Weekly-ish stories for people seeking depth and meaning.

I'm Janelle Hardy and at some point you signed up for this newsletter on memoir-writing, somatic (body) healing and stories. If you'd like to leave, just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Malaise, apathy, avoidance, oh my!

Lately, I've been avoiding the mundane drudgery of necessary tasks, related to my work and my writing.

I imagine you can relate, because over 50% of how I support my healing and memoir-writing students and clients is walking them through all the ways we procrastinate, deflect, dodge, doubt and skirt the things we desire and long to complete.

When I find myself stuck, I have a few things I start with to bump myself out of misery, malaise and avoidance, and they rarely involve forcing myself to sit in my chair and do the darn thing.

Here's a non-comprehensive list of my effective ways of nudging myself back into the chores and tasks, even the fun ones, that part of me resists doing:

• I go for walks, at least 30 minutes, in nature if possible, without an agenda, without anything educational in my earbuds, with the intention to just be in motion and enjoy the wandering
• I cue up a playlist based on my mood on the moment, and let myself do internally generated movement (this may or may not look and feel like dancing, the point is to let my body move rather than let my mind move my body)
• I do anything involving repetitive handwork - this can include doodling, painting, hand-sewing, mending socks/clothes, intuitive stitching, peeling/chopping vegetables for dinner, weeding, etc.
• I do a weight training session - so good for turning off the anxious overthinking brain, getting grounded and reminding myself that discomfort can be a wonderful, generative thing
• I do Constructive Rest Pose, which comes from the Alexander Technique modality. Google it and give it a try!
• Or I do any of the other somatic techniques I teach in most of my transformational memoir-writing and healing courses

You'll notice all of these strategies involve my body. They're somatic (of the body) on purpose.

And, finally, after exploring one or more of the techniques above, then I'll sit myself down in the chair and make myself do the damn thing. At which point, I'm usually refreshed, less in my head, more creatively in flow, and willing.

I hope this is helpful. I've also shared a few upcoming events in the PS section below, all in support of you in getting unstuck in your writing.

xoxo,

Janelle

PS - Overcome Writer's Resistance Bootcamp** with my writing teacher friend, Monica Hay. She specializes in the brain science related to writer's block, and her work is a great complement to my approach with the nervous system. It runs from March 21-24.

PPS - another writing teacher friend, Daniel David Wallace, has a wonderful and free writing event coming up, called Perfect Your Process**. It's all about writing habits and practices, designed to help you feel more capable and more effective in your writing. It runs from March 22-25.

PPPS - fellow memoir-writing teacher, with almost the same name as me (Janelle Hanchett) 😂 wrote an article called We aren't all elitists. It's our job to show it and it is really worth the read. Especially if you care about people which if you're on my newsletter, I know you do.

PPPPS - save the dates! The Healing Through Writing Festival will be back, April 14th-17th. Registration opens March 31st. Writing your story is one of the most powerful ways to heal. Learn how and get started with supportive, somatic writing processes and simple memoir-writing techniques from 20+ skilled healers and writers, in this free 4-day virtual event.

** this is an affiliate link, which means that if you choose to purchase an All Access Pass or ticket, I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only promote people's work that I value and think you'll appreciate :-)