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Another 1,321 words in #beanstalkandbasket 🤘🏻😊 Thank you @double_a_ron13 for the love, support, and encouragement. ❤️ #writing #progress #tiptypingaway #gettingthere #writersofinstagram #woot

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Another 1,669 words typed up today for my semi-secret biography project 🤘🏻😁 #progress #biography #semisecretbiographyproject #stillearlystages #writing #woot #tiptypingaway (at Caribou Coffee)

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“Your hand fits in mine like it's made just for me / but bear this mind it was meant to be / and I'm joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheeks / and it all makes sense to me...” 🤝❤️ #mylove #ak #summer #2018 #littlethings #onedirection #happy #hegotatanandigotasunburn #4thofjuly

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“What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?” “It will be.” - Tangled, 2010 ☀️💜 #words #me #personal #bebrave #itwillbe #tangled #hope #myheart #summer #2018

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This girl just had another fantastic meeting with the human she’s writing a biography with/for 👌🏻😁 #writing #biography #2018 #vagueposting #sorry #stillearlystages #excited #happy #wootwoot

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This is a review for my book Good You Were Here on Amazon (link in bio 😉). I’m not sure who left this, but I love it. Take that, John Green! 🎉😂 #goodyouwerehere #mybook #goreadit #itsgood #imean #justlookatthatreview #bookstagram #reviews #5stars #wootwoot #2018 #love

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781 words into the outline of a new project. It’s too early for me to share a lot of details, but I’m basically taking someone’s very inspirational life story and writing it for him. It’ll be a long, collaborative process and I have no idea what will come of it, but I do think it’ll be an adventure and I’m excited. 😁 #writing #outlining #2018 #biography #wootwoot

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Another thousand. 😁#writing #tiptypingaway #beanstalkandbasket #progress #workinprogress #lovestory #fairytales #littleredridinghood #jackandthebeanstalk

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“Fear is a liar.” ❤️ #reminders #fear #anxiety #gettingstronger #me #personal #myhead #myheart #2018

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Broke 10k!! 👊🏻😁❤️ #writing #writer #nextbook #beanstalkandbasket #tiptypingaway #progress #woot

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load-bearing

Sometimes people hit a place in their life where things are going really well. They like their job and are able to be productive at it; they have energy after work to pursue the relationships and activities they enjoy; they’re taking good care of themselves and rarely get sick or have flareups of their chronic health problems; stuff is basically working out. Then a small thing about their routine changes and suddenly they’re barely keeping their head above water.

(This happens to me all the time; it’s approximately my dominant experience of working full-time.)

I think one thing that’s going on here is that there are a bunch of small parts of our daily routine which are doing really important work for our wellbeing. Our commute involves a ten-minute walk along the waterfront and the walking and fresh air are great for our wellbeing (or, alternately, our commute involves no walking and this makes it way more frictionless because walking sucks for us). Our water heater is really good and so we can take half-hour hot showers, which are a critical part of our decompression/recovery time. We sit with our back to the wall so we don’t have to worry about looking productive at work as long as the work all gets done. The store down the street is open really late so late runs for groceries are possible. Our roommate is a chef and so the kitchen is always clean and well-stocked.

It’s useful to think of these things as load-bearing. They’re not just nice - they’re part of your mental architecture, they’re part of what you’re using to thrive. And when they change, life can abruptly get much harder or sometimes just collapse on you entirely. And this is usually unexpected, because it’s hard to notice which parts of your environment and routine are load bearing. I often only notice in hindsight. “Oh,” I say to myself after months of fatigue, “having my own private space was load-bearing.” “Oh,” after a scary drop in weight, “being able to keep nutrition shakes next to my bed and drink them in bed was load-bearing.” “Oh,” after a sudden struggle to maintain my work productivity, “a quiet corner with my back to the wall was load-bearing.”

When you know what’s important to you, you can fight for it, or at least be equipped to notice right away if it goes and some of your ability to thrive goes with it. When you don’t, or when you’re thinking of all these things as ‘nice things about my life’ rather than ‘load-bearing bits of my flourishing as a person’, you’re not likely to notice the strain created when they vanish until you’re really, really hurting. 

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Progress! 👊🏻 #beanstalkandbasket #2018 #tiptypingaway #writer #writing #nextbook #littleredridinghood #jackandthebeanstalk #progress #woot

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A reminder for myself. This is the destination. This is where I’m supposed to be. ‘X’ marks the spot - this moment, right here, right now, is the treasure. ❌❤️ #bepresent #liveinthemoment #behere #anxiety #me #personal #2018

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Have a low quality selfie to celebrate me writing 826 words and passing 8k tonight! 🙌🏻🚂 #writing #tiptypingaway #beanstalkandbasket #jackandthebeanstalk #littleredridinghood #progress #writingabook #happy #2018

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Going back at it! 🙌🏻 I didn’t pay attention to what my starting word count was but I think I got 300-400 words tonight. Grateful to the boyfriend for listening to my plot and giving me some great ideas and feedback. 🙏🏻❤️ #writing #tiptypingaway #beanstalkandbasket #2018 #workinprogress #supportsystem #wootwoot

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So excited! I just finished an outline for my current story that gives me a clear plan and direction going forward! 👊🏻🎉 #wootwoot #outlining #beanstalkandbasket #2018 #progress #writing #mynextbook #workinginthecar