As my friends and family know, I’m enamored with all things Egyptian. My husband and I have traveled to the country three times. A little-known fact is that Pharaoh Akhenaten, who was married to the fabulously beautiful Nefertiti also mandated the rule of one god – Ra – rather than himself and the cadre of other, lesser gods. https://www.pjcolando.com/walk-like-an-egyptian/ But this is not a story about Ra, but of Re.

Re is a powerful prefix.

In 2012 I shuttered my beloved business, my baby, and my identity in the world. I left that world behind to enter the world of creative writing. Writing reinvigorated my spirit which was a bit burned out. Writing fostered family boundaries and regain my personal power after a devasting realization and loss. https://www.pjcolando.com/the-alchemy-of-turning-hurt-into-insight/

Writing replenished my spirits.

Massive amounts of reading refresh my vocabulary and renew my word nerd cred.

Writing and reading co-vary in my retiree days, when life is lived at a more relaxed pace.

Being able to pursue my chosen hobbies at my pace is a powerful boost to my immune system and overall health. Homeostasis is improved when sleep comes easily. Nighttime reading before bedtime fosters jettison of daytime issues. When I read I enter another world. While that world may fraught, it’s filled with other people’s problems… that are fictional.

Writing is re-writing and that works for me. I no longer despise revision.

I can write in several genres, too. Memoir revisits the past, memories I like or maybe not – all sides can be glimpsed through the magnifying lens of wisdom. My attempts at memoir become creative non-fiction because I do like to laugh. I write humor and satire with a literary bent.

Via writing, I re-invented myself… writing gave me the power: control of my personal narrative.

What about you, Constant Reader/Writer/Friend?