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Cynthia Morris

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Lead the conversation and leave a creative legacy

Recently, I was invited to a friend and former client’s house for a book group discussion. The book they want to discuss is my Paris historical novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach.

The invitation came as a welcome surprise. First, going to anyone’s place for a backyard party sounds great right about now! Then, it’s an incredible honor that people want to read and discuss a book I wrote. Nine years ago today I published this book. That seems like a long time ago, but this project continues to live beyond my initial effort.

This is what we hope for when we write a book or produce something for the world – that our works live beyond us. Books especially can have a long life, populating libraries and igniting book clubs to discuss its themes.

The main themes of Chasing Sylvia Beach touch on community, role models, and the power of books to change lives. Books as a way to lead conversations. We put our heart and soul onto the page and hope that others find value in reading and discussing our ideas.

In my writing workshops, I share how this potent link between values, themes, and stories can make writing easier. It’s impossible to write a book you care only superficially about; we must be deeply connected in order to write authentically and go the distance.

A book, course, business, or a body of work can express what’s true about you and your worldview. You may have a book or similar project stirring inside you. You may also wonder whether people will join you in caring about your subject matter. That’s not something we can control. Who knows where our projects will go or where they will lead us? What we can only show up to lead the conversation, first with ourselves and the blank page, and then with the world. Writing a book leaves a legacy – sharing your ideas, values, and passion for people to enjoy for years to come.

I can’t wait to talk about time travel, Paris, Sylvia Beach, and the power of books this weekend with a group of readers. These are subjects that I adore, and because I wrote a book revolving around these topics and themes, I get to participate in a discussion about them.

What conversations do you want to lead? What legacy will you leave? Don’t defer your dream of writing a book and sharing your ideas.

If you are harboring your ideas but don’t know where to start or how to write a book, please don’t wait. The rewards in the process and in the product are worth the challenges of writing a book. And guess what? I am here to help. A great jumpstart to writing a book is my most recent book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book.

For customized writing support, consider one:one coaching. My coaching calendar has two open spots for this summer. I’m in my genius zone when helping smart, soulful people pull their ideas into shape. Details about my coaching packages are here. 

What conversations are you leading with your creative work?

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Notebooks and sketchbooks as allies for your creative life

Once, on a trip to San Francisco, I set out on day one to explore. Walking around the Mission gave me lots of inspiration. A few steps out my door, I saw a cool vintage liquor store sign. “That’s cool! I’ll sketch that later,” I thought. I kept moving.

But the artist in me took a stand. “No!” she said. “Stop now and capture it. Take five minutes, for goodness sake!”

Luckily I listened to the part of me that knows how to stop to savor, to capture, to slow down, and be present. I LOVE the little sketch I made in five minutes, and I committed to filling the sketchbook with five-minute pauses. That became one of my favorite notebooks.

Cynthia Morris coaching notebooks writing journals artist sketchbooks If you know me, you know that I always have at least one notebook with me at all times. I feel naked without one. I’ve trained myself to capture my ideas, dreams, lists, and doodles.

Sure you can capture all that on a smartphone, but I have never felt the same about my device that I do about my notebooks.

My notebooks are my allies. They hold my heart, my mind, my writing, and my art. In any situation, I can stop, drop and put a thought or image onto the page.

You don’t have to be a sketcher or an artist to have a notebook with you. It definitely doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be whatever you want. If you consider it an ally, it can help you take little pauses that don’t have you immediately putting your face to a screen.

If you decide to keep a notebook or sketchbook, have a sense of why it matters to you. Know what motivates you so you can use that as a compass to steer past any inner critic commentary or excuses.

Adding your thoughts, feelings, and experiences to a notebook doesn’t have to take a lot of time. A pause, a dip, a quick word sketch or a note to yourself. That’s it. See what it’s like for you to have this in your life.

I bet you already have a notebook on site – no need to buy anything!

Do you keep a notebook? How does it help you be your most creative self? Share your experience below.

P.S. I made a video series showing how I use my notebooks as planners, sketchbooks, journals, and more. Check out my notebook videos and leave a comment here. 

P.P.S. If the thought of a notebook gives ANY level of stress, forget it! None of what I share is meant to add a ‘should’ to your list.

P.P.P.S Below is a photo of all my notebooks through February 2020. From left: early journals, personal journals. Middle: Mostly Moleskines, which I use to run and organize my business. Tall skinny stack: Moleskine Japanese albums or accordion notebooks. I’ve filled more than 30 of them with sketches and stories of travels and daily life. Right: Sketchbooks filled with drawings, paintings and inspiration I have captured in the world and at home. See inside my sketchbooks here.

