Living a Meaningful Life

“It is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.” – Jim Collins

We get one life to find meaning in. The good news is that we get the freedom to find that meaning in our own way. And the even better news is that we get to seek it out in small and big ways every day of our lives.

That adds so many layers to living. It keeps us present and using our whole brains because we are participating in the moment. I don’t think we need to be in a constant state of finding meaning in every little thing. We can search for meaning here and there just enough to keep the flames bright.

Don’t stop searching 🔍

-Saschia ✨️Jayne✨️ Johnson

Don’t Let Them Make Excuses For You

“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” –Albert Camus

There’s no perfect balance in this life and I gave up looking for it. With that being said, it’s important to set boundaries around your commitments to yourself. As writers, people often disregard the importance of our designated writing time. It’s easy to fall into their way of thinking. They create excuses for you to ghost yourself and the only one who suffers is you.

Here’s a tough truth, it’s not other people’s job to respect your commitments. They don’t hear the same inner calling as you. That’s your song and you’ve done more than most by stepping up to the plate to answer that call. Don’t expect anyone to understand why you must stay committed to the boundaries around your craft.

Here’s the plus side, there’s a lot of others who will support your commitment to writing. Sometimes it’s your spouse or best friend, sometimes it’s fellow writers and creatives, and other times it’s strangers that just get it. Writing can make you feel lonely, but it doesn’t mean you’re really alone.

There’s tons of ways to connect with other writers.

  • Using hashtags and commenting on other writer’s works.
  • Finding writing groups online -Facebook has a ton of writing groups
  • Finding writing groups in person -libraries, arts coalitions, local nonprofits all might be places to look
  • If it’s accessible attend writing workshops, retreats, and events
  • Message me on here or IG. https://www.instagram.com/jayne_press/ Also I follow writers back. Give me chat!

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson

Freeze

“A poem about preparing for the first freeze.”

Outside chills my bones.

I brought my plants in so they wouldn’t freeze

from the possible frost I head from the news anchor

on tv

The same news anchor that spills that bad news.

but a freeze isn’t bad news.

It’s just cycles sometimes it’s warm other times it’s cold

so I brought my plants in to keep the warm.

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson

Your Stories Carry an Infinite Amount of Information

“The world needs our stories”

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” -William Faulkner

The amount of work it takes to write a full length novel is unknown to people who have never written one. And truth be told, I don’t think readers care about how much work you do. It only matters that the story was good.

The right reader will find your book and feel like it’s exactly what they needed. This life is hard and books lighten the load. They give us brief moments away from it all. Believe that you’re doing a service by sharing your art with the world. Believe it or not the world needs our stories. Our stories carry an infinite amount of information that can’t be calculated because the stories are a little different from each person who reads them.

So yes, your novel is hard work, but it is so worth the effort.

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson

What Are You Hungry For?

“A Poem”

The sting of nothing against your lips

draws me places that

linger beneath the covers.

What is it that drew you away from life

from me?

Is it me or you?

The swirl of us

has always left me astonished because

I thought I knew me from you.

Came to learn that I didn’t.

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson

You Are Worthy of Your Dreams

✨”We should dig deep for our dreams.” ✨

I’m all about the 4-day work week but only because I’m still going to be writing 7 days a week for all 12 months of the year. I think a 4-day work week is exactly how we should work. Building other people’s dreams is not supposed to be our entire lives. When we get the time, we should dig deep for our dreams. People think when I’m in school full time the struggle is that I’m a mom, wife, and college student and forget that I also write for several hours every night on top of those other things. Yeah, it’s a lot but at least I’m going to die one day knowing I published the novel of my dreams. And possibly at least 40 more published pieces but I don’t want to put a number on my work. It feels limiting to do that.

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” Earl Nightingale

What is life if you are not becoming the person you want to be? We need more people trying out the things they dream of doing. Find out you hate it, so what. You get to step into your elder years knowing you were part of something you thought was great. There might be other regrets but trying out a long term dream won’t be one of them. So, you can check that right off the list and find some other new thing you’d dream of trying.

Keep dreaming!

“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson

What Type of Reader are You?

“I’d be considered a dabbler if there was a name for the way I enjoy reading.”

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” -Rene Descartes

Today I got to spend a couple of hours at my favorite library. It was pretty much my workplace for years. It was nice to be able to think and explore all the different styles of writing. I looked at a nonfiction book about a ship called Mentor. I read a few pages of a collaboratively written book on Sci-Fi and Fantasy. And I skimmed some of Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.

If there was a name for the type of reader I am, I’d be called a dabbler. I like to read a little bit of everything. It’s more satisfying for me to read that way. That’s why the library is my happy place because it’s super easy for me to dabble in all types of books.

What type of reader are you?

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson

Just Floating Along

“Do any of us really know what we’re doing?”

I’m floating along in this life wondering how to do this living thing. Not in a negative way. Just in a one day at a time kind of way. We all get to do this thing our own way and I’m not even sure our future plans will look the same as the way we’ve been taught by our elders. So even if we were taught, would it be accurate to the times? I appreciate our elders, especially the ones that work hard for us to have a healthy future, but I don’t even know if we’ll even buy our own cars in the near future because self-driving cars like Ubers could be all the rage.

Point is things are changing. I’m changing. We are changing on a global and individual scale. This isn’t some new thing. The world is constantly changing and innovating. It impacts me as a writer because of how we market our work, but it doesn’t impact the craft so much. I still have to write and edit.

-Saschia ✨Jayne✨ Johnson