What I Did in 2015 (A Document of My Life)

Hello Inspired Readers!

 

Here I go again being MIA on the blog 🙁 .  2015 and now going in to 2016 is full of tons of NEW for me.  I haven’t gone anywhere, I am not abandoning this blog.  I do apologize for posting less in the past year than I used to.  There is a reason for that and it has to do with putting together all the pieces of who I am and what I want to give to the world.  I am working diligently behind the scenes on getting these pieces put together so I can share it all with you, while still adjusting to the first year of being a wife and living in my own home with my man.  I am quirky in that I don’t officially start MY new year until my birthday on Feb. 27.  I start reflecting and thinking about what I want for the new year in January like everyone else, but it is on my birthday when I celebrate my life and blow out those candles that I really kick it off.

 

I’d like to take a look back on 2015 as I think about where I have been and where I am now going.  2015 was a BIG year for me.  The biggest year of my life since high school graduation truth be told.  I talked about why I stopped posting the poem of the week every Friday HERE. One day when my poetry books are published, I will start sharing some free stuff again. For now I am still writing some secret pieces for my books so there is never before seen content.

 

While we are on the subject of poetry, that is one of the miracles that happened for me in 2015.  I am already starting to feel like a “real” published author and getting just a tiny taste of what it feels like to live my dream.  My poetry continues to be found in search engines daily.  My biggest dream come true is that people are contacting me about it for permission to use it.  I was written by a high school student last year who wanted to use my poetry in her speech class for a theatrical reading.  I was later contacted by an 8th grade English, Language Arts, & Reading teacher who asked permission to use a satirical poem of mine about modern times in her curriculum!  I have had the delight of seeing a book author tweet about another one of my poems on Twitter.

These are the things that happened in 2015 with my poetry, and I am not sharing them to brag, but because I hope you will celebrate with me and be inspired by the fact that ANYTHING can happen when you put your dream out there in the world.  My spirit has been given wings to soar, as I think back with glee on the little elementary school aged Rebekah who would watch Anne of Green Gables and recite Alfred Lord Tennyson poetry to myself underneath a tree.  You’d have to understand how much of a part of my life poetry and books have been to understand the thrill it gives me to have something of mine recited in the classroom as I used to do myself when I was in school.  The really exciting thing for me is of the 6 or 7 times I’ve been contacted about using my poetry now, each time it has been for a different poem!  And each poem has been from a different genre.  Some has been of my silly Dr. Seuss style poetry, one a children’s type poem, some of my humor poetry, and a couple of my religious poems.  It has been exciting (and hopeful) to me as a poet, because it shows a broad range of what I do is enjoyed.

 

Work wise in 2015 I continued on with graphic design projects for a couple clients (which is another thing I unexpectedly “fell” into in early 2014. It all started with someone liking the look of my blog here at weliveinspired.com and asking me to do one little project for them.  More of that continued and a little bit of word of mouth, and voila, I am not just designing for myself anymore.  I also did a few one on one mentoring/tutoring projects in 2015, as working directly on the phones with people or groups is something I really LOVE doing.  All that aside though, my actual income in 2015 was the lowest it has been in years because of the fact that I dropped pretty much all of my jobs by March to focus on project GET MARRIED!!!

 

As most of you know, I didn’t officially set the date until just 2 months before the wedding and then I HAD To drop everything to be able to get the garden wedding of my dreams planned in time for the June 5th date.  I did the entire design myself (down to the invitations and decor).  Truly, it was the most beautiful wedding ever (of course I am biased 😉 ) and I did get to have the true bridal experience.

 

Right before our wedding, I was contacted by a business manager at planetsark with an opportunity to work for one of my favorite book authors as a moderator on her live teleconference programs.  I was so overwhelmed by the wedding, but could not pass that up!  Within just 2 weekends after my wedding, I jumped feet first into moderating live calls for an intensive weekend retreat called SPOP for Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (also known as SARK) and her beloved fiance John.  If you are curious about SARK, one of my favorite books of hers is called “Inspiration Sandwich” , and you can find it HERE on Amazon.

 

SPOP had another run in September of 2015, and I had the pleasure of assisting at both retreats.  I will cherish that time as Susan has just recently lost her beloved fiance, Dr. John Waddell , whom I also had the pleasure of assisting while he spoke on those calls.  I feel more at home in SARK’s programs or Facebook groups than anywhere I have ever felt.  The people are wonderful and I had the best co moderators to work with too (Emma French (whom I have worked with before during our own workshops that we did in 2014, Bec, DJ, and Sarah)).  This is an experience of a lifetime, and one I will never forget.

 

 

We did have one tragic thing happen in 2015, our beloved seal point Himalayan Persian cat Tawny got sick and died here at home not too long after the wedding.  That was heart wrenching to watch.  I wasn’t planning on adding to our household for awhile, but an unexpected opportunity to get a pug puppy popped up 2 weeks later and we became first time dog owners as a married couple. You can read about that HERE.

 

One of my life challenges is that I can get overwhelmed by the day to day stuff of life.  I sometimes deal with big sleep challenges, low energy, dizzy spells, and other weird random health issues.  My physical body can’t always keep up with my internal self that has a ton of ambition and dreams, goals, and about a billion creative ideas roaming around in my head.  So, sometimes things like blogging or keeping the perfect house slip through the cracks.  Sometimes these things I go through cause me anxiety and so I have to take time out for self care/rest.  No matter what the circumstances though, I create a joyful life and as you can see, it is very full.  I have been adjusting to the new responsibilities of taking care of pets, a husband, garden and home, pretty much by myself as my husband works 10 hour days and works 6-7 days a week most weeks now.  Maybe I will get braver to blog even more about my challenges in 2016.  My hope is that as I share my dreams and all the amazing things I manifest despite my challenges, that you will find hope, encouragement, and inspiration to create your own uniquely beautiful life too!

I have SO much to share with you about what I am doing in 2016, as I have been a busy little bee behind the scenes cooking up the next phase of my inspired life!  I will be back sooner to write this time and share my theme word for this year.  Last year’s word was PERMISSION (you can click that word to read about what it meant to me).

Lots of love,

Rebekah