It’s National Novel Writing Month and I am still plugging away towards the finish line at 11:59pm, November 30th and 50,000 words.
So far I have about 43,000 words so I am on track, but that wasn’t so just a few days ago.
Just a few days ago I was behind by about 7,000 words and had almost thrown in the towel. With the Holiday, friends and family, and just the normal stressors of life, my motivation was starting to wane and giving up would have been a lot easier than plowing through my train wreck of a story.
Thank goodness for something called nanowrimosprints (https://twitter.com/NaNoWordSprints) on twitter. It’s a twitter feed that challenges you with prompts, but most importantly, time specific writing frenzies to really pump you up and get you to writing.
It breaks up the monotony of feeling like I am working alone when I am being challenged along with thousands of other participants.
Write-Ins do the same thing, where writers meet up and write together, challenging each other to increase their word count and stay motivated and focused.
Writing can be such a lonely hobby and knowing that I am not alone in this journey really helps, and that’s what pulled me away from throwing in the towel and helped me to get back on track.
That got me to thinking about the importance of having a good support system.
Working in the psychiatric hospital, it was easy to see that clients who had good support systems usually had a better prognosis than clients who didn’t.
Clients who’s family and friends were involved in their care usually had less relapses (and less severe relapses) and shorter hospital stays.
Working in the school setting, it’s not very much different. Students who have good familial support, good friends and supporting teachers/adults, usually cope better with whatever issues they are facing, compared to students who do not.
It’s important that we all have a good “team” around us. When we don’t have anyone to be accountable to or to lean on for support, it’s easy to give up.
A lot of times we think we have to do things on our own, and no doubt, often we can and have to because no one can do the work for us, but it is very important and beneficial to have a supporting team who can help keep us accountable, honest, motivated and on track. And we can do the same for others.
Think about who is on your team right now, who would you like to be on your team in the future? Family members, friends or professionals are all viable candidates. Sometimes we don’t think about these things until we are in the middle of an issue or crisis.
Think about when things were really great. Who did you have around you that supported you?
Maybe right now everything is good and you don’t really think you need a support system and that’s great, but it’s always a good idea to know who you can turn to when you need help.
Your support system can help remind you to stick to your diet, exercise, take your medicine, stay away from bad people/ situations, save money, etc.
It’s ultimately up to you to accomplish your goals and live the life you want to live, but having a good support system goes a long way in making those things achievable.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor 