Hello everyone! Today, I wanted to share what I would tell you if we sat down for a coffee chat!

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I officially decided to rename the entire series to Coffee Chat since that’s really what I think of it as anyway. The rest of the layout will stay the same, but I figured it was best to rename it anyway. Oh, I’m still making coffee at home, although I’m working on convincing my local library staff that they need to knock out a wall, expand the library, and use the extra space for a Starbucks/cafe area. Please wish me luck in this very important endeavor.

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If we were having coffee I’d tell you, all about my plans for NaNo. I am looking forward to my first non-traditional NaNo, where I’m not going to write a new novel! Instead, I’m editing the novel I wrote earlier this year and I’m so excited to work towards making it a more cohesive and readable draft! I still haven’t read my novel’s first draft when I’m writing this (by the time your read this, I have though). I remember during the first draft writing process I was trying to reach my goal of 80,000 words in a month, so I followed the NaNo writing style where I would skip parts if I was having trouble or make big changes from the middle on without changing it at the start, and leave myself notes too. So I need to compile those notes and read the story again to determine what I need to change!

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, about how tough it can be to have a new dog! I have a whole post planned about my thoughts for the first three or so months with my dog (so I have another month to go!) but it can be tough to get adjusted. I also think that the focus is mostly on the dog for all the content I see about adding a new furry member of the family, and rightfully so, but I want to touch on the human’s perspective too! I have found myself periodically thinking “omg why did I do this? My life was so peaceful before!” and then feeling bad about that. But I saw a TikTok saying that’s normal and totally understandable which is really reassuring. It is a BIG change for everyone and it’s so easy to have high expectations that you don’t know are too high when adopting your first dog. Even the dog trainer that I’m doing the dog classes through acknowledged that being a first time dog parent is tough and so that has really helped me continue to adjust to my little Fox.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, how great my new job is going! I do like my coworkers and boss, the clients are great so far (for the most part – there is one event I’m assigned to that makes me feel morally conflicted actually), and the work is picking up! I’m getting so much busier, learning as much as I can, and even being supported for an idea for a fun project I have. When I brought it up casually to my boss she just about lost her mind with excitement, which is always great! Then I brought it up to my coworker who is sort of leading myself and the other new gal in our role as she’s been there longer, and she was also so excited! She said she hates the kind of project that I love so she’s so grateful to have someone to take that on and make those much needed changes. I’m really excited to get that project fully off the ground and moving!

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that my local library asked me to give a presentation about being a blogger! I’m still in the process of working out the details but so far the main stuff is mostly decided! The date is still being finalized but it looks like it’ll be early in the new year. I’ll be sure to share more about it later once more stuff is figured out like if it will be a virtual event too or not. If it was a virtual event, would anyone be interested in attending? Let me know so I can push for that option with the librarian!

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, how I recently spent a week and a half without a phone! It wasn’t as bad as one might think, but it was very eye-opening on how reliant I am on it. Although, to be honest I had already admitted to myself that it would be bad if my phone ever broke because I had fingerprint access enabled for a ton of apps, and so that meant that I didn’t know my usernames or passwords to many apps I use regularly! I’ve spent a huge portion of my life these past few weeks resetting pretty much every password to the best of my ability (since I couldn’t get the code sent to my phone number). Luckily I was able to do that for many accounts and am now also making sure they are more secure. Now, I have most of my stuff updated and working on my new phone!

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, how I managed to ramp up my reading in the last few days of October! I was just about ready to give up on my reading goal of 100 books in 2021, but I think I’m now at 93 books read and I think I can get another two books at least in November (although NaNo will make that tough). Then, hopefully I can balance Blogmas and reading the last few books!

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that I’m finally getting insurance again! At my new job, I wouldn’t get the health insurance and lots of other benefits until three months in. November is my three month anniversary there so I get health, vision, dental, and life insurance again, along with PTO finally! I still have to wait until the full year for the 401k, unfortunately, but I’m so relieved to have this sense of ease again (although I still maintain that insurance is mainly a scam).

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, that while I do think I come across on my blog as a highly productive person, I’m not always that way. I have plenty of down time and it’s taken a long time for me to feel at ease with that idea. I will admit, my blog is very motivating too. I am always signing for events and reading books and doing cool stuff in order to share it. Well, that’s not true either, I do very much enjoy trying out new things, but it is motivating to do stuff knowing that I’ll be able to share it on the blog too.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, about my progress towards my year 30 goal, “create peace”. I have felt like I’ve been doing very well in this goal lately. Forest bathing and tai chi last month were two scheduled activities that I felt really aligned with this! But other less scheduled things have been things like mindfulness, walking my dog during lunch and taking those important breaks, and even making sure to wake up early enough to enjoy my morning coffee in the kitchen before heading up to my home office for work. I am making sure to build i moments of stillness throughout the day and I’m so happy I’m doing that. It occurs to me that my “half-birthday” is this month too, which means that we’re halfway through this goal. I think this goal has come easier to me and has been more intentional than many previous goals. I love that this year the goal has aligned so strongly and resonated so much with me.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you, about my 2021 goal, “positivity”. I’ve managed to keep this one this month too! Even when my phone broke, I shrugged it off, knowing I have a plethora of other electronics to tide me over and I was so happy that the break coincided so closely with the launch of the phone I ended up getting. I think these things happened at the right time to sort of “test” me and this goal. I’m sure I passed those tests and would like to point out that this is great at next month will be the final month with this goal!

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So that’s what I would share with you if we were sitting down for a coffee chat! What would you tell me?

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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