Space

A Word of the Year Check In

There is a note in my calendar “Write SPACE essay at the end of the month.”

Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

Rachel Herron had a Patreon I followed years ago where she wrote one essay for each month centering around a central concept. Access to the essay was contingent on being a paying patron. (You could read it if you pledged $1). She wrote several books with that technique. The topic I was the most interested that she wrote was about “Filling the Creative Well”. She experimented each month with a new way to refill her well that she had been meaning to try. One month was meditation. I don’t remember any of the others.

In the past, I have done a quarterly reflection with my Word of the Year and felt I needed to bring this practice to the front again.

Photo by Jason Hafso on Unsplash

SPACE was a good word of the year choice for me in 2025.

March was about making space in my schedule.

Reprogramming An Old Story and Shadow Patterns

I like to tell myself stories [writer!], but sometimes I tell myself a story that more about perpetuating a self-limiting belief rather than the truth. Then the danger is the more I repeat it the stronger it becomes. One of my sayings is, “Just because you keep saying it doesn’t make it true” but it is harder to remember that the more you repeat it. One of these stories needed breaking.

I kept myself I could not be a hard-core writer and hard-core runner at the same time.

Then the question came to mind: Is that really true?

I set an experiment to discover what was true about this story. Could I do both? I wanted to at least garner some more information about this idea.

Turns out, running makes me a better writer. There is something about running, different from walking, that fires ideas and connections in my brain.

When I was a hard core runner in my 30’s my life was much different. There are times over the last 3 weeks where my body felt like it did to me in the past. My body remembers. Muscle memory is real.

Back then, the running was part of my identity. It was something I was, not something I did or simply an action. I felt that way again this month. I have flirted with running again over the past 3 years but it didn’t seem to stick. It wasn’t the same. I couldn’t find the groove. Now I feel closer to the running just being who I am again.

But with that identity of the past peeking around the corner also came the shadow patterns that I didn’t recognize before when I was trying to establish the running habit. I used to run long in places I had to drive to. I was gone from my house which did not help the crumbling marriage I was in at the time. I didn’t want to be at home then. I want to be at home now. I didn’t eat a lot when I ran so many miles per week. There are longings of feelings of what I should do that came along with the movement of my legs I didn’t expect. I am working on unknotting these shadow patterns so they do not weigh me down.

For three weeks I ran 50 miles and wrote every day. I finished more pieces this month than I have the last two. (Also not to be discounted: I have a long-standing revision group with 2 amazing writers, a new revision group where we are playing with techniques to become better revisors, and IRL meetings with the Shut Up and Write group which helped to establish time for this finishing task.)

Is the old pattern broken? Not exactly, but I am more aware of it. I am also not as hard on myself as I was in the past. I take rest days now and try to listen to my energy more.

Looking Up/ Looking Down

With inspiration from Emily P Freeman March began the “Looking Up/Looking Down” documentation. The practice is simple. During your day take a photo looking down at where your feet are and then up into the sky! I use a collage app to arrange the photos as you see below and place the date in the middle. [It is the same app I use to make the collages in my Coffee Shares.]

So…if you notice the photo in the middle is not of the sky, nor my shoes. I was so enthralled with my visit to the Art Institute that I forgot to take the photos of my shoes and the ceiling. I was quite upset with myself about it because I missed such great photo opportunities! Oh well….I will be back there soon and take multiple shots!

Reading

In March I opened more space to read, but I am not logging my books. I used to do this but with apps like Goodreads I had gotten away from it. In college I had a hunter green Franklin Planner I carried with me everywhere and I kept a cumulative list of books I read. Sadly, I got rid of it a few years into my teaching career.

I can allow the running list of books to become a checklist thing to “win” and I grew tired of it. I dip in and out of books often at this point often reading for a few minutes and then writing in response to what I read.

Two weeks in March, I went to the library 3 times each week. This is a comfort for me. I had many holds to pick up . I have been reading more physical books this month which has been nourishing in its own way.

My friend Nancy shared a technique she uses in her bullet journal to write the name of the book and then the date you read the book to keep track. I am still meaning to try this but have not made the space for it. Maybe April is the month for that…

Artist Date

I made space to take myself on an artist date to the Art Institute. I wrote about it here if you want to read more:

March 30 Sunday Coffee Share

Experiments

I have opened up space to experiment influenced by the book Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Leunff.

This book influenced my Tiny Writing Experiments that begin April 1 and the running/writing experiment mentioned above. It influenced me to attend an IRL life writers’ gathering as well.

Looking Forward

I am not sure how SPACE will influence April but I will continue to pay attention and write about it!

Thank you for reading!

Do you have a word of the year? Have you thought about it in a while?