8/21/2026
Greetings All,
I know it’s been quite some time since I last shared on this blog. This post is going to seem odd and out of place given when it was originally written and the time I’m posting this, but I still wanted to share it anyways. Sometimes I will write full posts and then never actually upload them, they sit on my computer or phone notes unread by anyone until I come upon them again one day in the future. Half the time I don’t know why I didn’t share them, but it usually has something to do with not having the energy to post on this blog. I can write the post but actually setting it up on the website is too much for a depressed brain to handle. But today I decided to organize all my files for the blog and came upon this lovely little post and poem. It will bring you back to the winter of 2024 (I know, a while ago), to a day where I couldn’t get my coffee right, but the sun and the snow were still beautiful. Enjoy.
Originally Written 12/10/24
It’s been a slow snowy morning today, quiet with but the sounds of espresso brewing into my waiting cup. Frothed milk and Amaretto syrup finish it off making a lovely morning even better…
[What I didn’t mention was that this was the second latte I'd made because the first one turned out absolutely terrible. How you may ask? Sugar-Free ‘Cinnamon Dulce’ syrup… which tasted nothing like cinnamon or dulce. I powered through about half of a double shot late, cringing with each sip at the sickly sweetness of it and the absence of flavor aside from that. Then I though, maybe my tastebuds were overloaded on sweet from the cereal and protein shake I'd drank previously.
"What could fix that?" I thought to myself…
I wandered to the kitchen and rummaged around the cupboards and fridge for something salty. My eyes fell upon jar of dill pickles and I decided maybe that would be it. Putting about 5 mini dill pickles in a bowl I went back to my desk where the coffee sat cooling in the mug.
Why I thought pickles would be a good ‘pallet cleanser’ is beyond me but let’s just say, it didn’t help at all and I decided the gross sugar free syrup had won. I headed back to the kitchen and dumped the abomination of a latte down the sink. Then I proceeded to make another latte with regular syrup, the previously mentioned Amaretto, and I was finally satisfied with my creation. Now back to the picturesque scene I started with…]
I sat at my desk and snapped a few pictures of the wintery scene outside my window and settled in to write a poem. Here’s what I came up with…
Sparkling flakes of crystalline ice lay upon everything in sight
Illuminated by the ray of the rising sun
Fluffy mounds rest upon the branches of trees and the birdhouse roof
The shadows of early morning dawn fall, and sunlight begins to trickle down from the tops of the trees making them glow
Shadow juxtaposed with sunlight of the coming day
Sometimes poetry comes to me quick and effortless, it does most times actually. But most of my pieces are written in a frenzy of emotion or sudden inspiration, scribbled down on a scrap of paper or in the notes of my phone. I've even written poems on receipts and napkins. Really anything in reach. I may write three poems in a day, back to back this way, or none at all for a month.
Part of being a writer is writing when the ideas feel like they are flowing out of you, your pen or keystrokes struggling to keep up with the pace of your brains creating. The other part I’ve realized is about writing when you don’t feel that. Making yourself write regardless of inspiration or lack thereof. That’s what this post was for me. Though I did find sparks of inspiration the beautiful snowy morning today, it wasn’t enough to want to write about it. But I chose to write anyways. I want to build my skills and add to my portfolio. The only way to do that is to simply write. So here I am, writing away.
I am of the mindset that inspiration or beauty can be found in most anything. A snowfall, a quiet moment, even a mud puddle. I could write a poem about all of them and be able to gleam something. That’s the challenge to myself, write something, about anything no matter how mundane or boring it might seem or if I think that whatever I came up with is great.
Aside from this challenge, I continually am working on moving through my perfectionism. I have always struggled with a high need to feel that I’ve done things perfectly. I think that’s something that a lot of people can relate to. Whether I was completing a homework assignment, taking notes, or starting a new hobby, I wanted it to be as perfect as I could make it. I can remember being in class in college taking notes and writing the heading on the top of the page for that days lesson. If I slightly mis-centered it or misspelled something, heaven forbid used the wrong pen (for me this could mean the wrong color, or type of pen) I would scrap the whole piece of paper, crumple it up and redo it. I would sometimes do this two or three times before I was satisfied with it. Sometimes I would even re-write notes later on so that they looked nicer (ie. more perfect). I’ve spoken about similar perfectionistic tendencies related to starting this blog as well, and how it served as a barrier to entry for me. One that I didn’t break down for years. I started this post with the realness of my re-made late because it stuck out to me how often we see others online seemingly having the perfect life. It’s even easy to perceive that others lives are going better than yours simply because you don’t see all the lattes dumped down the sink.
So, to the reader and myself, cheers to a challenge and becoming better at something. Cheers to doing it scared, and cheers to doing it imperfectly.
What do you want to challenge yourself with? Leave a comment below and thank you for reading!
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