Cynthia Morris coaching notebooks writing journals artist sketchbooks

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Three Gorgeous Things: Inspiration for Creatives

The library reopened! Finally, I am able to return to my happy place and discover new things and people. I can enjoy a visit in less than 15 minutes, which feels safe to me. I love peeking at the magazines.

Last month I checked out Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve known about this magazine forever. I fell in love at the table of contents and editor’s note. There are no ads; instead, the pages are filled with enticing recipes, thoughtful articles and lovely illustrations. I slipped the subscription card to Steve and hinted that this would make a great birthday present. 

Artist Grief Deck

I have no idea where I found The Artist’s Grief Deck, but I knew I had to have it. When have we learned how to grieve? Who knows how to make space for all the things we’ve lost this year? Each card has a piece of art and on the back, a prompt. The prompts invite us to explore our grief through art, action, meditations, or writing. I love it.

Every other minute I was ooing and ahhing during My Octopus Teacher. It was so gorgeous and heart-opening. The story was so well-told. I was curious about how it was made. I found an article that explains in detail how it was conceived, filmed, written, and funded.

Reading this article showed me how challenging it is to pull a unified story together. This is exactly what I help my clients with; knowing which stories to tell and how.

I hope these things bring you joy, my friends.

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Plan for your success – it’s more fun than you think!

My friend and colleague Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Success is offering a wonderful planning workshop for artists. If you are overwhelmed by possibilities and don’t know what to do next to ensure your art business success, this is a great, affordable class.

And Alyson makes it fun, too!

Click the image below for all the details.

Affiliate links are included in this post.

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The Painful Final Laps of a Creative Project

Recently, I was in the final lap of writing the curriculum for Write Your Travel Stories. I just needed to pull together the final lessons. Then one final polish to make sure it was all in place.

I had been making great weekly progress, with accountability from my Atelier members. But suddenly, with the end in sight, sitting down to do the work became difficult.

While spring’s glorious distractions didn’t help, I knew it was more than that. I was experiencing what awaits many of us in the final phase of a project.

I know very well how difficult the last bits are. For all the books, programs, and projects I have made and launched into the world, I have waded through the brambles in the final, painful phase. There’s something about the last 15% of a project that just feels so difficult.

Are you one of those people who can’t seem to finish your creative projects? Books, blog posts, art pieces…no matter what you try, the finish line remains an elusive land you can’t seem to access.

Why, why? Are you simply lazy, inept and perhaps stupid? I doubt it. Here are the main things I see that prevent us from completing our projects.

  • We face the reality about the quality of the work. Is it good enough?
  • We struggle with detail management – not my strongest suit and maybe not yours either.
  • We get closer to hearing the opinions of others. How will our work be received?
  • We’re forced to make final decisions. Making decisions can be a challenge for us; we have to commit for one last time. Doubts can peck at us when making these last choices.
  • We don’t know how to let go of our identity as someone who doesn’t finish things.

Recognize yourself in any of this? I have heard countless people claim that they are not finishers. It becomes a sort of identity, and believing that we cannot finish things becomes another way to beat ourselves up.

What’s happening? The further into the creative process you go, the more restrictive the space feels, and the more you are required to deal with the emotional eddies that swirl under the surface of your creative life. Everything that quietly prevented us from creating now shouts loud and clear. It gets more and more painful to even think about your once-beloved project. Check out the video I made about this.

If only it were as simple as telling yourself to JUST DO IT! And wouldn’t it be great if our apps and hacks could get us across the finish line?! Yet there is no app yet that addresses what’s really going on under the surface that keeps us from completing.

You’re not a fool for feeling these things, and you’re certainly not alone. The work of creating calls us forth in deeply powerful and challenging ways. We often need to address our doubts and fears in order to get things done.

I hope this has helped to normalize the challenges you face at the end of a project.

What resonates with you? Do you struggle with finishing things?

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Inspiration for Creatives: Learning Through Story

I’ve been dedicating time to fleshing out my education. Much of my life is white-centered. To play a part in a future that is equitable and inclusive, I need to educate myself about others’ experiences.

Here’s a roundup of things that impacted my thinking, my beliefs, and my actions. I try to be careful about what I consume; I want to be inspired and motivated. I am always watching and reading with an eye to how something is constructed. Books, podcasts, and movies come up often in my coaching sessions as examples.

