This Holy Daze: A Manifesto

It’s December 24 and I’m alone in a house in a town I’ve never been to before.

We are all in the midst of a holy daze.

The holidays.

1987 was the year I experienced Christmas alone for the first time.

In August, I left the home I shared with my mother in Northern Virginia and went to college.

In October, my mother sold the house and moved closer to her origins — Boston.

I chose to return to NoVa for the holidays rather than go north to stay with my mom.

Every day I drove my motorcycle to my job at Circuit City, the crisp air biting my cheeks.

I earned enough money selling car stereos, boomboxes, and Walkmans to pay for another semester of school.

I stayed at my friend Taylor’s quiet house while he and his family went to Arizona.

Mom worried about me being alone on a holiday that had always been a big deal for her — especially when she had five children.

I’d been working twelve-hour days while the shoppers were out in force.

I loved having a day off.

I rented three movies on VHS from Blockbuster and just relaxed.

I’m about to have my first Christmas Day solo since those early years after I first left my mother’s home.

When I was eighteen, I didn’t want to miss my mother, the tree or the gifts.

Still, education came first.

And now — solitude again.

I’m immersed in a kind of writing that is demanding—almost frightening in its call for vulnerability and self-revelation.

With my daughter and me both in seasons of soaring, I’m house-sitting in Evergreen, Colorado and using this time to write.

This phase of my life has become a mobile author’s forge.

I am reflecting on the amazing people I have been fortunate to walk with over the years.

You are creating your life right now.

Let it be deliberate.

Whether that is five minutes of meditation, a walk in nature, journaling or feeling into who you would love to become next year.

Or all of these.

Or something completely different.

The how — and how much time — is secondary.

Consciously create your life as a masterpiece.

Creative introspection is your heroic superpower.

Don’t put it off.

Our world depends on your vibrancy.

I love you.

Now — You, declare your masterpiece below.