~ IWSG: NaNoWriMo, Yes or No? ~

yvettecarol

Nov 2

It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you'd like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post on the first Wednesday of every month. Every month, the organizers announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. Remember, the question is optional!!! Let's rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and the hashtag is #IWSG.

November 1 question: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not?
When I pondered this question in last year's November post, IWSG: NaNoWriMo, I had a set of answers that were true for me then and are still valid for me now. However, this year, I would also add some stuff to that answer because recently I have opened up to the idea of doing less. Have you heard of the reverse bucket list? It is based on the idea that less is more. Ergo, "happierness" as Oprah Winfrey coined it, comes not from wanting and having more but from asking for/anticipating less. When we have 100 things on our vision board that we want to achieve and 50 things on our bucket list, the stress of ticking items off the lists can be counterproductive. By letting go of some of our goals and aspirations, we can expect less, stop striving as hard - let go of the pushing - and relax a little more.

I don't know about you, but I've not got around to compiling a bucket list yet. It gives me the rebel in me staunch satisfaction to think about starting with a reverse bucket list. The American teacher, Arthur Brooks, author of From Strength to Strength, says that every year on his birthday, he goes through his belongings and gets rid of things, clothes, etc, and he looks at his goals and aspirations and releases things from the lists. He says that wanting less is incredibly freeing and satisfying.
This harks back to the first point I made in last year's blog post on this subject, NaNoWriMo, that I don't need the stress. Frankly, I resist the idea of inviting more pressure into my life than I have already.

Prolonged raised cortisol levels in the system are known to cause inflammation and lead to all kinds of health issues. Brooks gave the audience a reality check when he asked his interviewer if he knew the names of his grandparents five generations back. No. Four generations? No. Three? No. Two? No. The interviewer could only name his grandparents and some of his great-grandparents. Brooks said, realize that if your great-grandchildren won't remember you, neither will anyone else.
Reality check. Boom. Whew, I really got that. There is no point in striving for fame, riches, or recognition and suffering all the slings and arrows that go with those things. Far better to relax. Fully embrace our utter insignificance and let that freed energy boost us into more and more happierness. This idea struck a chord. I gravitated toward it instantly.

I look forward to writing my reverse bucket list this November, and while I'm at it, I'll write a reverse wish list on my birthday in December and a reverse resolutions list for New Year's. Whoopee! The only thing I don't think I could ever strike off the lists would be writing stories.
What are your thoughts?