This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “opinion,” is brought to us by John. Check out his blog here!
I have very strong opinions on a few topics, but I rarely post about them on social media.
Particularly the topics I have strong negative opinions on.
And it bothers me that I rarely post about them—I wish I could be more vocal. I feel guilty, often, for not doing more than making the occasional comment on the post of someone who shares my opinion.
Why do I lack the courage to voice my outrage?
I’ve seen what happens.
The responses that state without reason that the original poster is wrong. The name calling and the bullying.
I don’t have the energy for that.
So I sit quietly and seethe.
And wonder how many blame me for not coming out and standing up for them. For not adding my voice to their cause.
It’s a very loud world we live in as we sit silently at our keyboards and doomscroll.
And if I let myself, I hate that I’m not contributing to the noise.
This introspective post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link in the comments. It’s fun!
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “celebrate,” is brought to us by Wendy. Check out her blog here!
It’s January—I may have mentioned that a time or two on my blog—which means it’s the month I celebrate my birthday.
And by celebrate, I mean I usually don’t.
Years ago, Alex would insist I buy myself a birthday cake so he could eat a sliver of it, but I don’t remember when the last time was.
My eldest son buys me dinner every year and has it delivered, then I sit at the kitchen table with a book and eat alone, like I do every other day of the year that’s not Christmas, New Year, Easter, or Thanksgiving.
It all seems a bit sad on the surface.
But do it enough years in a row, and it becomes tradition.
More of a tradition than a celebration.
I mean, seriously, who over the age of 21 wants to get older anyway, am I right?
This post really sounds like I’m whining, but I’m not.
#amhappy
This not really sad post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link in the comments. It’s fun!
Don’t you hate it when your mouth craves a flavour but your tummy wants nothing to eat or drink? Just me?
If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure.
Here are the simple JusJoJan Rules:
1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.
2 a) The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!
5. Have fun!
Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com
3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.
4. Tag your post JusJoJan26 and/or #JusJoJan26.
5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!
6. The prompts will appear every day that’s neither a Wednesday nor a Saturday–Saturday’s JusJoJan prompt will be Stream of Consciousness Saturday. You’ll find the list of prompts below as they come in, which means I’ll be updating this post. Remember, you don’t have to use the prompts. Please write whatever inspires you. NOTE: If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.
7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “intentional,” is brought to us by Dan. Check out his blog here!
I try to be intentional.
By that I mean I have a bunch of things I intend to do every day, and some I intend to get around to.
To this end, I have four calendars—one on my desk that lists my daily to-dos; one that lists those and the times I intend to do them, as well as my “when I get around to it” list; one that I write in when I’ve accomplished something; and one hanging on my wall with family stuff on it.
Despite my four calendars and my best intentions, life almost always gets in the way of getting my to-dos done.
Case in point, it took me fifteen minutes to get from the paragraph above to this one because my son Alex needed my attention.
It’s this sort of “lifeyness” that makes me wonder how anyone sets schedules for themselves a year, a quarter, a month, or even a week in advance.
Maybe I just lack discipline.
Or, most likely, I’m trying to do a bunch of things that require my complete attention, so I’m afraid to get started on them lest something distract me.
So I end up doing nothing.
Maybe my number one intention needs to be closing my door for a set period of time every day and hoping for the best.
This post written with the best of intentions is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “arms,” was chosen by Cheryl. Check out her blog here!
Unless you really try, you rarely notice how good you’ve got it until something comes along to make things worse.
I’m thinking, at the moment (because I’m really trying) of how wonderful it is to have the use of both of my arms.
A few years back, I had a frozen shoulder. My right arm was essentially useless, because every time I moved it, it hurt like the dickens. Then it got better and my other shoulder went. I never really regained the full use of my left shoulder joint, but I’m grateful for what I have.
So this is just a reminder … to remember. Remember the last time something hurt (something that got better, that is) or even the last time your nose was stuffed up, and take a moment to move and to breathe.
And enjoy doing it.
This grateful post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “magnify,” was the word choice from Barbara. Check out her blog here!
The bots are at it again, scraping this website and artificially boosting my visitor and view numbers in order to feed AI.
I used to get an emotional lift out of my increased stats on WordPress. They made me want to do more, work harder; they provided incentive to keep writing.
Now?
The bots, to me, magnify the effect AI is having on our humanity.
Why bother trying when there are machines that can surpass all our efforts? Write books in the blink of an eye, draw anything we can come up with on a whim without ever putting pen to paper?
We are important, damn it.
Our efforts are important, and so are our talents. The details we envision when we create CAN NOT BE INCLUDED when a simple prompt is typed into a machine.
We must never lose our appreciation for what we create. For what we imagine. For what our lifetimes of experience supply to our work and make it human.
This soapbox-elevated post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!
lindaghill.com 