[Moving Zeal] Home Is Everywhere

“Home is where you can be you.” “There’s the quote.” “Yeah.[1,2,3]” Part of this extended process of detaching from my home I’ve built up over the course of seven years has been to learn to become more comfortable being “me” while abroad. My social anxiety is when I’m too focused on keeping my mask on, being a certain way, or having to be concerned with how my persona is perceived. Instead, just be you everywhere.

[Applied Self-Confidence] Comfortable with Criticism

Critiques on your work shouldn’t manifest in your mind as bruises. The redlines may feel like cuts against your writing. The comments may seem like scars. These are just your insecurities. Those same insecurities will coax you into skipping social events or embarrass you with memories of mistakes. Rather than silencing that internal critic of yours, calm yourself down, then get in that document, familiarize yourself with the edits, make the changes, and then proceed.

[Applied Self-Confidence] Writing Daily #2

I realized a problem with my writing: I’ve reached a soft limit of how I can communicate. There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s analogize with my cheap “pawn shop special” bass: it fulfills all my limited needs when it comes to learning the basics. I can pluck strings and learn chord progression. I don’t mind tuning it whenever I’m serious about playing it. Now if I wanted to play with others or even professionally…

[Applied Self-Confidence] Bettering Better Zombie #8

[1022] Oops! Forgot about publishing this. Well, plenty has changed over the past 13 weeks and 92 publications. I originally made these “Betzom check-ins” primarily to comment on how I’ve evolved as a writer, with a slight convenience being something easy to write about. These past 92 days have seen my biggest launching in success yet, and I’m only poised to go succeed more from here… so much so that I didn’t even need the crutch of this essay.

[Rowing Machine] 2018: Week 52 {226.5} “Gift To Yourself”

The best gift you can give to yourself is self-trust. Knowing that regardless of how any event turned out, if you trust that you did your best and tried with as much effort as you could muster, then the consequences are trivialities. Take all those negative feelings you have about wishing you could have changed past events and trust that you can act with positive intentions in behaviors that will improve your mind and body.

[Applied Self-Confidence] Bettering Better Zombie #7

Every short story or essay I publish here gets added to the “Betzom,” or, a comprehensive calendar that helps me summarize the past – 13 weeks, 92 publications, and over 46,000 words – into a singular idea that I can digest before moving on. We shouldn’t hold onto our past mistakes or achievements. Everything is a stepping stone toward something better. Rather than consider specific passages, let’s broadly consider how three months of effort can lead to improvement on change.

[The Story] Other Narrative Failures

Just as I learn from my mistakes, I also learn from the mistakes of others. It’s not for petty reasons. It’s not to make myself look better than someone else. Rather: this person messed up in a way any reasonable person might act. Let me learn how they failed so …I don’t fail, too! I would like to think “The Story” main characters John [left] and Trishna [right] act similarly. But wouldn’t that be boring?

Spoilers?: Minor (character motivations, world-building)