How are you doing today?
If you are new here — welcome to my FunLetters, where you get a little update from me and some things to inspire you and delight. <3 Feel free to reply to my emails anytime and let me know how you are or what you are working on.
Me, I have been exercising discipline to be NOT obsessing over the news for 36 hours, which is good for me LOL. It’s great to be informed but there’s such a thing as too much, especially when I notice I’m getting burned out on it.
So I’m taking the advice I shared with her.
I’ve recently fallen in love with the practice of recording an audio recording of myself giving me a pep talk.
When I relisten a few times it hits so differently. Have you ever tried that?
Another thing feeding me is digging into some of my creative writing. I stumbled on a piece I wrote when I lived in Japan.
This piece always feels totally PRESCIENT because I wrote it a bit before the pandemic rocked the globe and..well, you can read it.
In today’s age of uncertainty, it feels appropriate to share it again.
That story from Japan on uncertain times is below.
But first here’s the scoop on some events happening!
Whether you’re bold and quirky, soft and soulful, loud, quiet, colorful, calm — your presence is enough. You are enough.
You don’t need to become more extroverted, more polished, or more “on brand” to attract amazing clients.
You just need to stop hiding parts of yourself.
That’s what the Get Paid to Be You Summit is all about. Hosted by Sarah Michael, this 5-day free event features 25+ speakers — from Hawaiian-shirted attorneys to quietly magnetic mentors — all sharing how they built successful, profitable businesses by being fully themselves.
Because there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy. There’s just the version that fits you.
And I’m there! I got some kudos on my talk.
​
Reserve your free seat here ​ Get ready to stop performing — and start connecting in a way that gets you paid.
Please mark your calendars for the upcoming FREE cowork session
Wednesday April 16th
from 2-5 PM CST
3-6 PM Eastern,
12-3 PM Pacific
​Register for our cowork session on zoom here​
Come and stay for a while, or hop in during the middle and join us for all or part of it.
You can work on your editing, writing, creating, marketing, idea organizing, with me live.
It is free!
You can also ask me questions about any of the above during the Q&A section
This free session looks like you joining me as I am:
- Giving you a short presentation at the beginning about a cool surprise topic.
- Silently working with you for 30 minutes. You can pop a note in the chat about what you’re working on.
- Taking a break in the middle to chat with you.
- Laying down or dancing around if I need to have a think about something.
- Q&A questions related to my courses, organizing your ideas, marketing your business in a sales page, editing or writing your book, managing your energy as a creator, things like that! I will be available for questions SOME of the time, let’s say 10 minutes per hour.
How do I sign up? ​Register for our cowork session on zoom here​
FAQS:
Can I come for just part of it, if I have to leave? That’s fine! Yes, just pop in for a bit.
If you have a question, and cannot attend in full: consider sending me the question in advance via email or putting it in the chat during the session and I’ll record it even if you have to leave before I answer it.
Can I come late?
Absolutely, yes, just please make sure you are muted if we are being quiet.
Is there a recording if you can’t make it? Yes and no: I will record parts where I am teaching or answering an important question. But the part where we are quietly working? Nah. Probably not.
Do I have to talk or be on camera?
Nope. You can just hang out if you want.
​Register for our cowork session on zoom here
Story from Japan on Uncertain Times
I wrote something in December 2019 right before the pandemic that always sticks with me.
The topic is uncertainty…and it had a certain level of psychic prediction considering what was to come.
Uncertainty seems to be the buzzword for 2025, especially for anyone in business or finance.
So here’s some food for thought on it.
Sending love to you.
Dear reader (from December 2019),
As of quite recently, I’ve been living in Japan, engaged in a job teaching English that will last for a year.
It was going well and, until recently, I thought I would stay in Japan for an additional, second year, too. I wanted to stay. I wanted to travel, pay off some debts, save, create a really good foundation of whatever I would do next.
But something ruined my perfect plan. I realized I was really unhappy. I was finding myself holding back tears at work. And one day it dawned on me…I really don’t like my job.
Wow. And in admitting that, I was frustrated and fighting it because I really didn’t want to change my nice little plan. I was mad—it felt good to know what I was doing next year!
My plan was certain. I had decided in my mind. It seemed clear. It gave me a ton of information about what to expect from the future. That felt safe. I love having a plan, a goal, something to drive an arrow towards.
