consistency – The April Diaries

This is the last Blog-mas Tuesday until next year, and this year I can honestly say I’ve been successful and consistent with it. I think those are the two words for 2023: success and consistency. Hey, consistency leads to success and vice-versa! Who would’ve thought!?

I write this at 5:30 a.m. because I woke up (earlier) from strange dreams. One portion of it was a childhood friend of mine moving away to Virginia to be with her fiancee and her 21 chihuahuas. 🫣

The night before that, I had a dream that people in my life hated me. What was worse is that I wasn’t easy on myself afterwards, nonetheless my poor mother who always has to hear about my weirdness (in both good and bad ways 😂).

I think this is the universe trying to tell me something, though. I could analyze a dream all I want and resultantly drive myself crazy, OR I could just give it to the hands of the universe.

P.S., did you know, when you talk, your voice activates a star in the universe? It’s a strange AF concept, I know, or you could interpret it as a chance to speak goodness into the universe.

Moreover, this is one of the habits you can do for yourself in 2023, or by all means, START NOW!!!

If you start now, you will gain momentum for the new year ahead. “New Years Resolutions” are kind of BS, so why not make them revolutionary!? There’s a thought.

Some habits I’m personally including are the following:

Walking 6,000+ steps a day
Not drinking coffee
Consistently making breakfast
Including macronutrients in every meal
5-10 minutes of quiet time, sans phone
8-6-9 manifestation method
Going to yoga every Tuesday night
Drinking a glass of water right after I wake up
Going live on Instagram until it doesn’t scare you anymore
Meditation

These are some ideas… what can you adopt or reframe to match your routine?

xoxo,

April 💕

I’m sitting on my loveseat watching a documentary on Ernest Hemingway, and it’s quite the coincidence because I had written The Truth About Writing Full-Time | You Have A Purpose two years ago today. I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t take me a bit to develop a thick skin, being a full-time writer and content creator. The truth is that no one will necessarily agree with your lifestyle choices, or with the way your brain simply works. You cannot succumb to their criticism just because they simply don’t “get it.” By “it” I mean the way your mind works and/or your ideas. I remember when I was discussing media analysis with my boyfriend and I opened a review by a… “catty” critic from a reviewer of my second published book, The Disappearing Act. Yet again, I found that it was based off the ignorance of the creative process.

What’s funny is that I mentioned very limited knowledge about Hemingway in that post. Just like the creative process and the way people think, there is a reason for everything. There were reasons why Hemingway was an alcoholic. There were reasons why he wouldn’t wake up until 2:00 in the afternoon — it was because a famous American critic gave him a harsh review and Hemingway didn’t take it very well. It wasn’t until a Communist newspaper journalist said, “Hemingway has not produced a book in six years worthy of his talents.” To that, Hemingway responded with “there is only good and bad writing.” Huh. As to why he abusive to his wife, Martha, I will never comprehend an abuser’s mind, other than the fact that he was insecure about another bad review.

There is also a reason why Hemingway wrote about death so much. He had a fascination with it, especially with the way bulls are killed in a Spanish bullfight. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it was. However, I can tell you this: in order to be a writer, you have to have some sort of fascination with something. It’s similar in the way that J.K. Rowling incorporated a lot of death in her Harry Potter books; she’s seen death firsthand by losing her mother in her twenties. That is to say, if you want to write a book, a blog post, article, or even start a YouTube channel, you’re not going to be successful by watching documentaries about authors and your favorite YouTubers all day. You can be inspired by what other people have done. But at the same time, you CANNOT compare yourself to someone else’s success. Someone’s chapter fifteen is not your chapter one. We all start from somewhere, whether you like it or not. I’ve heard of YouTubers who started at age 14 but didn’t make it a full-time job until they were 22 years old (e.g. Brooke Miccio).

Another part of building your brand and developing who you are is discipline and consistency. As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Just like a carpenter or construction worker, they work tirelessly every day until they need some sort of break. There have been times where I have needed to take a break from blogging, only to see that it wasn’t benefiting me because not writing makes me obscenely anxious. But the other thing is to just simply not put pressure on yourself. Whomever said “sometimes you need to be pressured” is disturbed AF.

Be your own [insert your name here]. I wish you Godspeed in whatever it is you try to do, and I love you all!

xoxo, April.

Check out my latest YouTube video here.