"Growth often requires stretching ourselves out of our places of comfort in order to create new possibility." ~Sarah Avenir
Shout-out to Kayla at Lucky Dog Design Co for buying me coffee. She is on a mission to deliver ☀️to mailboxes through greeting cards and gifts. Thank you for the support! ☕️
--
Happy August!!
Thanks so much for those of you who responded to last week's issue about attending a future #IamRemarkable workshop! Seeing that response just helps me know that facilitating those are the right direction for me. I'll keep you all posted on when the next workshops will be.
This week has been busy busy on the day job front. At &yet, we are getting ready to launch our free Instagram class next week. I'm learning sooo much about Instagram Live, and Stories and just Instagram in general, by being part of this project.
And I'm really excited to participate too. The class is based on Sarah Avenir's book, Gather the People, which is all about helping folks create and share their creations in a way that is authentic to them and who they are. This seems like a great time for me personally to take a step back and dive into this work so I can continue building on the foundation I have with my business.
This is especially a great class for us side hustlers, because it's a good opportunity to pause, take stock of what resources we have available to us, and get clear on our big vision. The other thing it helps us do is find ways to integrate our customers (and potential customers) into our journeys of creation so that we can offer them something they've been able to help shape.
To participate, all you need to do is follow @gatherthepeople on Instagram. There is a little bit of pre-work already up to get you started. If you want to see my answers so far, head to my Instagram profile and click on the GTP highlight.
In other news, I have been thinking about taking a #SelfishSabbatical like my friend Saya ever since she posted about it. And was thinking August would be a good time to do that. I have been thinking about this most of July and decided that my sabbatical will be more semi, but it still works. What this looks like:
Saying no to any extra appointments. Whatever is scheduled or in the process of being scheduled will happen, but nothing extra for August.
Watching more musicals (like this one) and reading as much as I want.
Having more white space and flexibility to work in the times I have energy and rest when I don't.
Ultimately, I want this time to give myself and my ankle extra time to heal as I have transitioned from wearing a boot to wearing a shoe again (!!) and the next month will tell the story of how much mobility/strength/etc. I'll be able to get back.
This is definitely something new for me, because I'm usually pretty go-go-go and I like to have structure to everything. This is a bit more loose, but I kinda like that. And I'm beginning to find a bit of comfort in the uncertainty.
Do you want to join me for a #Selfish(Semi)Sabbatical? Hit reply and tell me about yours.
On to the picks!
Note: This email may contain affiliate links. If you click through my link and make a purchase that means I may receive "thank you money" at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I use and love.
#loves 😍
🍿 Watching: Umbrella Academy. My gurl Shenee and I have been waitingggg for season 2. It's a bit out there, but so fun, and the music is 😍.Who else is watching?
✅ Tool: Analog: A Simple Productivity System. Excited about this Kickstarter campaign which marries an analog system of doing daily task lists that work with your digital tools.
#reads
13 Ways I Completely Changed My Life in a Year and So Can You — medium.com
Tim always writes such powerful posts. The tips that really stuck out to me in this post:
Say yes when you're not ready. The times I have done this, mostly with my knees shaking, have been amazing paths for me.
Turn your hurt into motivation. Take that pain you feel and find a way to turn it into a good thing. What can you learn or take from that experience?
Give it all away for free. We are side hustlers, so we need to make money, but often times, we can give away so much value through our content which is free. And that can pay off monetarily in other ways.
5 Great Blog Post Templates For When You (Seriously) Can't Even — ittybiz.com
I definitely feel like this with *gestures widely* all of this going on. I may try to do a bit of writing during Selfish Sabbatical and digging these templates to fire up the inspiration.
#icymi
😍 Last issue’s top pick was: 50 lessons learned from writing 50 newsletters
#lifevibes
#supporters ☕️
Thank you Kayla, Madison, Rae, Stephanie, Christine R., Christine M., Frances, Hannah, Chris, Brandy, Mea, Kristian, Maria, Avery, Adam, Monale, Barbara, Shenee, Desiree, Lisa, Kandice, L'Oreal, and LaVerne for being #jesspicks supporters!! ❤️
Want to help support this newsletter? Buy me a coffee.
