As you may have noticed, I changed this to be a monthly reflection of sorts. I’ve been ramping up my social media content this past month and there just isn’t enough creative bandwith for this gal for two posts a week and to create the podcast.
Speaking of the podcast, I’ve had a busy couple of weeks getting back into the swing of things now that we’re back in Kansas City and haven’t touched anything with the podcast. But that changes next week so be ready for some new episodes soon!
I’ve been loving having the boys home which actually was unexpected. Our youngest was supposed to play summer league away from home but changed his mind since he needs to put on weight, per his college coach. He knew it wouldn’t happen if was living away from home.
And our oldest son had UCL surgery at the end of April so he’s home rehabbing and working part-time. He was drafted last July to play in the Pioneer League for this coming season which started in May. So that’s postponed (fingers crossed) until he’s fully healed.
So this time is an unexpected gift because this won’t be happening next year. I didn’t pay attention to that fact last summer and now I am. I’m watching more baseball in the living room and staying in the room even when it turns to fishing talk. I even go to their favorite shitty Mexican restaurant just to be with them.
But I need to get back to my regularly scheduled work schedule because momentum matters in both writing and podcasting. Consistency is key, especially for creatives. Inconsistency means we disappear from feeds, views, listens, and eventually minds.
I hope you’ve been reading my weekly essays and maybe even going back to hear some podcast episodes (they’re right here on Substack even!).
If so, I appreciate it!
I purchased The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron again (I can’t find my original 😩) so I can get back to a regular journal practice and waking my creativity a bit.
Week 1 is three pages of journaling each morning and an artist’s date which can be anything from visiting a museum to heading to a local park and bird-watching.
It pushes me to both create a healthy habit as well as expand my mind in new ways each week.
Journaling to empty my mind each morning has been proving to me that I have had some things I didn’t know I was stressing about. And the journaling has made me aware of what that stuff is and also, I get to even perhaps work out a solution if needed.
Not that this is what morning pages is about but that’s what’s great about it…you just let it flow and what needs to come up finds a way on the page. It also just may be drivel which is fine, too, so either way, it’s a way to dump what’s on the brain.
Idea: What can you add to your weeks in June that feel like a play date for you to nurture your inner artist?
May was an emotional rollercoaster for many reasons. It was the end of another baseball season, we moved back to Kansas City after two months of being in Colorado, I turned 54, I missed Colorado terribly (still do!), I was excited to see my Kansas City Women’s Sober Social Club friends again, and I had a really, really hard conversation with someone I love dearly.
I felt like I was all over the place.
But things have settled down and I’m feeling more on an even keel again. Routine and reconnecting with friends have helped tremendously.
I think another thing was that I hadn’t worked out much because of the baseball schedule, driving all the way back to Kansas City for my son’s surgery, then moving out of our rental then back out to Colorado, and finally coming home and dealing with all the things that had been neglected here.
One thing I’ve noticed when I feel stressed or my emotions are all over the place, I tend to stop moving.
I did some research on why that is and this article explains it..
For some, exercise can trigger similar physical sensations that come along with anxiety – such as palpitations, sweating, and being out of breath. These physical sensations can serve as an unpleasant reminder of feeling anxious, fearful, or even panicked. As a result, some people choose to avoid exercise to avoid the physical sensations that come along with it which remind them of their anxiety.
Often co-existing with anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms also have a complex relationship with exercise. Common symptoms of depression include loss of motivation, loss of energy and lowered ability to feel pleasure..
I think it’s been my body’s way of protecting my nervous system (a good thing!) but then I shame myself for not working out for two weeks (bad).
This past week, I switched things up and before my body can register my mind, I went out to my garage for a little HIIT workout.
I think the key is to beat my mind to the punch. As the day goes on and life happens (a pipe bursts in the basement, another atrocity in the world shows up on my social media feeds, the dog is puking on the new carpet, etc.), I know I’ll be less inclined to get my body moving. Even if it’s restorative yoga, I know I’ll let the day begin to weigh me down.
So June is move first, deal with life after.
What’s your favorite way to get movement or self-care in, even when life feels overwhelming?
As you know, I’m working on building the AWEd Life brand and community but I’ve been in denial that being on social media is the key to doing that I don’t want that to be the strategy but for now, it’s the main tool most people use.
I thought publishing on Substack would help and it is, but here we are again with a feed and an algorithm to try and solve like the DaVinci code. It’s slow and steady which is fine…but also not. I’m 54 years old and now that I’m stepping into the next phase of life with a huge mission to impact thousands of women’s lives, I want it yesterday. I want to make the impact, have the thriving community, to have an engaged readership and be drowning in amazing podcast guests STAT.
But that’s not how most things happen. It’s a very slow-rolling snowball at this point but someday, if I keep pushing and pushing (showing up to do the work), that snowball will eventually be big enough to roll itself.
So I decided in May that part of that work was creating more social media content to share my AWEd life message. It’s going to require a lot of repetitive posts and messages because that’s what marketing requires.
A recent reel about wanting more for ourselves
And I have chosen to look at it as a way to be creative rather than a chore. Can I make it fun? Can I approach it as just another way to express myself and use my voice?
Creating content doesn’t mean I have be a heavy consumer. By creating, scheduling my posts, and then intentionally logging in to engage with followers and those I’m following, I can be present and purposeful at the same time.
If I’m consistent, my content will land in front of the exact women who are looking for my kind of community.
This has helped me feel more empowered rather than at the whim of the algorithm. Plus, it has been fun to get more comments and see what resonates with people. See, new month, new perspective and it’s working for me so far!
What’s a new way you could look at something that’s been challenging or has felt hard for a long time in your own life? These are not rhetorical questions—I really want to know!
These are the essays I wrote in May you may have missed:
Raising Adults in a World That’s Acting Like Anything But (free) - about trying to navigate parenting when petulant children are running the world and rage fills their feeds
I’m 54 Today But It Feels More Like 27 x 2 (free) — clearly it’s a birthday post and how I’m feeling about it
The House I Grew Up In Was Never a Home (paid) — a vulnerable post about what life was like always having to read the room rather than read myself
Savoring These Days While The Birds Are Home (free) — a post about savoring my time with my two boys home for the summer and the realization that it might be the last
Love that you are back to the artists way! It’s kept me journaling for almost a year, every morning though rarely 3 pages!