Hello, my friends!
It’s been two months since my last blog and I apologize for not staying in better touch. I have to be honest and say, since March 18, 2020, my life as I once knew it, seems to have been forever changed. This is the day I went into quarantine in an attempt to escape this current pandemic.
Like most of you, I believed this was a two-week commitment, at best, three weeks. I admit that I put my life on hold, thinking this was short term, and my part in attempting to flatten the curve. I thought I was doing the right thing, continuing to write every day, taking care of my family, and maintaining relationships from a distance. I even took up gardening using supplies that I already had around the yard, and repurposing things to make something new.
Well, that didn’t work-out quite like I expected. Two weeks, turned into thirty days then, sixty and more! Every month I found myself having to renew my commitment to my part in fighting this virus. What I hadn’t been doing was managing my stress, that was slowly simmering. Have you ever heard the expression, You Reap What You Sow?
If you’ve heard of this saying, maybe like me, you’ve associated this quote as meaning something negative, that if you cause trouble, trouble will also find you, or that you’ll get what you deserve. But someone recently said (Okay a year ago and it took this long for me to get it!) that our lives are like a harvest. We knowingly, and unknowingly plant seeds for our life.
If you plant healthy seeds, i.e. working on staying positive, maintaining healthy non-toxic relationships, focusing on things you can change, and releasing the things you cannot, this is called nourishing and tending to the soil, which is you. In four to six months, you’ll reap what you’ve sown, and that is a healthier, positive life.
But, if you choose to plant bad seeds, such as, negative thinking, maintaining toxic relationships, focusing on negative issues that you may not be able to change today, tomorrow or ever, you will be harvesting a poisonous crop in the months to come.
Whichever crop you find yourself planting, remember, these seeds will reseed themselves over and over again with very little work from you.
This morning, I’ve looked at my crop that I’ve been planting since March 18, and I see the unhealthy seeds that I’ve planted in my garden since that day. Time to do some weeding! They must be removed in order for a healthier harvest.
I know many are struggling, whether it’s the pandemic, money, a loss due to ravishing wildfires, the fear of the pending election, or health/family issues. You are not alone, although it may very much feel like it. Even if you don’t have the strength to specifically ask for help, reach out to someone healthy, it may even be someone that you barely know, and that might be the very reason he or she is there, unknowingly waiting for your call. Think of your life as the most important crop that you can tend to, that when healthy, strong and plentiful, it is able to nourish not only you, but so many others.
On a lighter note, I am working every day to bring you my next two novels, Gideon’s Wish, currently in the hands of my editor, and Hawthorne Manor is near completion of the first draft. Both of these books are refreshingly new topics, with a plethora of vibrant and hilarious characters that for sure will keep you entertained for hours. Just between you and me, the two books were actually at one time, one story, that became so complex, the characters had to be divided like fighting children, and sent to their own rooms, one room being Gideon’s Wish, and the other being Hawthorne Manor. Both of these books deal with a moral dilemma, but they also reflect what is good in people, that there are decent, kind, and loving people still in this world, and those are the ones that deserve our time and energy.
Until next time, please stay safe my friends.
Warmly,
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Becca says
It’s funny you wrote this as I was just speaking of this a few days ago. I’ve been negative as far as myself off years because of my past, but for the world around me I was always positive, if I could be. And now I find myself spouting negative all the time because of the situation I’m in. Whether it be for the pain I’m in, or struggling to buy groceries or whatever reason, it’s out me in a bad mind frame and that’s not the person I want to be. So, as you say, I’ve been trying to spout better seeds. The positive ones. And if for nothing else, then maybe I will finally feel better knowing I’ve put good in the universe instead of bad.
Bryan T. Clark says
Hi Becca,
I often think of you as I know you have so much on your plate all the time. I also know what you mean when you say you find yourself being the person you don’t want to be. I find myself just doing one day at a time, and it’s people like you that sometimes get me through the day. Many times, you’ve put a smile on my face that wasn’t there minutes before.
Alma Clark says
Thanks for your very much kind and thoughtful words.They are very much needed at this time. As always can’t wait for your next book.
Bryan T. Clark says
Thank Ms. Clark. I have that book almost ready for you!
Lana Boos-Emma says
So happy to see you are back. It has been a very difficult 6 months (and counting). But I have learned to slow down a little and smell the roses. To be quarantine in your house is nerve racking but in hindsight, you realize that you have to take an inventory of your life ( thoughts, wishes, hope) and as you say, purge the negatives. I feel the enormous amount of anger, hate, fear and speculation currently filling up the state of affairs is what causing sleepless nights for me. It is something I’m currently working through with my loved ones and God. Stay strong and positive.
