Blue Zones Project: Booze Up and Socialize

Today, I'm going to handle three of the power nine, bringing us up to five. To recap, we've already talked about knowing your purpose, and down shifting, numbers two and three respectively. The next three:

Number Six: Wine at Five
Number Seven: Right Tribe
Number Nine: Love Ones First

seem a bit interrelated.

Wine at Five? Research shows that having a glass of wine a day (2 for men) is good for you. I've been giving this a try, and I've been enjoying it. Mind you, I'm not much of a connosieur. I've been enjoying the wine from a local vineyard, Fireside, and I mostly go for sweet whites, but I know red packs more of a health punch, so I'm working on acquiring a taste. This is nice. It mellows me out without the xanax, which may be the point, and it's a chance to sit back at the end of the day and relax. If you don't like wine, the same benefit can be had by drinking a nice sparkling grape juice, in terms of antioxidants, which is what Bryon does.

Right Tribe. Are you hanging with your friends? Bryon and I recently realized we spend a lot of time by ourselves, so we are making an effort to have at least one social event a weekend with the people we care about, with allowances that sometimes we need time for ourselves. So far, we've been successful in setting something up five out of six weekends. This means I'm away from the computer more, and you've probably noticed. However, it does seem to be enjoyable to have human contact. For us, given our lack of family ties, this also ties into Loved Ones First, as our friends are kind of our family.

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This means a couple of things about my writing life. I am going to be a bit more rigid in scheduling and sticking to particular times for writing (I'm great with scheduling, but sometimes I substitute times if I don't feel like it and know I have time later in the week) and I also have to seek out that work/art/life balance that makes me a complete person (you know, see people? Eat right? Exercise? Write?).

I believe you can have it all. I was much busier than this when I was getting my PhD, and I did have it all. I just have to pay attention to how the puzzle fits together.

Another piece is the online piece. I'll be here as much as I like, but I find that there seems to be a direct proportion to how involved I am with other projects, and how much I am here. Work seems to take care of itself. The wellspring of creativity that makes an interesting blog contrasts with the coolness of the novel I'm working on (personal coolness. For me, the writer.) In short, what am I obsessing on today? But this could be a good thing, because I'm producing more fiction, and moving toward publication.

Unless you like my blog, which makes it a less good thing.

So, after work, in which I'm going to finish this conversation partner thing and contact some students about Viet Nam, I'm going to go home, scoop my driveway yet again (oh! Florida, how I count the days until retirement!), and buckle down for another exciting writing session of Sweet (3) Poison as I move toward getting that first chapter ready for Glenwood Springs. Until about nine o'clock, when I'm cracking open a beautiful bottle of Blu.

Toodle and loo (lieu?), Internet.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.