Podcast

1619 Project

I believe that when we connect and empathize, we can change. Art and writing help us get into someone else’s point of view. The 1619 Project podcast hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones has had a huge impact on my understanding and feeling of the United States.

Each episode is rich and dense, and took time for me to process. I think I have to go back and listen to the whole six-part series again! It was originally a long-form piece in the New York Times Magazine, and I am grateful they made it into a podcast.

Movies

Black Art: In the Absence of Light is a wonderful documentary on HBO This film offers another way to fill in the gaps about Black people’s contribution to art and life in the United States. When I saw The Pieces That I Am documentary about Toni Morrison, I loved all the art that they included. Black Art feels like a follow-up to educate me on Black American artists.

My book group added on a film group. We meet a couple of Fridays a month to discuss a movie. I have loved watching movies from outside the US. This helps me feel a sense of place, people, and story.

Two of our recent international film faves:

You Will Die at 20 is a gorgeous Sudanese film about a boy who has a curse on his life. The title is way more doomy than the film!

Adam is a Moroccan film featuring two women whose lives are changed when they open up to one another. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

Books

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad A few of us met weekly from November through February to discuss chapters from this book. Journal prompts accompany the chapters to help readers get specific and personal about their own implicit biases. The conversations in our group led us to question a lot about ourselves and our role in dismantling everyday racism.

And speaking of my book group, we just read Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and are now reading The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami.

There’s so much more but that’s enough for now. I hope what you are consuming is contributing to your creativity and to the evolution of the planet. Share what you are loving and learning below.

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The Impact of Writing our Travel Stories: Lifelong Traveler and Diarist Molly Nunnelly

I spoke recently with Molly Nunnelly about her travel writing. I’m curious about how writing about our travels enhances our experience. Molly’s travel consultancy is called Heirloom Vacations. She understands the power of our memories to shape our experiences long after a trip has ended.

Here’s what Molly shared with me in a written and verbal interview.

“I have always been a diarist, keeping personal journals from the time I was young. On my first trip to Europe as a teenager, my father gave me a travel journal and told me he would like to read it after my trip! I dutifully kept that journal and have pretty much kept one on every trip since then.”

What a great gift to receive! I, too, got a travel journal – Banana Republic put one out with a leather cover. I think that got me into writing about travel, too.

I asked Molly how she started her blog at Heirloom Vacations. It’s full of stories, inspiration, and images that make me want to travel more!

“I started writing a blog about my travels because I had a bad experience with a travel supplier,” Molly said. “I felt the need to warn others about this operator. After that, I wrote about my trips and how I organized them.”

Writing our travel stories both for ourselves and others gives us new perspectives and the chance to relive and reframe our adventures. Here’s what Molly said writing her travels has done for her.

“Writing about my travels crystallizes the experiences. Rereading my journals brings back memories that I’ve forgotten, which is great as I get older. I have also learned that I like adding art and ephemera to my journals.

I wondered if Molly sees a difference in the way she travels as a result of keeping a journal. I know I pay attention more and have a process that makes it easy to capture things while on the move. Sure enough, keeping a blog and journal made a difference in her life.

“Over time, I noticed that I pay attention to different things because of the journals. I notice more how I feel rather than just recounting what we did. I always find time and space on my trips and afterward to fill in my pages.”

Thanks for sharing your experience, Molly! I believe in the power of writing to elevate and transform our experiences. We’re bringing our ink to our stories in the upcoming Write Your Travel Stories. Class starts on March 22nd, so get your ticket today!

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Writing, Travel and Transformation with Chandi Wyant

I had the pleasure of connecting recently with Chandi Wyant, author of Return to Glow: A Pilgrimage of Transformation in Italy and licensed tour guide in Florence Italy. We talked about the effect writing about our travels has on us.

Chandi has been an avid traveler since the age of 19. “I always kept a journal and wrote letters home,” she said. 

“That’s one level of writing – recording your experiences. Writing a travel memoir is a whole other level. I had to go beyond the details and drop into my heart,” Chandi said. “I also had to break away from my academic writing and learn the craft of memoir.”

A lot of my clients are writing a memoir, so this conversation resonated with me. I know how much it takes to be honest and vulnerable in our writing. It’s a different kind of courage than we use when traveling. It’s the inside journey and we have to expose ourselves in ways we aren’t accustomed to. And yet, there are rewards to the work of writing authentically.

“I learned so much about myself through writing this memoir. The process was deeper, more profound, and more helpful than therapy,” Chandi told me. 

