Hi new people! Hi to people I already know and love! (Hi, mum!)
If you were here this morning, I'd love to gather you all around my kitchen table and plate up these lemon slices. Yum! (Just sharing my truth here: I am a writer and a compulsive baker! Let me know if you want the recipe.)
But on to today...I've been thinking quite a lot about indulging in confusion. I heard the term during a Brooke Castillo podcast (seriously, guys, she's so good!).
It's a great word: indulge.
We indulge in confusion when we allow ourselves to say "I don't know how to..." Then our confusion gives us a tidy excuse to stop.
After all, we don't know how to <write a book, start a podcast, sew a dress, wear a beret, travel solo, start a business>.
We're confused.
It's hard.
Toooooooo hard.
If you're like me, you might tread water a while in that murky space in your brain.
The problem is this: when I indulge in confusion, I stay stuck.
Let me give you an example. Lately, I've been confused about these things:
- I'm teaching my pilot online course called How To Write Your Book This Year to five fabulous new writers. It's so much fun!! And I need to decide if I want to teach it again. Will I offer the online class to all my blog readers? Will it take too much of my own writing time? Confusion.
- I need a foot operation -- ugh. Do I do it now so I can heal before the launch of my book, JACARANDA SNOW, in October? Do I want weeks on the couch? Will my foot be worse after surgery than it is now? Confusion.
- I love Sydney. I love Canada. Do we move countries after our son graduates? Where will our boys end up living? Do I have the energy to move again? Would our younger son love high school in Canada? Confusion.
So there I balance. Generally happy, generally productive, but indulging in confusion underneath the grin! (Ignore the messy living room, please.)
Are you with me?? Do you say "I don't know how to..." and stop yourself from moving forward?
The smartest advice I ever heard is here. And it's true: jump and the net will appear. We all have Figure-it-out-itude. And we all know that learning makes us feel fantastic and being a beginner is okay.
So here's my deal: the next time I indulge in confusion, I'm going to act. Try something. Figure it out as I land. See what wonderful things Life has to throw in my direction. Succeed (I hope), fail sometimes, have fun doing all of it.
I'm going to live bigger, take up more space, be the Lady Horse in the poem I shared on International Women's Day. I want to live with a huge heart, "giant with power, heavy with blood."
That's why, today, I'm inviting all of you to join me for lemon slice and love, optimism and leaping into our Great Unknowns.
Have a fun weekend, everyone.
Your light shines out of you.
Love, Catherine x
P.S.
If a friend forwarded this email and you want your own, I'd love to send one to you!! Sign up here for weekly happiness.
Love this quote from Jackie Kennedy Onassis, even though I'm a classic over-sharer!
Love this photo from Instagram by James Shamblin. Everything is beautiful in its own way :) You. Me. Even pins on a map.
