If you discover you love to do something, then do it all the time. I don’t mean eat brownie batter every day or chew the heck out of your cuticles. I mean life affirming, up leveling heart-swooning stuff. Don’t second guess when what you do makes you feel like you could do it all day every day. Breathe more life into it like a big happy birthday balloon with confetti hearts inside. Like this column. I know it is taboo as a writer to talk about how much you enjoy writing to the reader, but in this case in point, writing this newsletter/column is such a great source of joy for me, I think about writing it all the time. I love writing from a place of personal freedom to bring a smile or chuckle or contemplation to your day so much I could give a rat’s ass about whether I get paid for it (which I don’t, and who came up with that rat’s ass phrase, anyway? Or is that even a phrase and if it isn’t, Ew.)
Whatever is in your sphere that you are labeling radical dreaming, then just stop. Get over your fear. People die all the time, suddenly and unexpectedly. We have no idea what goes through their heads, but I am going to bet it’s something along the lines of I wish I had done more of what lit me on fire. Last night I dreamed my best friend was convincing me over and over I wasn’t dying, but what was metaphysical about it was I was thinking the whole time, but we are always dying every day. I have to get to it.
What is your “it” that fills your heart with fire and consumes your mind? Some of the plans may be for tomorrow already or they may be nuggets of insight to tuck away for a decade from now. It’s not turmoil. We are layered people with dimensions beyond what we fumble through every day in our daily list of tasks or objectives. Embrace what you want more and get excited about it. When I sat in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in Paris (and I say that without any pretension - it took me 30 years to get there), staring at all the 17th century portraits, I heard a voice that told me I would one day be researching the artists who were the photographers of this time with their canvases and oils. I was like “That’s ridiculous!” (which I think I said out loud causing a German tourist to slide away from me on the bench.) But it’s not. I am intrigued by these unheralded artists who spent hours in spaces with kings, queens and lords. It’s not currently what lights me up, but at the moment I saw it could be… someday.
Tap in. Tune in. Turn on. What do you love to do you may be scared to admit? We need you all to show up for your fullest selves and inspire us in this world. Please, inspire me.
If You Are Looking to do some writing:
I have been sharing a lot lately about the importance of writing articles. I am like a creative sieve. If I don’t have a container, then insights, theories, ruminations and pontifications get lost in the misplaced post its, notes on my phone or I give up doing anything with “that great idea” due to time and bandwidth. What rocks about writing articles is there are a plethora of platforms and places to emote your point of view or feelings, and possibly, without even planning to, connect to a tribe of appreciative readers or followers. I don’t mean rants or emotional dumps - no editor has a shred of time in their schedule to be your defacto therapist - but well-thought out ideas. They don’t have to even be in your field. If you just discovered a great way to grow hydroponic tomatoes without investing in a greenhouse in the dead of winter in Alberta, Canada, write about it! Someone needs to know!
What I wish someone would create:
Stay with me here on this. It sounds like a wacky situation but I really in my heart believe it is an interesting concept. Although, when I told it to my older daughter who is a mental health advocate this morning, she said “Suicide is so complicated… you just don’t know.” But follow me and track my thought process. A successful fashion designer, Virgil Abloh, died of cancer way before his time, leaving behind a wife of 15 years and children. Then just recently Ellen’s DJ, Stephen ‘tWitch” Boss, died of suicide. Both were 40 year old Black men at time of death. So what if Virgil was paired with Stephen in some kind of reciprocal end of life contemplation salon, and Virgil’s sharing that he doesn’t want to die of cancer gave Stephen more enlightenment into why he should stick around longer. Perhaps they have faced similar challenges in success or where they come from, or being Black men in racist America. I don’t know if there could be a pairing of people in this way, but it’s how we can heal in comradery from our mental ailments. It sure beats what the Canadian government has been busted for doing lately - Sending letters offering MAID to homeless and disabled people as solutions to their circumstances. Here is where they offer suicide over a chair lift for a disabled vet.
Technology Tip:
Wise Stamp. Mac Mail. Google Workspace. Not currently my friends. Wise Stamp should be my friend. My VA made such a beautiful email signature for me with a cute little picture, and an animated Warm Wishes, and little icons for all my social links. And it doesn’t connect. Because I have Mac Mail. Wise Stamp seems to think it works with Mac Mail and even has a plug in to do it, but they seem to think all emails are connected to iCloud in Mac Mail and I have Google Workspace so I don’t know what the hell they are thinking. I have tore my hair out reading articles, my VA is tired of hearing about it, and I still don’t have a signature. Life’s small problems, but truly it is like the hang nail of my business day. I don’t even know why I am promoting Wise Stamp here because I hate them right now, but I think with the right set up (which is clearly not mine), many people could be deliriously email signature happy.