I get it! My writing and my travels have shaped me in so many ways. My best gift from travel has been courage. With the boldness I’ve gained from crossing the world by myself many times, I know I can brave the blank page to honestly write my stories.

“You have to be willing to dig deep and be vulnerable,” Chandi said. She mentioned this powerful quote by Brené Brown: “Courage is to tell your story with your whole heart.” I agree.

What about you? How has writing about your travels transformed you?

Take a bold trip with us in Write Your Travel Stories. This fun writing workshop will be the adventure you’ve craved. Get on board here. 

Get Chandi’s memoir, Return to Glow here and find out more about her Italian adventures at Paradise of Exiles.

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New Writing Workshop! Write Your Travel Stories

I haven’t been out of Colorado for a year now. Thinking of travel, missing Paris, just made me sad all last year. As I was planning my workshops for 2021, I considered bringing back a travel writing class I taught and loved – Write Your Paris Stories.

But what about other destinations? What if we wrote our global travel stories? And voila, a new class was born: Write Your Travel Stories. 

Write your travel stories workshop with Cynthia Morris

I am designing an incredibly fun curriculum for Write Your Travel Stories.

It’s for you if you want to:

  • turn your wanderlust into something creative.
  • write your travel memories down but don’t consider yourself a writer.
  • have some fun this spring as a traveler but don’t leave the safety of home.

The multi-media curriculum engages all our senses and our creativity. It’s easy, playful, and focused on having FUN.

You can find out all about it here, where I also share the syllabus. We start in mid-March, but there is an early boarding deal that you won’t want to miss out on.

I do hope you join us for the fun! And travel is always better with a buddy, so pass this on to a travel friend!

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Four Valentine’s Goodies for Your Muse

Life-Changing TEDx talk

Sakinah Hofler’s creative writing tutorial makes an unlikely exceptional TED talk. This TEDx talk is profound and the best thing I have seen/heard about writing in my entire writing life.

Watch it here. 

Haiku book and workshop

I just finished reading Natalie Goldberg’s latest book, Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku. It’s a delightful chance to visit Japan with its haiku masters in the lead. Natalie shares her decades-long study of haiku in a way that inspires me to write a few haiku myself.

I’m studying Japanese arts and culture this year, so the book was great armchair travel. Natalie is one of my main creative ancestors; her Writing Down the Bones paved the way for my entire writing life and work as a writing coach. I’m always happy to read her books.

She mentioned a haiku workshop she teaches at Upaya Zen Center in NM, so I looked it up. Lo and behold, she’s co-teaching a haiku workshop the weekend of February 19-21. It’s online and donation-based. I signed up and can’t wait.

I feel compelled to spread the word and thought there may be some among us here who want to join. Here’s the info for the class.

Web show turned book

The web show Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho is great. I heard Emmanuel on Unlocking Us, Brené Brown’s podcast. I can’t stop thinking about him and his ideas. He’s also got a book of the same name.

Podcast with a master writer

I love Tim Ferriss’ podcast. In the last five years or so, he’s gotten less bro and more heart-centered. The people he interviews are almost always fascinating.

This episode with American great author Joyce Carol Oates is full of nuggets. Almost from the start, she was saying things that relate to the challenges my clients and students face. Must-listen for writers.

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20 Years of Publishing Impulses: Inspiration for Writers and Creatives

Join me in the way-back machine for the origin story of my newsletter, Impulses: Inspiration for Creatives.

February 2001 was a big month for me. I left my job at the local cooking school. This was the last job I will ever hold. I took a trip to Paris with my friend Carl. The city was cold, a constant light mist fell upon us, but it’s Paris. I’ll take it.

There was a moment where I felt a visceral confusion: what am I doing? My business was almost two years old. I had no job. Would I be able to support myself? What is this coaching thing, anyway?

That month, I began writing and publishing Impulses. This is before blogs. Before Instagram, Facebook, or any of those mass communication channels. A newsletter is the way to connect with people who are interested in what I offer. So I plunged in! And somehow, I kept at it.

For twenty years, I have been mining the fields of my creative practice to write in Impulses about how my clients and I are winning the game of getting our work out of our head and into the world. The early issues shared info about my writing workshops and my cooking classes, which I taught until 2003.

The newsletter, my coaching business, and I have evolved. What remains is a constant curiosity about the creative process and its role in our lives. I believe in the power of making things even if you don’t plan to sell them or attain some external reward.

