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Wynelda Shelton

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy
By Sarah Ban Breathnach
ISBN 0-446-51913-8
Time Warner Books, Hardcover, $21.00

I have always identified myself as a writer. When people would ask me what I was going to be when I grew up, I would tell them I was a writer. Not would be, but already was. As a teen I had visions of moving out at eighteen, a multi-book contract under my belt.

Going through college, I learned that it might be a bit harder than that. Yet still I persevered. I didn't get a degree in English so that I could teach. I went to learn how to write better. I went to learn how the heck all those other people managed to actually finish a story.

Flash forward six years. The bottom has just dropped out from under me: like so many others in this economy, I have been laid off. The company I had worked for since graduating college was going under.

The shocking part is that without a job, I felt worthless. Things piled up around the house. I slept 12-13 hours. I stopped eating except at dinner time, because that was when my fiancee would be home.

The words that had flowed so freely once upon a time dried up.

In the midst all this, a re-connection with an old, dear friend of mine. One who loved what I would write as a teen (which looking back, says a lot about our friendship). She was going through much the same thing as I with the job market, and she recommended a book: "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

"Simple Abundance" does not seem, on the surface, as a book for writers. Geared towards women, it strives to connect us to our true selves spiritually and emotionally. Then, once that has started, to help us live our lives creatively. It talks about rituals that make us feel good, and listening a bit more to our "authentic selves" instead of the critics that surround us.

As writers, we are familiar with critics. Often, there is none more detrimental to our work than our own internal critic. How much more would we as writers be able to accomplish if we were able, for even an hour a day, to turn off those critics and just write with our "authentic" voices? How much more fun would writing be?

Because up until now, I had forgotten why I love writing. The sheer joy of seeing words on paper, being able to follow a story. Admittedly, my progress is slow. A few letters, "gratitude journal" entries, this column. But it is a start.

"Simple Abundance" is a day book, with readings for every day. I am almost done with June (it's from the library). Although it is primarily for women, there is a version for men: A Man's Journey to Simple Abundance (ISBN 07-432-006-16, $22.00 US).

If, like me, you find yourself lost in the wilderness of self-doubt and feeling worthless, I can highly recommend this book. It has helped me see that no matter what else may or may not happen in my life, I am a writer. That being a writer is my most authentic self.

Being a writer is a wonderful thing.

Wynelda Shelton