A Love So Deep & Authentic Living This Week
Plus Fiction Writing Progress, Gratitude, Memories and Inspiring Finds
Hello Friends!
Here's what you'll find in today’s newsletter:
A Piece of Life in Focus This Week
A Love So Deep: Some Poetic Words about the Love I Have for My Kids.
Authentic Living This Week
Gratitude Corner - Line Dancing, Substack Love and Music
Making Memories - Ten Pin Bowling, Water Balloons & a New Hair Cut
Hobbies & Interests - Forging my Creative Writing Path towards Publishing
Reality Check - Fixing the Unfixable with My Auntie
Inspiring Finds - Substacks about Joy & Motherhood and Podcasts about Authors
Welcome to My Substack! My Name is Tania.
I invite you to join me on a journey of embracing authentic living. Through honest stories, personal insights, and reflections on authenticity, I seek to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Subscribe for free & tap the ❤️ if you enjoy this post!
Life in Focus This Week
A short poetic piece I wrote about the love I have for my boys.
A Love So Deep
Love they say runs deep. My body aches from the deepness of it, the density of it grounding me to them and the world beneath our feet. I drag my love for them with me wherever I go. Even when physically apart, my love for them always lingers and pulls me back into their arms.
I am no longer an ‘I’. Not when they crowd my thoughts, and feelings and envelop every inch of my being. I cannot be apart from them, physically, emotionally or mentally, yet I am blissful in their shackles. They settled into my soul to stay warm, cherished and loved, and so they will stay, within me, as long as I am here.
All consuming, completely overwhelming and at times too much to bear, yet this is the love I live for, I thrive from and grow for. A love that is ours. A love that I keep as my own. A love so deep.
Authentic Living This Week
This Substack series is devoted to everything that I feel adds authenticity and realness to my life and I hope it helps you focus on the authentic joy you can create and experience in your day-to-day lives too.
Gratitude Corner: Finding Appreciation in the Everyday
Taking time to find things to be grateful for in everyday moments is a great way to stay grounded and remind yourself of the things that really matter.
This week I’m grateful for:
Substack Notes. I've been active on Notes lately here on Substack. A few of them get some interest and comments but this one went viral. I actually thought of this in bed as I was trying to fall asleep. Once it sparked into my mind, I had to type it and send it immediately. I didn't see the resulting interest until the next morning which was a nice thing to wake up to.
Substack friends joining my first chat thread. In my first chat, I asked some ‘Authentic’ questions like ‘What are you grateful for this week?’ and ‘What did you struggle with this week?’ You know, pretty standard stuff. I got quite a few responses, so thank you to everyone for being involved. It was great to hear what has been going on in your worlds.
New Music. I've been listening to a bit of vintage 1920s and 1930s music on the kitchen speakers this week while the children played and I made food and/or cleaned up after the food. Nothing like a bit of old-world charm to add a spring in your step for the day.
My mum trying line dancing classes for the first time since she retired. She told me how she loved line dancing when she was younger so when I came across free line dancing classes at the local PCYC, I told Mum she should go. This was months ago and she finally built up the nerve to try it and I’m so happy she loved it.
What are you grateful for this week?
Making Memories: Cherished Moments & Milestones
Making memories and recording them has always been incredibly important to me. Our memories tend to fail us, so keeping a record of precious moments enhances our memory-keeping abilities.
Taking my 3-year-old for a game of ten-pin bowling. His Nanna, auntie and cousins came along too as a surprise. A simple game of ten pin bowling ended up being an epic morning that also involved a chaotic attempt at playing billiards, arcade games, playground fun, hot chips and ice cream. The ultimate kids day out.
Standing at the kitchen sink filling balloons with water and handing them to my 3-year-old to carry outside to throw on the grass and pop.
My 1-year-old surprising me with a whole barrage of new words and sounds almost daily. From roaring like a lion and trumpeting like an elephant to saying ‘choo choo’ when he sees a train and ‘Go’ while in the car as we drive through a green light.
My 1-year-old having his first haircut. He put up a fight, wriggling and flailing his head and trying to push his arms out of my grip with all his might as he sat on my lap at the barber shop. The barber even said to him ‘You’re lucky I’m good at my job’ as he snipped away at his rapidly moving locks one piece at a time. My 3-year-old squealed with delight and thoroughly enjoyed watching the hair-cutting event until the hair blower came out which launched both boys into a cry of tears. Thankfully a surprise lollipop sweetened the mood.