Bryan T. Clark says
Thank you Lana, I’ve all but stop watching most of news. From now until November, Top five minutes of the news, and that’s it for me!
C.J. Baty says
As always, you bring words that uplift and give hope. I enjoy your books so much and look forward to the two new editions as they come to us.
My prayer is that the rest of the year have a better outlook, though I have my doubts as we grow ever closer to the upcoming election. I don’t recognize this country anymore or some of the people. And I fear, that no matter the results in November, there is more conflict to come.
Here’s hoping peace comes to us all, very soon.
CJ Baty
Bryan T. Clark says
What you’ve said is true in so many ways. It’s difficult when you don’t even recognize your own country. Whatever the outcome this November, I believe as a country, we have much more work to put in then just electing someone new in the White house. This hatred and division extends well beyond the White House. Love you!
Doug Mattheis says
Agreed. It is hard to comprehend how much this world has changed from when we were but children. The world seemed so much more at ease and uncomplicated. Was it because we were kids. I don’t think so…to much has changed
Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I did not spend months in quarantine. I instead spent 16 to 20 hrs a day working two full time jobs. So my depression came from not being able to spend time with my boyfriend, family or my home. It has been tough, but the time has come Were I have started to scale back. Eventually I will get down to just one job(hopefully by years end).
The past nine days I took off from one job and it’s truly been a blessing. Let there be no doubt the first thing I did was curl up in bed and read “Far Away”. Loved it, I let you know that. Things seem not so bad as two weeks ago. Household is under control and I have my list of to dos. Spent time with those I love and promise to do so more often.
To all I wish you much peace and tranquility. May the powers to be grant us all the strength, sanity, and compassion to weather this new world.
Thank you Mr Clark…for bringing love, joy, and hope into our lives
Doug
Bryan T. Clark says
Good morning Doug,
As always, hearing from you is always a joy. Thank you again for the beautiful email the other day. Like many people my age, as a child during the summer months, I remember playing outside from morning until dinner time. Often times my mother would have to enact her neighborhood phone tree in a search for whos house I was playing in front of. Once she found me, she would tell the person to send her son home. To this day, I can hear the voice off in the distances saying, “Bryan! Your mom said for you got get home!” Without question, I would drop whatever I was doing, jump on my bicycle and head home. I started working at 15, and couldn’t wait to start earning my own money. Yes, it is most certainly different world today.
Andrea says
What beautiful words, I had never thought of that phrase like that before. But its spot on.
Good luck with the weeding and getting life ,such as it is, back on a positive note.
Bryan T. Clark says
Hello Andrea,
I trust you guys are driving to another beautiful location in the RV, and will soon make me envious with the photos you will post. Make no mistake, I am marking many of those places as places I hope to visit with my husband some day. Thank you again for your always encouraging support!
Kacey says
Bryan, like you, I went into a funk when the world seemed to go into a downward spiral on the Ides of March. With a 12-week trip all planned and much prepaid, finding that I’d be seemingly trapped in my southwest Florida home for the summer (I never doubted that this would be a long haul episode) rather than sailing the Atlantic to Europe and then fulfilling my obsession of seeing and photographing cathedrals as I explored Italy.
But I resolved to stay busy and conform to self-isolation and social distancing. Cancelling over 100 prepaid financial transactions involved a spreadsheet and numerous emails and phone calls. I dealt with the depression setting in on Easter, when the cruise was to start, by writing a blog daily of my “virtual trip”, an endeavor which I kept up for the 84 days. The plus side was that I have now done so much more research on the places I hope to visit (probably 2022 or 2023?) when I travel again.
My other companion has been reading – I’m not connected to cable, and avoid plugging the “TV” in, so the written word has been the place I seek out when it’s too warm for puttering in the yard or bicycling the flat roads of the HOA.
Physical seeds don’t necessarily work in the soil here, but cuttings can flourish. I like your analogy of seeds, but my sharing of cuttings is more apt to my sharing of words/research. When one writes, part of the soul becomes that element which can be accepted by another and hopefully grow. I do hope to continue to read your works.
Bryan T. Clark says
Hi Kacey,
Wow, 12 weeks from the Atlantic to Europe sounds like the trip of a life time! My heart breaks for you at the thought of missing something like that. Italy was one of my favorite places to travel next to Greece. I can only imagine the amazing pictures you would have taken. Like you, Easter was hard for me as well. For Easter, my family usually gathers at our home for the entire weekend. We Laugh, eat, and play the whole time. Without family here, I thought it would be just like any other day, but it wasn’t. It was a giant hole in my heart with how much I missed them. Thank you for sharing your story, and I can’t wait to hopefully see some of your work when you do finally get to take your trip. xoxo