The Sy’Arrian Legacy Accomplishments & What’s In Store For 2023
A common sentiment at this point in time of the year usually goes something like, It’s Christmas already? or I can’t believe how fast the year has gone by! Then it is followed either by a heavy sigh and shaking of the head or a profound eye roll. No matter your coping mechanism, the sooner we realize there is not enough time in the day and embrace every moment to the fullest, we will continue to be baffled by what is out of our control.
The epoch of 2022 was an interesting and challenging one to say the least. We suffered one of the most serious setbacks in the arena of social justice with the disgusting reversal of Roe v. Wade, while experiencing success in the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act in December 2022, effectively codifying same-sex and interracial marriages. Although the latter has a few loopholes I suspect will be exploited to the high-heavens, I was genuinely amazed it passed and did not even know it was on the radar of our leaders.
Content creation also had its typical ups and downs. There was my own, substantial disappointment with the House of the Dragon and the Game of Thrones franchises’ continued perpetuation of gay tropes to the beautiful, masterfully done Netflix series original, The Sandman, where gay stereotypes went to fall asleep for good. I would be remiss in my writing duties if I did not mention the superbly crafted television series, Heartstopper, yet another win for Netflix and Alice Oseman who wrote the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name.
The computer gaming industry experienced a number of huge wins with titles like; God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, and Elden Ring. I could go on but the area of creating content serving to entertain and inspire us had an exceptionally good year.
When it came time to put butt in chair to write my standard, end-of-year post, I found myself approaching it with the same level of pessimism as I have done previously, until I practiced a little of the self-reflection I always preach about. When I began reviewing my post from the end of 2021 titled, The Sy’Arrian Legacy 2022 Strategic Plan, I was reminded of one goal I set for myself this year, which focused on no more self-deprecation.
While writing this post, I was continually looking over to my second screen and reviewing what I wrote last year, attempting to assess progress towards achieving some of those goals. One item of note I have learned over the years when citing benchmarks or goals is to give yourself a bit of grace and understand progress is progress, even if it was a success not previously considered. Much like writing, reaching milestones is an organic process, which often does not fit into our narrow definition of what is true success.
I liken the above to a mindset one often adopts when going to the gym and does not achieve the desired outcome for the day. It can often go something like this, I haven’t beat my heaviest bench press the last three times I have come in here. What’s the point of coming? I suck. The fact you are even in the gym still trying to beat your highest bench press is the definition of success. Just because it does not fit your expectations, does not mean it was all for nothing. Embrace your achievements no matter how small you may perceive them to be.
As of this writing, I have achieved roughly 95% of my goal to redesign this blog and give it more of a website feel. I just need to put a few minor tweaks on items related to updating some of the content and pull the trigger as they say. I utilized the free, open source, cross-platform software, Audacity, to create audio files of my own voice reading all of the posts up to this one. This provided me the opportunity to revisit some of my older posts, make grammatical changes, and re-write my introduction for the site. Much of the final work will take place behind the scenes, so changes will not be noticeable until I implement them on the front end.
My two greatest accomplishments during the last year involves how I focused on improving the self. Reading and actually practicing Zen, plus diving back in to the Toltec wisdom, played a huge role in helping me embrace how I view my true self. It is a causational relationship when you are able to accept your authentic self because, in doing so, it is much easier for your mind to grasp what attachments are preventing you from achieving the best version of yourself. I understand this is a bit deep, but self-reflection is supposed to dig deep, not scratch the surface.
An area where I dug deep focused on my self-image; how I see my body, my age (I turn 56 in January 2023), and how my inner dialogue shaped a reality around those elements, which only served to harm me further. Societal and cultural constructs serve to, more often than not, keep us subservient. The mere act of looking at oneself in the mirror and saying; You look great. There is nothing wrong with you and if anyone tells you otherwise, they are not worth your time or effort is a foreign concept for most people.
There are enough well-written treatises focusing on how culture and societal norms influence the perceptions of us, so I will not delve deeply into the science behind it. Suffice to say, the images alone thrust in our direction on a given day as to how we should look and what we need to do to obtain said look, creates a false reality built by the expectations of others. Once I addressed my own, deep-seated issues in this area, I began to understand who I truly am.
My husband and I opened up our relationship to begin expanding our, practically non-existent, group of friends. An introvert by nature who needs recharge time in-between social interactions, I have started going out more to venues I have not visited in, well, decades. This gave me confidence to do something, I would have never contemplated doing when I was younger. Without going into graphic detail, let’s just say it is what I didn’t wear to the club one night, which took many who knew me, by surprise. For me, it was more about accepting how I saw my authentic self in the moment. It was a truly freeing experience.
In practicing what I just mentioned, I was able to view my computer gaming obsession through the correct lens and not allow it to subvert my desire to focus on what truly matters to me; content creation. It is no longer at the forefront of my decisions to determine where I will spend my free time, although it remains a source of inspiration and one I will continue to integrate in my life with the proper perspective.
Although I did not perform as much recreational reading as I would have liked, I know it will come in the appropriate time. My concept of recreational reading is when I have time to read for pure enjoyment, which usually means a fantasy or science fiction novel of my choice. Remember what I have mentioned from prior posts; reading builds vocabulary, while exposing you to differing styles of writing and world building. Speaking of world building, I think it is time to reveal what will be a substantial shift in the sequence of events for the Sy’Arrian Legacy Series.
My initial momentum at the beginning of 2022 was steady, where words practically spewed from my fingertips. Prior to starting the fifth chapter for book two, The Fury of Ages, I realized a bit of character background development was needed in order to progress one of the three storylines guiding the series. Nicholas Krain came to the forefront due to his family’s involvement in the development of the Star Cluster Cruisers; an appropriate time given where the storyline involving the factions was progressing.
This speaks to the organic nature of content creation I referenced earlier. In the past, I would often fight it because I had my own strict adherence to an agenda and timeline I felt were more important. What I discovered is a common folly of many content creators; thinking we are in charge.
A synergy of thought and sheer will must be obtained, dare I say cultivated, if one is to harness their creative energies effectively. Allowing stubbornness to guide us down a path where we think our artistic endeavors are leading us, only results in frustration and delays the inevitable; revising forced content. Going through these events is a good thing, although we do not see it that way at the time. No matter the outcome, there is always something to be learned when we struggle.
This year I conducted a sizable amount of background development for the series, which invariably lead me down a path I scrutinized and contemplated with more focused determination than I have put in to the Sy’Arrian Legacy Series since its inception. The decision I eventually made was calculated and far from capricious. In the end, the creative process has always lead me in the right direction and the more I work with it, the quicker and easier it becomes to bend with change.
My decision to change the order of where future books fit in the series, now puts The Fury of Ages at book three, with a whole new concept for book two, which will focus solely on the Sy’Arrians and what took place at the end of book one.
In my January 2023 post, I will articulate my reasoning for this change and why I feel now is the perfect time to alter the series’ course. Until we meet again in the new year, be safe, be well, and allow compassion to manifest while we continue to navigate a crazy but beautiful world.
Thank you for reading.
References
Heartstopper Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartstopper_(TV_series)
House of the Dragon Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Dragon
The Sandman Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sandman_(TV_series)
Roe v. Wade Wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade
