Making room for my dreams.
Some thoughts about my Advent "mission."
Yesterday on his podcast The Walk
Vonhögen shared a couple of questions each of us can reflect on this first week of Advent:What are my true goals in life?
What can I let go of in order to make room for those goals?
We all have dreams. But sometimes (oftentimes, in my case) these dreams can get buried under an avalanche of clutter—physical, mental, and spiritual clutter—that we’ve consciously and unconsciously collected over the course of our lives.
Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. What better way to prepare ourselves to receive him than to clear out all the “junk” that has taken over our attics, our minds, and our souls? Jesus doesn’t want us to lead a cramped existence, burdened by years’ worth of “stuff” that only holds us back. He wants us to be free to dream big!
But if I’m going to make my dreams and goals a priority, I first have to ask myself a couple of questions about my vocation:
What is my overall calling?
What specifically is God calling me to do right now?
I believe that I am called by God to be a storyteller. My mission is to use the power of words to entertain, inspire, and educate my readers and listeners. I do this in many different ways—through books and essays, through podcasts, and through giving tours at a local history museum. These are very different kinds of storytelling for very different audiences, but they all serve my greater mission in some way. They are the means God has put at my disposal in this season of my life.
One of my goals for 2025 is to write more fiction. I have so many ideas for short stories, novellas, and novels that I often become paralyzed by indecision—Which stories are the most important to me? Which ones should I tackle first?
Elements of Ignatian spirituality helped me with this problem! I just finished reading The Spiritual Exercises by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The section on “discernment of spirits” was a true eye-opener! I began to apply the basic principles of recognizing consolation and desolation to solve my creative paralysis. To do this, I asked myself two questions:
Which writing projects make me feel more joyful, excited, peaceful, and fulfilled?(consolation)
Which writing projects make me feel more confused, frustrated, anxious, and depressed? (desolation)
The answers came to me almost immediately.
I love writing nonfiction, including nonfiction for children—I’m good at it. I’ve also discovered an unexpected talent for writing paranormal fiction, like my work-in-progress novella Field Station Delta. When I imagine creating more stories of this kind, I feel excited and motivated!
But I also had to admit to myself that don’t have the desire or ability to write fiction for children. And I’m at peace with that. For a long time I believed I was supposed to write a middle-grade/young-adult fantasy series. But the harder I tried to make this story “work” the more anxious and discouraged I became. I had to give myself permission to let go of this idea in order to make time for the stories I really want to tell.
While true Ignatian discernment is more complicated and nuanced than this simple exercise, I found peace in putting my experiences of consolation and desolation on paper and discerning a rather low-stakes (in the grand scheme of things) decision.
Yesterday, my copyeditor returned Field Station Delta with her line edits. I plan to finish addressing these revisions by the end of the month. I’ve also begin a detailed outline the first sequel, called “The Nordingham Incident.” My goal for the first quarter of 2025 is to write the first draft of “Nordingham” with the help of my book coach Katelin Cummins.
I’m not going to abandon the fantasy genre entirely. I have plenty of ideas for fantasy stories that play to my strengths and to my natural writing style. I’ll have more to say about this soon.
My “mission” for the rest of Advent will be to continue to prayerfully discern my true dreams and goals, so that I can offer them as a gift to the Christ Child when he arrives on that blessed Christmas morn.’
May God bless you and keep you in this time of joyous expectation!
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Until next time, take care, happy reading, and have a blessed Advent!
I also struggle with decision paralysis, so this exercise (or applied practice?) may be helpful for me too! thanks for sharing it, and for the deeper application.
Just what I needed to read!
I had a meeting with my mastermind group this morning, asking them to weigh in on several projects for 2025... And they agreed I should just keep doing the things I'm doing now, newsletter and podcasting because I love it! It was hard to accept because it feels like the option that makes the least money. But it's clearly a calling. Like you, I want to tell stories that result in spiritual transformation. That's what I'm meant to do.