Monday’s Pen to Paper: Writing is hard. I give up.
It’s hard to write. I have yet to get on an ongoing regular schedule. I have had times where I’m on task and I love it, then life gets in the way. Last year I cleaned up and sold one house and remodeled and sold another. That took up a lot of time and energy. In the spring we had extended family living with us, which bit into free time, and then during the summer my kids are both around, so I’m always busy. Simply put, finding time to write can be a struggle.
Sometimes I just want to give up.
I have written posts about how I’m working on finding time to write, and what I have realized is that if you have a busy life, and have not established yourself as a writer in your mind, or by receiving a good paycheck, its hard to justify putting writing first. The kids, the dishes, the dogs, the groceries, work, and everything else seems to get priority.
So what can you do?
Reevaluate your schedule often. Figure out what is important to you and make a place for it in your life. Writing is important to me, but I also have other priorities. My family comes first, and then of course I love to play basketball and be active, and…and…and, this is why I have to sit down and reassess how to keep writing in my schedule.
I write once a week with my friend Jenny (that’s a given), and what has worked best for me after that is to grab my computer and go to “the office” (a coffee shop away from my house and my responsibilities). Still, this is not easy and unless I give myself a little talking to, […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Give It a Rest
All of my life I have been active and when I’m on the court, I go all out, but I also know how important it is to have my body working. I spent time in a wheel chair when I was 24 years old, I’ve been on crutches a couple of times, and I’ve sprained ankles, torn ligaments and fought tendonitis and when I’m hurt it’s a lot more difficult to do the things I want to do, so I do what I can to stay healthy, which sometimes means giving my body a break.
Recently my daughter went in for her second knee surgery in less than a year. The doctors had to stitch down the meniscus and she was given a three-month timeline for getting back on the court. After her first surgery many questioned her then two-month timeline. “My meniscus tear only took 3 weeks”, “I was walking the next day.” I suggested she work hard on rehab but even more important, listen to her body. It is more important for her knee to be healed for the long run.
As athletes we must learn to really listen to our bodies. We are taught to push ourselves to the limit, to go beyond what we are capable of, that’s what good athlete’s do, but we also need to understand that our bodies are our temples, our vehicles for living the life we want to live.
Without a healthy body you can’t run the race, play the game, climb the mountain. So if your body needs it, give it a rest.
Would rest have made a difference for my daughter last year? No one knows for sure, she waited two months while doing rehab so that shouldn’t have […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: A Picture is Worth a Ton of Words
Use this photo as your prompt and get writing…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Developing Better Handles
I wasn’t born with very good handles. I played small forward most of my life and had to run the point from time to time, so I worked on my ball handling, but I’ve never felt terribly comfortable bringing the ball up the court against tough one-on-one defense.
I did however get better throughout my career from practice, lots of practice. And I learned after my career was over, how much the body can learn and adjust if you push it. After being in an accident and shattering my right arm (my shooting arm and favorite hand to dribble with) I had to do most everything with my left hand. And you know what? My left hand got better at everything. Way better. My body retrained itself to use my left hand. Of course once I regained use of my right I lost some of the agility because I didn’t work to keep it, but it did show me how much my body is capable of.
Sonya Elliott getting out of hospital bed to work on PT – 1991
Work on your ball handling, and even better yet, do things around the house with your off-hand. If you’re right handed, brush your teeth with your left, brush your hair, eat your cereal, drink your milk. Even do your chores, if you have them (hopefully you have them), dust, vacuum, weed. If it’s important to you, even doing these small things on a regular basis, can help your game.
So give it a try, push yourself to use your off-hand and add some new ball handling drills to your regimen while you’re at it!
For ball handling drill check out my blog, Hope for Better Ball Handling…
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
Blog
PEN TO PAPER: World Health
Before we write each Thursday, my friend Jenny and I meditate. Even now, with Covid-19 Stay-at-Home orders, we write and meditate together. We connect via video chat, set our timers and breathe. It grounds us before we dive into writing. I’ve been working to integrate meditation into my daily life as it brings me a sense of calm. I’m not always great at doing it, but if ever there was a time I needed it, it’s right now. Not only are there life’s normal stresses, we are all dealing with a pandemic.
A World Wide Pandemic.
When I write it out like that, it seems f’ing crazy. A thing of novels, and movies, and maybe the distant future, but not life in real time. But it is life in real time, and unfortunately, it is the world’s new reality for a while. The thought of it is unsettling and scary, but when […]
PEN TO PAPER: Life
I write every Thurday with my friend Jenny. We used to always start with a freewrite, where we would choose a prompt and then write continuously for a few minutes, not worrying about spelling or grammar or content, just simply writing what ever came through our fingers and onto the page. Last week, after a few minutes of meditation (a more recent addition to our Thursdays), we decided to re-introduce the freewrite. We opted for “Life” in poetry, and started writing. When we were done, we read to one another and breathed…we needed that.
The freewrite has been added back into our writing routine.
If you’re a writer, maybe it’s time to try another freewrite. If you’re not a writer, give it a shot, you never know what will happen. You don’t have to read it to anyone. You can simply keep it to […]
PEN TO PAPER: Writing To Save My Life
Several years ago I wrote an article about how writing literally saved my life after my fiancé was killed and I felt as if life wasn’t worth living. I never published the piece, but I hand it out when I speak to grief support groups, hoping that my experience with recovery will inspire others who are struggling. And now, I hope that by sharing it here, it will find it’s way to those in need…
“Writing to Save My Life”
Sonya G. Elliott
I wouldn’t have thought it could happen. Getting hit by a train and losing my fiancé just days before our wedding for one, but actually recovering from such a thing seems altogether unbelievable, even a miracle. And, of course, the fact that I survived was a miracle to my family and friends, but for me it was a death sentence that left […]
Follow Sonya