The truth is that the unknown is scary. Confusion is uncomfortable. Being certain is nice. And having a plan to focus on distracts me from the inconvenience of having to deal with the feelings coming up in the present moment.
But sometimes being certain is bullshit. Sometimes we decide things based on information we perceive, but that information is incorrect, or inconclusive, or it changes. And living in the future is also nonsense, it’s a fantasy world, and it usually leads to me being disappointed that the reality is not all as good as I imagined it would be.
The universe has a way of changing things up. The truth is that none of us are in control. We think we are. It’s a nice little illusion we can buy into so that we don’t have to think about things we can’t control.
Stuff we can’t control, like the fact you could be hit by a bus of falling plane, or someone you love could be ill, or there could be a massive infection that decimates the a third of the world within two months. ((2025 me says: I swear I didn’t know a global pandemic would happen within months when I wrote this December 2019!!)) Someone could say something really mean to you or attack you on the street. Climate change could ravage our entire economic system and we could lose our house. Someone could raid your trash and violate your privacy. Your food could be bad and you could be on the toilet for the next 36 hours. Phone could suddenly break. And thats just, you know, the stuff that comes into my mind hardly thinking about it. But of course, we don’t want to dwell on all that.
We can make all the goals in the world, and decide—I’m doing this! This is happening! And there is something to be said for the power of that.
But in truth—I’ve been doing that since I was a kid. I’ve been setting goals and pursuing them since before I can even consciously remember my thought process.
Why? Because it gave me certainty, and it gave me safety. In my case, it’s not something I need to increase. It’s something that has actually become a crutch to feel safe in a world that I know for a fact is as uncertain as quicksand in many ways. It’s become overwrought, and considering the culture we live in, it seems like people are so often talking about goals, and bucket lists, and hussling that it makes my eyes cross. I accomplished enough of that to know that the other side is usually not the mystical paradise that it may seem.
Rather than trying to plan for every eventuality, I know that I can’t. I can’t live in constant fear either, because that is no way to live. I need to make the most of my time here on the planet, as rough and crazy as it can seem sometimes. And to do that, I need to accept uncertainty and mourn the certainty that I have so clung to. It served a purpose, I had to survive my youth somehow, but now any kind of illusion is only going to hold me back.
I put my trust in the waves of the universe and let myself float. I’m not going to be staying in Japan past April 2020, although I thought it’d be cool to stay until 2021.
Do you believe in something bigger? In times of uncertainty, it is what I come back to.
A story for another time, but there are reasons I know I am supposed to be in Japan. I don’t understand why. But there were signs that brought me here. I know in my bones that this is true.
The truth is I decided to go to Japan, but only because the path was illuminated for me.
And I said yes, I chose to be led by my spirit because I’ve found the alternative has never worked out. It was a cocreation, I chose to follow but I didn’t choose the direction.
Yes, still I worked my ass off for it, it didn’t just happen. But why? I did all this because I felt led to. I’m usually glad I follow the callings I’ve been given, even if it doesn’t make total sense during the journey and sometimes it still feels like a shit sandwich along the way. I’ve wondered what the point of me coming here has been if I am going to leave…but there has to be one. The path is uncertain, but I tried all the stuff I was “certain” about and it didn’t fulfill my expectations, anyway, so what is there really to lose?
But just because I’ve been led to take a left towards Japan, doesn’t mean I’m not going to have to change directions to leave Japan when the time is right. I have to always be listening because navigation is something that changes. I have to guide the wheel this way and that. If I’m listening for the directions, I still need to make decisions, hit the break, or add the gas at points.
So I told my company I’m not renewing my contract past March. I’m still here for at least 3-4 months. I can always just leave if I want…but although things are difficult, and I’m fiercely homesick and don’t feel like I’m making much of a difference for the planet at my dayjob—which maybe is sucking energy away from meaningful things like my business I actually want to be doing—I’m here and I’m doing my best.
And that can totally change any time. The future is uncertain, and I am okay with it. Because uncertainty means I’m paying attention, and I’m ready to be guided. And I bet where ever I end up will be pretty cool.
((Note from future me….later that month I began dating the man who would become my husband!! We are in love. How’s that for a reason to go to Japan?)
​You can read more in my story, “My Life Changing Journey to Japan” for free here.
Hope to see you in next week’s free LIVE coworking session!
Thanks for reading
