3 things I learned in 2022
2022 was a hectic year. I left my job at the University of Washington, sold my house in Snoqualmie, lived in Mexico for half a year, bought a house in Portland, Oregon, and started as full-time faculty at Portland Community College. Through the changes and conversations, these are three lessons learned:
1. True friendship lasts forever. After a 21-year absence, my Mexican family and friends welcomed me with enthusiasm and open hearts. We took up as if we’d seen each other only the week before. They taught me that time and distance could not destroy love. The bonds of friendship, kinship, and community endure and are ever-growing.
2. Anxiety, depression, and mental distress are not individual diseases that can be cured with a pill but symptoms of deeper systemic problems.
3. Happiness cannot be attained as an individual pursuit; the more we chase it, the farther it becomes. Joy will come from transcending ourselves, engaging, and contributing to the greater good.
Plans for 2023
Women of Fire and Snow will be published in Spanish in February 2023.
I will query my novel Call of the Jaguar, a story about a mysterious Mexican woman searching for answers to her origins in Seattle who battles a secret society of white supremacists with the help of an attractive lawyer.
Perform a bilingual musical story-telling of Mexican pre-Colombian myths for children in Portland.
Promote awareness and combat femicide and gender violence with the help of my social media manager Renata Pujol.
Resolutions for 2023
Like most people, I usually fail at keeping my new years’ resolutions, but I still create my list every year because even two weeks of healthy or positive changes can impact my life.
When I don't keep a resolution, I focus on what I did accomplish and use it as motivation to try again. For example, instead of beating myself up for meditating for only ten days, I start over and try for fifteen or twenty days.
Instead of goal setting, I use habit stacking, designing the environment for success, and changing behaviors. For practical tips and strategies to improve at anything, I recommend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Request and Best Wishes
To all my readers, I hope the new year brings health, love, prosperity, and much joy. Writing is not always easy, it is lonely and time-consuming, and I am still investing a lot more money on a website, marketing, and editing than I will make back from the sales of my books. I write because I have to; I also hope it contributes something to the world.
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