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“A Different Thanksgiving”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

Last year at this time I was getting ready to cook yet another Thanksgiving dinner, thinking of which chairs would be empty that year. 

And again this year, I miss my children that are scattered around the country who aren’t able to fly home for dinner because of their jobs or college classes, except this year they can’t because of a virus, of loss of jobs, or crazy college class schedules. I’m missing them yet again for the holiday, but realizing that even if they could come home right now, they can’t. 

My parents have come to my house for every holiday dinner. This year my mom was recently in the hospital and while she can still drive a few minutes up the street with my dad to have dinner, they can’t. She can’t put herself at risk of getting the virus.

It seems that we’re all spending a lot of our time complaining about this virus and how it’s affecting our holidays, but why? It’s such a negative mindset. I’m missing my family as much as you’re missing yours and I don’t want to put anyone at risk. 

Enough of what I don’t want to do. 

I’m going to focus my energy on what I can and will do. 

I will be missing my children being home, but I can video chat with them.

I will be missing the tradition of going around the table as each of us told our most embarrassing moments of the year, but we can share those stories by phone.

I will be cooking a turkey and all the trimmings, just as I do each year. My parents can’t be at the table with me, but I’m going to bring the table to them by delivering them a Thanksgiving dinner.

The tradition has changed a bit, but all that I’m grateful for hasn’t. It’s still Thanksgiving to me no matter what. The memories of past holiday dinners will always be in your heart and new memories of a “2020 crazy corona Thanksgiving” will be made. Life is a mindset and you have a choice to make the best of each and every situation you find yourselves in.

Find yourselves in gratitude. Find yourselves covered in blessings. Find yourselves together even though you’re apart this Thanksgiving.

Happy Almost Thanksgiving.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

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“These Three Things”

/ Anne Dennish / 3 Comments

It was during this last month of quarantine that I learned that three important components are absolutely necessary to survive being “SAFE at home.” They are patience, tolerance and forgiveness, and most often, in that order. 

You need to have patience with the people you live with, the people you deal with and with yourself. Every one of us will have a day of feeling stressed and anxious, and every one of us will take that out on someone else who had nothing to do with it. Therein lies the patience. Be patient in knowing that all of us are experiencing this in different ways and act out in different ways. Be patient with others and be patient with yourself while you’re trying to be patient with them!

You need to try to have some amount of tolerance of the behavior of others in order to have the patience you need to tolerate their moments of lashing out. That’s not to say that you have to be a doormat and the recipient of someone else’s anxiety or stress. It just means that on those occasions (and I hope they are few!) that someone takes out their mood on you, be tolerant and be patient with them.

And most importantly, you need to practice forgiveness. You need to forgive the people that you had to be patient and tolerant with, and you need to forgive yourself for the days that you couldn’t be.

These are difficult times we’re living in and I truly believe that patience, tolerance and forgiveness are a must. Under normal circumstances we may not have to practice tolerance of “not so good” behavior as much, but right now we do, as long as it’s not on a daily basis and not bordering on abusive. 

I know that we’re all trying to get through this as best we can and some days are just too much to handle, but we need to remember to not only be patient, tolerant and forgiving of others, but of ourselves as well. 

If you can practice these three things, toss in a large dose of kindness for others and yourself as well, you will find “safety AND serenity” at home. 

Hang in there…you’re doing just fine!

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

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“Stay Home Alone Together”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

The greatest gift we can give each other right now is to stay home and live by the rules of social distancing. It’s almost ironic that something like “staying at home” can save our lives and the lives of others, yet it’s our reality right now.

I don’t want it to be a reality forever and I’m sure you don’t either. We’re living a “new normal” and now, more than ever, we need to support one another and flatten this curve TOGETHER!

I’m staying home for my family and yours.

Are you staying home for mine?

It’s time to make a difference in this world and we can make that difference TOGETHER!

Please stay home for the world and everyone in it.

I am and I hope you are, too.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

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“Oh, The Places Being A Writer Can Take You!”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

Do you know what I’m looking forward to the most in the women’s workshop I’ll be teaching in Italy this summer? It’s sharing my experience as a published author with other writers. I’m looking forward to sharing all that I’ve learned throughout my years of writing and publishing books: “the ups and downs, the ins and outs, and the do’s and don’ts. 

Yet being a writer is so much more. A writer takes a dream and makes it come true, and sometimes the dream of being a “writer” turns into so much more. It can take you places that you had never dreamed of  and present you with opportunities that you never knew had existed.

I’ve been writing all of my life but my first real “writing” job was as a journalist for our local racetrack, Wall Stadium Speedway. I had my own column and interviewed drivers, pit crews, safety teams and fans. It was a dream to be at the track that I grew up attending, yet here’s where the “dream I never thought of” happened. I was asked to race a factory stock car in the woman’s “powder puff” race the week before I began chemo for breast cancer. Driving on that track was a place I had never dreamed of being, yet it all came from my writing.

When I published, “Waking Up,” I had written song lyrics for the title and found a local musician to record it. You would think one song was enough, yet before I knew it I had written lyrics to 14 of the stories in the book, recorded them with the musician, and together we produced a CD. It was another place that my dream of writing took me to and it didn’t stop there: I was filmed in a music video for the song “Waking Up.” Yet, the dream kept growing. I’d find myself on the front page of our local newspaper, being interviewed on a well known radio station, doing photo shoots and performing in public as the musician and writer team called “Collaboration of Hope.” The dream continued when I sang back-up in the song I wrote about myself called “The Dreamer.” 

But wait, the perks of being a writer continued with my own internet radio talk show called “Living Your Best Life With Anne Dennish.” I’ve always loved radio but this was yet another dream that came about because of my being a writer. 

And during the book launch of my newest book, “Each Breath Along The Journey” another dream I hadn’t even imagined happened again: I was asked to conduct a women’s writers workshop in Italy.

And so the dreams that are founded on being a writer continue. 

Now you know why the women’s writers workshop this summer is so important to me. I want to be able to share my experiences of being a published author with other writers but even more importantly, I want to share my experiences of one dream turning into another, and another, and another.

Meet me in Italy this August and join my workshop. You will leave with inspiration and motivation to keep writing and to keep your eyes open to all the endless possibilities that being a writer has to offer. 

Writers turn into published authors and dreams turn into reality.

Let’s explore all of it in Italy this summer.

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

Anne Dennish- Author

 

“Never Forget How Far You’ve Come”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

The older we get the more experiences we have under our belt, yet there are times we forget how far we’ve come on this life journey.

We all go through rough days and tough times, no matter our age. It’s in those moments that we wonder how in the world we’re going to make it through, how we’re going to get past this difficult experience, how we’re going to find strength in a soul that is exhausted.

Yet we do.

And do you know how to do that?

You need to remember what you’ve already gone through and that you made it through…and sometimes by the skin of your teeth, but you made it through. And you made it through stronger, different, and better.

Never forget how far you’ve come…never forget the lessons you learned, and some you learned through the worst of times.

And never forget that you never thought you’d make it through, but you did.

You got through a day, slept through a night, and woke up to a new day in the morning.

A new day with no mistakes in it.

A new day to do it all differently than the day before.

A new day to change your life.

And that day is a very good day.

Life will always throw a challenge or two your way, yet it’s so important to remember that we’ve been through difficult times before and we made it through.

“Never forget how far you’ve come.”

Remember that…

Always remember that…

It’s a good thing. 

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

never forget