Twenty things I have learned from sending this missive out for two decades. I hope this list inspires your creative pursuits.

(Not a subscriber? Sign up here in the sidebar for bi-weekly inspiration.)

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Choose This Year’s Creative Edge 

When someone comes to me to get ‘unstuck’, I invite them to identify their Creative Edge. This gives us a way to consciously develop our craft and advance our work, on our terms.

If you’re like me, you tend to be ‘all over the place’ with your ideas and possibilities. The Creative Edge gives us a broad yet specific focus. It makes it easy to choose projects that give us a sense of momentum and progress.

A creative edge is specific and actionable. It’s that place in your writing, art or professional work where you:

  • need to improve skills
  • feel uncomfortable and out of your depth
  • are hyper-engaged
  • learn the most
  • grow rapidly.

Benefits of a Creative Edge

Your Creative Edge allows you to make progress in art and life. If you delved into this one area, you would advance overall. 

The Creative Edge is both structured and liberating. It’s just focused enough so that you can be responsive to unexpected things that show up and still be on track. 

It’s often the place we avoid. The Creative Edge is a threshold that demands we shed our excuses and step forward. We are required to move from indecision and insecurity to action.

In the end, your Creative Edge should excite you. I personally like a challenge, so my Creative Edge is often equally exciting and scary. I am careful to balance it so it’s not something I dread and thus avoid.

Choose your Creative Edge

Brainstorm possibilities. Jot down ideas that came up as you read this. Don’t overthink or make this difficult. Look for aliveness and excitement.

What do you want to learn? What skill could you take on as your Creative Edge?

Some of your creative blocks might point you toward your Creative Edge. Tick off any of these that apply. You:

  • Get bored with your projects and don’t finish them.
  • Don’t know how to improve the quality of your work.
  • Are afraid to seek constructive feedback.
  • Get stuck in confusion and indecision.

Your Creative Edge could be:

  • Learning how to edit and revise your own work so you can…
  • finish things.
  • Find reliable, helpful feedback from people you trust.
  • Focusing, following through and finishing projects you care deeply about.

I like to have a Creative Edge for the year. Perhaps you prefer a shorter window of focus. What is your Creative Edge for the first quarter of the year?

It takes courage and commitment to be at the creative edge. But it’s where we find our originality and where we grow as artists and people.

What’s your Creative Edge for this year? Share it below. 

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How a hedonist can be wildly productive

It’s the time of year when I have a lot on my plate. I get to work with my 1:1 coaching clients and my Atelier clients. I have a great group of people in my Devoted Writer workshop. I just launched a private art studio space where I invite patrons into my art process. And I am working on a major writing project with a December 18th deadline. I’m also volunteering with Denver Food Rescue, Denver Metro Caring, and will be training this weekend to be an election judge.

Plus living life, trying to stay in touch with family and friends, maintaining my health and well-being, and savoring the final weeks of my garden. And oh, the world’s shitnanegans to process, too, mainly emotions about the election.

I don’t say any of this to say, Oh look at me, I’m so busy! We were discussing the toxicity of busy culture in the Atelier the other day. I don’t subscribe to busyness as a good thing. And I also don’t intend to overburden myself so I feel like a victim and can’t enjoy my good fortune.

My plate is full because I work seasonally. I take ‘summer hours’, where I have less on my schedule so I can be offscreen and in the world. It was a lovely summer – well, it was a shitty summer, let’s be honest. But the space I gave myself allowed me to enjoy the realities of the present moment – time in my garden, watching things grow, and space to rest and process all the changes we’re experiencing.

One of my art patrons said How do you find time to do it all, Cynthia? I’m not super organized or disciplined. I don’t have a ‘team’ to delegate stuff to – it’s all me. I’m a lover of life with a tendency toward hedonism. I don’t believe in discipline as a way to be productive. So how do I do all this? Read on…

Helping people live their lives according to their values and priorities is at the core of my work as a coach. I believe that when we align with our way of being, we work and create with way less friction. I am not perfect. I am a work in progress. Being attentive to my strengths, needs, and weaknesses allows me to be productive and also to rest and enjoy life.

Some of my weaknesses include the following – are like this, too?

When I feel overwhelmed with projects, I immediately want/tend to add more. It’s the craziest thing. Usually, I can rein myself in but sometimes I need to hang up a sign that says ADD NO MORE. (I need that right now!)

I don’t tend to procrastinate, because I much, much, much prefer the feeling of getting something done over avoiding things. I’m a wuss and can’t bear the pain that comes with avoiding things. 

