Slow Down and Imagine a Simpler Life

by Sheree K. Nielsen

Being around water and nature inspired my
poetry and photography collection, Mondays in October.

My heart has always been drawn to the ocean and lakes, and you’ll find those references in the majority of the poems.

I create best when I’m near water. It’s so easy and natural for me. My earliest memories are of sitting on the shore of Lake Superior, and playing in the surf on Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

And dogs, birds, and children! There’s even a poem written from the perspective of my dog, Bordeaux titled, “Red Dogs Observations.”

I Had to Slow Down and Think About the Message I Wanted to Convey

Trying to pen more poems for the book was my biggest mental challenge.

The book fell pages short of a normal poetry book length, so I found myself creating more poems from adventures in Door County, Wisconsin, and a trip to Sunset Beach, North Carolina.

Also, there were photographs with no poems, and poems with no photographs. I was challenged to slow down and think about the message I wanted to convey with each pairing.

The Challenge of Writing While Going Through Chemo for Lymphoma

The biggest emotional challenge came when I discovered I’d be going through chemotherapy treatments for six months for Waldenstrom’s macroglobulemia lymphoma.

My hemoglobin levels were too low, and my IgM protein levels were ridiculously out of whack, causing anemia, muscle cramping, neuropathy in my hands, and motivation issues.

During this time, my editor, Christine Cote of Shanti Arts, was so patient and understanding. She basically left me alone during treatment.

I made it my mission to get the photographs to her the first week of December. There were a couple poems added in late spring that complemented the book.

Every Time I Create, I Feel It’s My Best Work Yet

After receiving the proof for Mondays in October, I felt relieved and elated. I feel it is my best work yet. (Even though I feel that way each time I create.)

Confidence came from endorsements for the book from fellow writers Sandy Gingras, Mary Horner, and C. Hope Clark—their words were touching and lyrical.

And the book cover says it all for me. It represents the feeling that fills me when I cross the bridge from the mainland to the island in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. Worries dissipate, and stress leaves my body.

I dedicated the book to those that inspired me along the book’s journey—my husband, the tango dancers on the beach (Elise and Marco), my fur babies, Remy (the little girl from the poem Mondays in October), and the Siteman Cancer Center nurses who helped make chemotherapy bearable.

Writing and Creating Is Important, But Relationships Take Priority

Shortly after my chemotherapy ended on April 24, I realized this book needed to carry a message of healing…. a time to slow down and live a simpler life, which is what I did for myself during chemotherapy treatments.

There were days that I didn’t write, or couldn’t write…my mind was so tired, and so was my body.

I ran into a friend at a coffee shop, and we talked briefly about my experience. I explained to her how frustrated I was with myself. She looked at me and said, “Sheree, you do you. Take time for yourself.”

I knew that’s what I needed to do all along, but reassurance came in the form of words from a friend. When friends call now, I take time to meet them.

Writing and creating is important, but relationships take priority. Sometimes ideas spark when I’m visiting with friends.

People Need to Hear the Message of Living a Simpler Life

What would I like readers to take away from the book? Positivity. Oversoul. Universality.

My author friend Mary Horner who penned an endorsement for Mondays in October, says that my poems awaken consciousness to the rhythm and melancholy of life, and that they’re quiet meditations that distance us from the problems of today, and remind us to pay attention to our inner lives.

I love those words. I hope all who read and flip through the pages, take time to settle on a poem or a photograph that speaks to them—cherishing the rhythms, the feelings, the wistfulfulness, the color of these poems.

I think people need to hear the message of living a simpler life and slowing down, because the normal workday is anything but simple. Everyday life consists of sitting in traffic, watching everyone else’s life on social media, people rushing around, getting stressed from deadlines or health concerns, etc.

Life before cancer treatment looks different than doing life now. My mindset is taking time to enjoy myself every single day. I feel like I’m much stronger physically and spiritually. My faith is what got me through life’s temporary storm.

Advice for a Young Writer: Always Keep Creating

Always keep creating. There will be road blocks in life that challenge your professional life, and physical well-being.

What keeps me going and staying positive are the daily wonders of this earth—a cricket’s song in the stillness of the evening, the wild night sky, the beauty of a 100-year-old barn set against a dreamsicle sunset, or even a sandpiper dancing the ballet on a shoreline.

You can retreat to those visual memories, drawing inspiration from them, and create a vivid masterpiece.

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Sheree K. Nielsen believes that every picture tells a story, combining her love of photography and writing with colorful visual descriptions and healing messages found in her coffee table books, essay collections, children’s books and poems. She finds inspiration in the ocean and nature.

Sheree is Author/Photographer/Poet of 2015 Da Vinci Eye Award Winner Folly Beach Dances (inspired by the sea and her lymphoma journey); Chanticleer Semifinalist Nonfiction Guides Ocean Rhythms Kindred Spirits – An Emerson-Inspired Essay Collection on Travel, Nature, Family and Pets; and coauthor of Chanticleer Little Peeps Early Readers First Place Winner and Montaigne Medal Finalist Midnight the One-Eyed Cat (a picture book).

Her other works are well represented in Southern Writers Magazine, AAA Southern and Midwest Traveler, Long Weekends, South and North Brunswick Magazine, Missouri Life, among others.

When not writing, she’s discovering new beaches and coffeehouses with her goofy dogs and patient husband. Four content cats complete her family. For more information on Sheree and her work, please see her website, or connect with her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Mondays in October: Soulful as a cricket’s song serenading a marsh at sunset, two lovers dancing the tango in the sand, or the wind’s harmonies causing waves to lap to shore, Sheree K. Nielsen’s collection of poems and photographs, Mondays in October, suggests easy movements in nature, and a time for us to slow down…like autumn…and imagine a simpler life.

Mondays in October embraces Sheree’s unmistakable love songs for the beach, and its eternal companion – water – and the vulnerable, blissful, sensual rhythms connecting them.

Available at Shanti Arts Publishing and Amazon.