What memories have you made this week?
Hobbies & Interests: Creative Writing
Life can be mundane, so it’s always nice to indulge in something creative or interesting to break up the monotony.
I took a deep dive into my path that led me to be a writer in a recent Substack post, so needless to say my fiction writing has been a big focus for me at the moment. I have several half-written stories in the works. I was previously working on one of my Sci-Fi stories but I decided to pivot and work on my coming-of-age rom-com instead. Since I'm new to the publishing journey, I thought it was best to focus on a story that would get me closer to the finish line. The first draft of that story is complete, but it is a screenplay. I am currently in the process of transforming it into a novel. It's a really enjoyable experience so far and I have found tools that are helping me speed up the process which I'm grateful for.
To give me some extra motivation and an initial goal to aim for, I've decided to enter this writing competition hosted by Hatchett House Australia. To enter I need to submit the first three chapters of my story along with an outline and a synopsis. Entries close in July. So I'm currently focused on getting the first three chapters of my rom-com as polished as possible to enter this competition. If I have time, I may do the same for two of my other stories too.
One of the biggest reasons I haven't finished those stories yet is that when I got stuck trying to progress, I would edit the first few chapters instead. So It's almost as if this contest was made for me and my writing style :D.
Reality Check: Navigating Life’s Challenges
I find venting about struggles I face in life just as therapeutic as embracing joy. Writing about or vocalising the tougher moments in life helps us process them and knowing we're not alone in these struggles is helpful too.
Here is a piece of life that I’d like to vent about this week:
My Auntie visited our family here in Australia from the United States last week. I had not seen her in 15 years, and I forgot the type of person that she was. While she is lovely in certain aspects, for some reason she is also fixated on finding fault in others and trying to fix that fault. Even if there isn't even a fault there, she will fabricate one. And she will make statements in a back-handed compliment kind of way. For example, she said to me on a whim 'You still have such thick hair, it's a wonder it hasn't started falling out with all that stress'. What stress you might ask? Good question. Other than the usual day-to-day stresses, I couldn't pinpoint the hair falling out level of stress she was referring to. I didn't press her to elaborate either and instead ignored the statement.
She insisted my parents’ cat was sick and needed to go to the vet (she's fine I promise), told my mother exactly what she should be buying to make for her and my dad's dinners' every night she stayed there, despite making her own food anyway, and she thinks my sister is dreadfully unhappy with her relationship but fears to tell anyone about it because he is controlling her (If you know my sister, that scenario would more likely be the other way around). Oh, and I'm too skinny. I need to eat more, despite her already knowing the reason for my condition (read Eating Cake Keeps Me Skinny for context). Needless to say, I'm glad that my Auntie and the fabricated drama she tried to create is back in the country she resides in.
What do you feel like venting about this week? This is your safe space! No judgment here.
Inspiring Finds: Substacks and Podcast Episodes
Being inspired by something or someone lights us up like nothing else. It can help drive us to do more, be more and perhaps even take our lives in a whole new direction. Inspiration marks us and puts us on a path deeper into self-discovery.
Substacks
from Sunshine HuntersJust like the birds that sang over my ignorant, dissociated head my whole life, there is more to our experience than we know how to notice. The world is more beautiful than we’ve ever been allowed to believe.
The Long Days Diaries by Charlotte from
Knuckle dimples. A minuscule big toe popping out of the foot of a baby grow. The tiny feet in general, actually. Unexpected belly laughs at really random shit. Shy shoulder snuggles. Defiant behaviours. Happy squeals. And all of the rest of it.
Category: Things that make me happy, the youngest child edition.
Podcasts
Here are two podcasts from successful authors sharing an insight into their writing processes and advice for other fellow writers. Both had such different journeys that landed them their author journeys and both are equally inspiring.
What has inspired you this week?
Here are a few little random quotes to send you off for another awesome week ahead:
When in doubt, leave it out
Variety is the spice of life
Embrace your weird
Please let me know what you think of my posts by leaving a comment below or reaching out to me in the app. If you enjoy reading this newsletter consider hitting subscribe. Have a wonderful day!
We all have that person in our family that drives us crazy!!!🤪 Love the Substack recommendations!
I like the chat thread! That's a really nice touch and it makes your substack feel even more personal and engaging :)