But this year, it’s been easy to let my precious focus dissipate by reading news, newsletters, or other whatnot. Yikes!

It’s easy to get distracted when I have a lot of things going at once. I actually thrive on the variety, but sometimes I commit to too many things.

There are more weaknesses, but let’s look at how I manage to be productive and sane.

 

First, I remember how good it feels to do what I say I will. Integrity is one of my top values, and when I live according to my values, I feel great, even when things around me are in the pooper.

I have a loose schedule that honors my different roles. Today is a client day. I get to meet with clients all morning and afternoon. I don’t have to do or think about anything else. I get to just be with them and be present.

This single focus reduces stress. I have time committed to the other roles I play. Keeping my promises to myself to show up for the other projects is key to making this work. 

Knowing that I have full client days this week, I spent Monday diving into my project. I needed to make serious headway in order to be able to focus with my clients and feel the integrity of walking my talk.

I dedicate the weekends to my art and my art studio guests. I know that during the week when I am at work, my artist will have her due and I will connect with my guests. It was tough last weekend. We were doing some deep cleaning of the nest, and that threatened my studio time. I had to put my foot down and take studio time first. I did my dusting and then had another session at the art desk.

I also sneak up on myself. I wrote about this productivity hack last year. It’s the best way to get stuff done. You may have notions about how much time you need to get things done. We often claim that we need time to get into the zone. We don’t like doing a little bit of writing and then being pulled away. Fair enough. I get it. There are certainly times when we need space to think and write things through.

And then there are times when we can sneak 15 minutes in. You’ve heard me say that productivity is less about time management than focus management. When I worked on my writing project last week, I had to go to the park, take nothing else with me, and set a timer for 15 minutes. Then I set it for another 15. I got 30 solid minutes in on the project. This leads to the next thing that helps me get stuff done.

I appreciate every single freaking drop of work that I show up for. The other day, I got one page of edits on my project. ONE! Measly, right? But I was jubilant. I felt the joy and self-respect of having done something. Because truly, every little bit counts. Most of the people I’ve worked with battle a part of themselves that won’t let them appreciate progress. One page completed just brings mockery or disappointment.

Friends, there is always more to be done. We never do as much as we want or expect. Consider this mindset of lack to be a frantic gerbil wheel of pain kept rolling by a patriarchal system that doesn’t want us to relax, ever. Don’t get on it! Give yourself credit for each little bit that allows you to live your values, feel good about your choices, and make progress on whatever you’re committed to.

A couple of other things

 

I do my personal writing in the morning, with meditative music, before I go to the computer. This journaling time grounds me and connects me to myself. It takes no more than 15 minutes.

I don’t have children, which frees up a lot of bandwidth. If you do have children or people you care for at home, you might need to lower your expectations for now.

I don’t allow clutter in my space. That drains me and overwhelms me. I keep things tidy.

I don’t expect to get things right on the first pass. This lowering of the bar allows me to get stuff done rather than being put on the sidelines by my inner critic.

Finally, I rest. On weekends, I make a list of things I want to do. This usually includes a long walk with Steve, yoga, time in the art studio and garden. Also cooking and reading and puzzle play. There will always be a segment of the weekend where I am lounging around reading.

This may not sound like rest, but for me, any time away from a screen is restful.

Giving myself space to rest is vital to my productivity. If I am going all the time, I get resentful and cranky.

I could go on, but you and I have other things to do! I snuck up on myself to draft this newsletter for you. I could easily have blown it off to later, but I knew that would bring more stress. I snuck in 20 minutes to write this using free-writing, and I snuck in another 20 to edit and polish it up for you. I am going into my client calls feeling huge relief that I made progress on this instead of stress that I didn’t get it done.

Listen, I am no saint and don’t pretend to be. I should call my mom more, spend more time with friends, and do more volunteering. But I’m also not into self-abuse and honestly, I am a hedonist. I want to live each day doing my work with as little self-inflicted pain as possible. 

I am feeling the pain, tension, and stress in the world. Doing the things that allow me to live my values and feel a sense that I am contributing help me. Avoiding my work, both the paid and unpaid work, just makes me feel bad. It’s not discipline that motivates me. It’s seeking goodness as much as I can.

These are a few of the things that I’ve developed over the decades to make sure that I am a good boss, coach, teacher, and friend. I do my best, and I am sure you do, too. Be kind to yourself, friend.

What works for you to juggle all your roles and make time for yourself?