I'm throwing out the niche ideal with the bathwater. Out of the closet, I am officially, proudly and crazily eclectic!! Education, writing, photography, crafts, self-help, and parenting; whatever piques my interest at the time, that is where you'll find me! I'd love to hear if there are others like me, are your interests fairly steady or do you also follow the eclectic path?

Love & light,

~Shannon **  ƸӜƷ  **

Babysteps, Patience and Goals, oh my.....

I've been having a conversation with a lovely lady I met via an FM/ME CFS group on facebook, you can find Cynthia's very creative blog, "Creative ARTitudes", here. On Cynthia's facebook fan page she was asking her readers about methods for scheduling and tracking systems that they found effective and I thought it really lends itself well to what I wanted to post about today, babysteps.

Babysteps are VERY hard for me! I don't mean, "oh it'd be nice if I could just do it and it'd be done", but it drives me absolutely crazy(er) that I can't just do it and be done! Do what you ask? Anything and everything! A good example, I want a perfect website with the perfect URL, stunning and attractive design, pages for all the passions in my life and my blog, something that will have readers signing up in droves begging for more Ducky-isms, and I want it done YESTERDAY! Everyone likes to see their passions come to fruition, but if you throw in ADD, well patience may be a virtue but it's nearly improbable for those of us with this lovely challenge in our lives. And of course add to that I have FM (fibromyalgia) and CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) (and a multitude of other nonsense) making things (namely me) move even slower and thus increasing my frustrations. BUT one thing I have that none of this has taken away from me is HOPE and DREAMS and if babysteps will eventually get me to realise these, then I will continue to plug along despite my lack of patience.

So, step one, goals. What are my goals and what can I do to reach those goals? My big picture goal, to see this blog turn into a website that is helpful and informative for those that share some or even all of my passions (oddly enough I do find that it's true, birds of a feather do flock together - I do wish the magpies would stop pooping on my deck though - literally and figuratively). Big goals are great but all too often we set them with no plan of action and with no little goals to help buoy our spirits and keep us going along the way, then we find ourselves stuck, giving up and feeling like a failure. So my first babystep goals are, amalgamate all my blogs together in one place, publish a new article at least 3-4x a week, publish photos in at least 2 of those articles. Sounds simple enough :).

I would love to hear from my readers, what works for you to keep you on schedule and to keep track of all your ideas? What helps you reach your goals?

As always, sending my prayers and blessings,

~ Shannon *Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ*

Friday Focus

Nearing the 2nd anniversary of this blog, so 24 months in and I'm only on my 6th post (not counting the 4 drafts that have still not been completed)... nope I don't procrastinate. That works out to one post every 8 months, oh dear.

So I made this great plan back in January to re-focus and get my life in order and I got pretty much nowhere with it. I won't get into my emotional state or the busy summer I've had but just jump in where I'm at on this. School starts in a mere 6 days and I'm far from ready. I also want and need to make my home my "job" during the day for the next couple of months so we can have a comfortable and welcoming place to be through the coming winter months. I'd really like to try to go back to work as well. So... where to start?

I think I need to start by spending quality time each day with my boys, not just a movie and before I get sucked into the big bad net. They only have one actual day of school next week so starting tomorrow morning we will do something together, play a game, play Lego, or go geocaching. I also have to remember that once I am on the computer I still need to pay complete attention to them when they need my help or to just tell me about what they are building or creating. I'll need help with that, so on Monday I will call my doctor to have my Ritalin Rx renewed or to try something else (takes about 3 weeks to get into my doctor so I'll need to be patient on that one). Either way I need help to be able to focus where it matters most and with ADHD it's far easier to hyper focus on the computer than to pay attention to the boys or heed the call of the duties of the domestic Goddess.

I also need to get back to my workouts, I feel better, I'm more energised, I was actually losing weight, a lot of it and I sleep better too. But one step at a time, if I bite off more than I can chew I'll overwhelm myself as I so often end up doing. So we'll start with the quality time with the boys and finding some routine in preparation for the coming school year.

Feeling a need to find some order and routine in your life without getting bored? Feel free to message or leave a comment and perhaps we can encourage each other.