Catching Up on Reverb 10

Today I was reading old posts under my Creativity label, trying to find blogging inspiration. Even in reading my own blog, I can get distracted by links and go down the rabbit hole a ways. I went to a blog I haven't read in a while, and found out about a project called Reverb 10. The project provides its participants with a different writing prompt for each day of December, focusing on reviewing your life in 2010 and sending out good vibes for 2011. This blog seems to have gotten stagnant, along with all my other creative endeavors, so I think that participating in Reverb 10 may be a good way to shake things up.

Since I'm coming into the project late, I am using this post to catch up on the first five prompts. Here we go!

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December 1 - One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
(Author: Gwen Bell)

My one word would be uncertainty. Since I finally have health insurance after a long spell without, I spent most of 2010 having medical tests done to track down the cause of some weird symptoms I've been experiencing. This involved meeting with specialists that had busy schedules and sending blood off to faraway clinics, so a lot of the time I was waiting to find out results. For a while there the diagnosis was narrowed down to two choices and neither one of them was great. The uncertainty of which disease I had and what my life would be like haunted me while I waited to get an appointment with a specialist who could tell me for certain.

Now that I have a definite diagnosis, I would like my word for 2011 to be contentment. By the end of next year, I hope to be at peace with the diagnosis and the treatment regimen, as well as other things like my limitations as far as what I can and can't get done.

December 2 - Writing.
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
(Author: Leo Babauta)

The big culprits are TV and the internet. I've been a TV junkie since I was kid and my roster of shows to watch hasn't diminished much. In some ways, having a DVR and access to streaming shows online has made things worse. In the past, if I didn't get home in time to watch a certain show I would go read a book or find something else to do. Nowadays, that certain show is available to watch on my timetable. I never seem to run out of shows to watch during my limited free time. It has been difficult in the past for me to voluntarily watch less TV so I don't know if I will do any better during 2011.

December 3 – Moment.

Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

(Author: Ali Edwards)

Wow. This is a tough one. I've spent so much of the year almost obsessively dwelling on every ache, pain, and weird symptom that I don't believe I had a moment like the one referred to in this prompt. "Feeling alive" is usually described as an experience that is exhilarating and rejuvenating. I've felt alive this year, alright, but not in that way. I know I'm still alive whenever I have to give myself another shot. The injection itself doesn't hurt, but for some reason the sight of the needle sliding into my skin makes my heart beat a little too quickly. If I don't let the medicine warm up enough before the shot, it burns as it goes in. Pushing the plunger down slowly when every part of me is screaming, "Take the needle out!" is difficult. Then when I massage the injection site, I feel pricks as if I'm pushing broken glass into my skin. As for smells, syringes will always be associated with the scent of Downy in my mind because I use an empty fabric softener bottle to dispose of my sharps.

December 4 – Wonder.

How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

(Author: Jeffrey Davis)

Wonder is not something I experience often in myself, but that is where having four kids is handy! Introducing them to new music and movies and seeing how much they enjoy them keeps the fun of discovery alive for me. Not only do I share old favorites from my childhood, but I also try to keep abreast of new media to find items that might be of interest to my brood.

December 5 – Let Go.

What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

(Author: Alice Bradley)

I'm 43 and I've been doing a little bit of "letting go" each year since I turned 40. This year I've been working on letting go of my filter and saying exactly what's on my mind instead of hinting around. I don't mean being rude or vulgar; I just mean saying to my husband, "This is what I need for these reasons" instead of meekly suggesting, "Wouldn't it be nice if . . .", for instance. In the past I've been afraid of hearing people say "no" to me, as if that is the worst thing that could happen. Not anymore -- if someone says "no", I'll survive!
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Catching up on Reverb 10 was fun and I'm looking forward to using future prompts to help me review the events of the past year.