Honestly, I don't know if this article is going to qualify for the challenge, but I'll adhere to the rules as closely as I am able. I say this, because over the past 24 months, I've changed my beliefs about resolutions and goals. Both of which are not overly healthy to share with others...untill you've completed them.
...but Jaime's obsession with WA badges forces me to assist him to
some degree.
Call it a personal defect, if you must, but be kind. I like the kid.
Still battling to stay cancer-free, enduring chronic bronchitis, diabetis, and now growing cateracts to keep writing,
Jaime Buckley continues working his heart out. It's this obsession of wanting to make the world a better place, that I support. His desire to leave positive stories to encourage readers to be their best selves. How he loves people, regardless of who they are and what they're struggling with. People matter to him in ways I still don't fully grasp.
How can you not support someone like that? Even if he is a human.
That is why I believe you'll see my point in the end.
The Danger of Sharing Our Intentions
We form resolutions, because we are dissatisfied with our lives in some way. Resolutions are our effort to step it up, while goals are the stepping stones to raise that bar.
Yet when we share our commitments -- those goals and resolutions with others -- we often experience the dash of
dopamine. Our brains are wired to increase the odds that we will repeat pleasurable activities. The neurotransmitter dopamine is
central to this.
Whenever the 'reward circuit' is activated by a healthy, pleasurable experience, such as sharing a goal, a burst of dopamine signals that something important is happening that needs to be remembered. This dopamine signal causes changes in neural connectivity that make it easier to repeat the activity again and again without thinking about it, leading to the formation of habits.
...but this can oftentimes form the habit of sharing the goals and resolutions, without achieving them. After all, by sharing with others, we have receivd the reward in our minds and emotions...why do we need to follow through?
Who Has Inspired Both Jaime and Myself?
WorldAnvil is the center of creatvity on the internet, as far as I'm concerned. A blissful community of fantastical imaginations, breathtaking personlities, and lasting friendships. When Jaime and I looked at this challenge, we did so from the perspective of finding the articles that would open our eyes to something more. Something greater.
Here's a tiny taste of what we found.
What did we learn from these...and many other worlds?
Funny thing is, when you go searching for inspiration, and you do so with an open mind and heart, you're likely to find it in interesting places.
It's one of the main reasons this year we didn't want to point out a feature here or there, but rather encourage you to click on those links yourself and have your own adventures.
For Jaime and I, these worlds had aspects we have wanted to achieve ourselves. A clean and specific 'feel' to the world. Somehting unique, that stands apart from too many creations that seem forced and stagnant the more you wander through their halls.
These worlds have their own voice -- and one we wanted to hear more of -- pulling us down the rabbit holes. Some took our breath away in the sheer mastery of design, taking CSS skills to a whole new level, tempting us with buttons to press and links to follow.
More importantly, we both agreed that these worlds excited the boys in us. Each page we read and the artwork we feasted upon, spurred our own creative goals, whispering in our souls to up our own game.
That, in itself, was worth the process and investment of time.
What Does 2024 Hold For Wanted Hero?
Here we are, being told that part of the rules of this challenge is to share what our goals and resolutions are...after we've stated our belief that it's not a wise idea to do so. Oh, but we want that badge SO badly.
Here's what we WILL say:
We have high hopes for 2024, because we have been proven wrong in something profound. Our own readers have proven to us, that WE matter, at least to them. That the stories we've written and shared have some memorable effect, and for some, they've proven this by supporting us financially.
You make us think. You make us ponder, wonder, and venture into the recesses of our own minds and hearts to discover new magic and wonder...so we can share it with you for many years to come.
This year we hope to fill many gaps, open our hearts a little more, and to rebuild much of this world as we also expand it to the glory we believe it should be. Open and free to all who desire to see our method of "crazy"...because we love you. Yes, even as a gnome, I do love many of you humans.
You make it very difficult NOT to.
This is great, Jamie! I truly loved your wording. And the way it flowed was just like how a river (of words and water) should flow! Also, I blamed you in a post because I just lost my grandma in November and you saying how much people matter just got me teary-eyed because I lost her and it still hurts! But mostly because I lost a friend I had a long time ago and he will be dead ten years this coming December. So, just lots of hurt and pain bubbling up.
HunterChristmas1247 I am SO sorry for your loss. Nothing one can say will make it better -- because those individuals have a place in your heart that cannot be replaced -- and you have to learn how to live with the holes they leave. That's the EXACT reason why I say people matter. My wife and I have lost more than a dozen loved ones in the last 18 months. I lost a dear friend of 30 years just two weeks ago. He had Lou Garricks Disease (I don't know how to spell it)....and he never told us. I saw him almost 3 years ago at a funeral, because he'd moved away. He hugged me fiercely when he saw me, which is NOT his character...and I wondered. We are of similar backgrounds...horrible people with profound struggles...loved by great women who bore with our faults as we struggled hard to turn our lives around. Learning how NOT to be jerks is harder than one might think. My oldest daughter was his neighbor, and it wasn't until 3 weeks before his death that they let me know -- as per his wishes. We are coming up on the anniversary of my beloved mothers death, who was the center of the Universe to our family. I get it. My dad, bless him, came to me after her death, after all the fights with my siblings trying to TAKE WHAT WAS NOT THEIRS...and he asked me, "What would like of your mothers? You never asked for a thing, so I want to give you whatever you want." I hesitated. "It's okay, dad. I love you, I'm good." "No," he said, "I insist. If you could have anything, what would it be?" My mom used to wear this really cheap, horrible smelling perfume. But she loved it, and I loved her. I wanted a bottle of her perfume. Not a new one, but the last one she used. So, ya know,...I could remember her. So that's what I told him. To prove how much he knows and loves his children, he pulled a partially used bottle from his pocket, handed it to me, then leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. Without a word, he turned around, kissed my wife and left. That was 19 years ago. That perfume is still on my nightstand. One of my three great possessions -- all which have to do with my mother. When I miss her so much that I just can't breathe, I can place a tiny drop on my pillow and dream of the kindest, most loving and patient woman God ever made, to be my mom. You see, I learned to love you, because of how she loved me. i learned how to love my darling wife, because of the example of how my father loved my mother. Yes, HunterChristmas1247, people matter. Always remember that. Again, I am deeply sorry for your loss. Love to you and yours.
Storyteller, Cartoonist,..pretty awesome friend =)
Subscribe to Life of Fiction to see the live results of all this worldbuilding.
Jaime, we have horrible luck when it comes to losing people. But I agree. Thank you for the entire response. While it was long, I hear you. And I see you. People DO matter.