Marcus Lopés

LGTBQIA2S+ Author, Blogger, Runner

stay focused

Change is Hard

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Change is hard

I’ve got to be honest… Over the past few weeks, I’ve fallen back into some bad habits. I had been on a nice streak of doing certain things that would, if I had stuck with them, help bring some positive changes to my life. I’d done well at not eating sugary treats, then started baking again—and taste testing uncontrollably. I was stretching daily, then abruptly stopped. And now my hip flexors and calves are protesting. I was writing for an hour without distractions, and now I find myself ‘checking facts’ and ‘verifying information’…and tumbling headfirst down the internet rabbit hole. Change is hard.

And, at times, frustrating.

But that doesn’t mean you give up, especially if you truly believe in your dreams and where you want to go. [Read more…] about Change is Hard

The Mind Battle

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clean up

The past couple of weeks have been challenging on the work front, and it’s taken up a lot of mental headspace. That left me, at times, not able to fully focus and drained—both mentally and physically. But it also had me thinking [again] about a song by the late singer-songwriter Laura Smith, “Clean Up Your Own Backyard.” That translates, for me, like this: dig deep and figure out what is my next right move. [Read more…] about The Mind Battle

Cutting Out the Noise

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cutting out the noise

It’s been a minute since I watched a newscast or scrolled through the headlines on news sites. That’s been intentional on my part because I used to spend an inordinate amount of time checking headlines in an obsessive way. That ‘obsession’ intruded when I wrote or read, when I was baking or cooking, or when I was in transit to and from work. It had me constantly—despite my intention or will—reaching for my phone. To get back to what mattered, and stay focused, cutting out the noise was the only option. [Read more…] about Cutting Out the Noise

A New Year. A ‘New’ Way of Being

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a'new' way of being

Towards the end of November 2023, and as the year began to wind down, something became crystal clear to me: I was wasting a lot of time. I was too often reaching for my phone. I tried to do things—write, organize my expenses, bake/cook, read—while surfing the internet or streaming a movie or show on Prime Video. These were bad habits that I knew would impact my ability to do deep work, yet it became harder and harder to stop them. That led to another realization: I needed a ‘new’ way of being. [Read more…] about A New Year. A ‘New’ Way of Being

A Pretty Palatable Year [in Review]

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opportunity

We have two weeks to go before we say goodbye to 2023. I was kind of bummed out when the year began. Doubt had crept in, and I expected it to be a year long on disappointments and short on accomplishments. As it turned out, 2023 was a pretty palatable year. Here are the highlights.  [Read more…] about A Pretty Palatable Year [in Review]