I'm typing this blog post while reminiscing.
It was a year ago yesterday, June 1, 2017 that I for the first time in 38 working years of my life, was laid off from a salaried job. It seems like forever, yet also feels like it just occurred. Unless you've walked the walk, it isn't easy. I have kept myself busy in a business mode by freelance writing part-time while searching for a full-time job, but this alone doesn't "carry me" to a good place. Someone told me last June that unless I found a way to keep going, I, like his Dad (who retired from a university job at age 70 and just lounged at home) would be dead in a year. Well, I solved that, doing the freelancing and tending to family and home needs. There had to, and still has to, be something else. Building our home library, referencing everything and shelf placing the books in proper order has been fun. And it's funny, but no matter how many books we have in our basement "cave," the urge is always there to head to Sprague Library at Montclair State University and search for and charge out books instead. Perhaps only another book lover or reader would understand or could properly explain. Keeping the backyard birds satisfied with feed and fresh birdbath water has been a twice-a-day event, seeing how they live their lives compared to mine an interesting thing. However, the most important thing (or things) I've done is focus more on my spiritual life. Early morning finds me at my basement desk, watching a Mass on YouTube and reading scripture, interesting and beneficial thoughts logged in my prayer journal, which has now grown to almost 6 volumes. Another is Saturday evening Mass with my family, which I was unable to do when I "worked a job" on weekends, as is our twice-a-week family scripture reading and prayer sessions on weekdays. Mentioned in this paragraph alone are steps I have taken personally and suggested to my family to find a true, deep peace which I don't find if I just wander through the motions. I needed something more, and that need never departs. So while the grind and business aspect are, of course, necessary, there is something at the core of me that writing alone doesn't touch: my spirit. Working my way there, exploring it, is the most peaceful thing of all. Steve
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Steve Sears is a New Jersey based freelance writer
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