Meraki

Meraki, a verb, or adverb, a Modern Greek word, derived from the Turkish “Merak” (Labor of love, to do something with pleasure), is applied to tasks, usually, creative or artistic tasks, but can be applied to any task at all.

Meraki means to do something with passion, with absolute devotion, with undivided attention.

For some, this passion may come early in life and for others, it may come later. For some, a passion is easy and requires no practice and for others, it takes years of dedication to master the thing they are most passionate about. For myself, I’ve always had an issue defining my niche.

When I’m asked a question like,

What are you most passionate about?

I can easily define that answer. Writing & Environmental Awareness.

Or

Why do people follow you, read your stories, or want to hear what you have to say?

I believe people follow me and read my writing because I am genuine. I also ensure to provide facts and sources such as medical journals or scientific studies when writing about the environment or things that aren’t fiction related.

I am always myself even if that doesn’t always please everybody. In the same, I’m not afraid to say & even correct myself if I‘m ever found to be wrong about something. I’m openly accepting of everyone and often use my voice for the voiceless. Through my writing and social media, I can offer a variety of content on various subjects. Allowing me to keep people with similar interests engaged. Rather it’s tips to help a picky eater, migraine management or gift ideas , in lieu with my fiction selection you can almost find it all while following me.

Remember how I mentioned that I’ve had trouble narrowing down my niche?

That's sort of my fault. I’ve always labeled myself as an over-achiever, a people pleaser. Now before you think I’m full of myself please note I’m not a fan of either of these labels and my people-pleasing days are over. I also don’t intend to over achieve but I get bored easy and take up new hobbies frequently.

I now live for my soul and family.

The things that have become my Meraki.

Still, though, I get bored easily and I enjoy doing so many things, but when the thought process comes down to it you’ll either find me writing, with my family, outside, or in the kitchen.

Outdoors are nice but they aren’t my passion.

My passion is writing and saving our planet, and food. Something about taking words and putting them together to form sentences into paragraphs, that make pages to create a story, or an article that raises awareness or tells a tale is simply so invigorating and satisfying to me. Even more satisfying is when people want to read that work, learn from it and even better take action from it.

Food is something that I struggled with for quite some time and I think many people do in some way or another at some point in life and they do it in silence. I didn’t always have the best role models when it came to food or cooking. I found joy in my kitchen again by getting my kids into the kitchen with me and sharing their creations as well as my own. I especially love sharing if it also has some eco-friendly tips attached like using reuseable paper towels instead of disposable.

I love to create new recipes, tweak existing ones, and can easily spend hours in the kitchen. Sharing meals with others through writing and even photos spark joy in my soul that I think is only understandable once you have found your Meraki.

Watching someone’s face light up when they try making something you created, hearing that their kids or spouse loved the new recipe they tried, and even sharing the things they changed, make's me feel like I’m in their kitchen sharing a meal with them.

I would honestly love to be able to monetize my Meraki in a unique way that includes writing, environmental awareness, and food.

I have considered in the past asking followers if they would like personalized short fiction stories. Something where they offer the setting, name the two main characters, and give a genre of writing and let me develop them a short personalized story.

I’m unsure how much interest there would be in that, but it sounds like fun and would feed my love for writing and weaving fiction.

Still, including writing, I would equally love to have a monthly subscription for informative writing that includes information as well as activities. Allowing me to send out some sort of weekly environmental issue and ways people can help or an environmental issue near them with steps they can take to help the problem or agencies they can support and contact to help. As for food, one thing that is astronomically high in the US right now is food waste. Another thing that affects food in the US that leads to that waste is the high cost of some food in many areas. I would love to include with the monthly membership, information on food waste, sustainable or fair trade food suppliers and brands, as well as ways to shop and make foods go further, this would be similar to but not exactly like my previous article on how to make groceries go further.

It would include seasonal recipes and ways to make meals out of things you normally wouldn’t buy. For example, my Fred Meyer/Kroger store has a rack that has fruits and veggies in red net bags. Now, these net bags grind an environmental gear in my soul because they aren’t good for our oceans however these fruits and veggies are $1 a bag and you get a lot sometimes 5 lbs of apples or an entire flat of mushrooms, etc. The same the meat department will have discounted chicken. Nothing is wrong with these foods but if they aren’t bought they'll be thrown away. I can’t say how many dinners I’ve suddenly changed because I’ve found things nearing their date for pennies vs dollars and have developed dinners out of those. Hint, stuffed mushrooms are amazing. For parents I would love to send a monthly companion craft activity, companion crafts are when you pair a book and a craft or food! Something my kids and I very much enjoy, and I think others would too!

A bonus to all of these in an author subscription would be to partner with brands that are eco-friendly or sustainable and off exclusive deals and discounts for readers /subscribers.

Writing led to my discovery of the word Meraki. As well as many other words that are unique not widely used and I have come to love. It’s also allowed me to write about things that are important to me such as the amount of ocean plastic in our oceans Or the near extinction of our pollinators. While also expanding my in-person connections I can learn more about the issues I want to raise awareness about like discussing cheetah rehabilitation programs with the Oregon zookeepers and more.

It’s important that as many people as possible care so we can keep our planet and species alive for the generations to come. So they can find their Meraki and kefi just like I was given the opportunity and ability to.

Writing and using it to raise awareness and share my tasty creations isn’t always easy.

Writing is fun, relaxing, and rewarding. It requires devotion, practice, and patience to reach those things.

I am far from a perfect writer but I will always be ready to better myself, accept mentorships, and expand my knowledge to learn more. In the meantime, though I am content in writing as I have been, sharing the things I do and will continue to do so while soaking up every ounce of Meraki I create every day, and if I could someday monetize that it would be very incredible,prodigious and I would be greatful for it. However even without monetiazation I would continue writing, after all I don’t think it would be true Meraki, and Kefi if I didn’t.

For reading this article. If you enjoyed it please give it a heart. Shares are always appreciated and be sure to check my author page for more reading opportunities ! Hope you have a great day ,be happier than a bird with a French fry, think about it they have to be pretty happy when they get french frys.