Your journal prompts this week:
When was the last time I felt clear on what I wanted to build, cultivate, or create?
Think about the time leading up to that moment of clarity. What circumstances, situations, or people were present?
When inspiration flows in or clarity arrives, how do I tend to it? Do I have a space for my ideas to land and be safely tended to, and if not, where/how can I create that space?
We've all sought clarity at various points in our lives, hoping to get it from a trusted advisor, a friend, a partner, an environment, an experience. Unfortunately it doesn't just respond to our desire or need for it. But when it does arrive, it does not disappoint.
I often don't notice the absence of true clarity until it finally arrives. I can be fooled and think I have clarity, only to discover that it was just one step on the path to it.
For my career and creative projects, the last several years have been hazy. Sometimes the fog was so thick I couldn't do anything but stay exactly where I was because I was too afraid to step forward into the unknown. I stayed in jobs much longer than I needed to, and I repeated old patterns for longer than I'd like to admit.
But recently, clarity finally found its way to me, and I was surprised by it. I at first didn't understand why it chose to come to me when it did. After all this time of seeking it in all the wrong places, I wanted to know why it took so long and what was so special about this particular moment in time. I kept asking myself, why hadn't I thought of this before, why wasn't I able to see this, why did I look anywhere other than myself?
When I look at the circumstances surrounding me when I received this clarity, one thing stands out to me: I had reached a point where I was done with trying to do it all. So I started simplifying, looking for ways to truly streamline my life and business—what could I cut out and what did I really want to keep? I was honest with myself and accepted the fact that when there's too much all around me, when my mind is torn in too many directions, I struggle to function well in all areas. For so long, I thought I had to be the queen of multitasking, that I had to be able to juggle many things at once, that there was something wrong with me if I couldn't or didn't like to do it all.
I thought I had to do so many things because:
I knew how to do them or was capable of figuring out how to do them.
Someone told me I was good at something, and so it felt like a lost opportunity or money left on the table if I didn't do it.
Someone said they needed my help and couldn't do it on their own.
This sense of obligation is a carryover from my corporate life. I was taught to say yes to every request that came in from an executive, client, or customer—and fulfill that request as quickly as possible. I was taught that I needed to fill in all the gaps for people because if I didn't, I might not get that great review or bonus at the end of the year.
But once I had my own business, this mentality or pattern just led to a jumbled mess of tasks, blurred boundaries, and dozens of customized projects that were hard to keep track of. And there was no big bonus or raise at the other end of it if I did well.
I struggled to explain to people exactly what I did because I did too many things. "I do pretty much everything under the communications umbrella," I'd say. I might as well have said, "Anything you want, I'll do it." And now, with a baby at home, that level of service is impossible to sustain.
You could say I was forced to slow down. To simplify. I couldn't make it happen on my own, so the Universe had to force it. And with the slow down, the simplification, that elusive clarity I was seeking all along swept right in.
The idea for my next big project came to me after I returned home from a visit with my family in April. I had been able to quiet my mind a bit while I was there. I had admitted aloud to the people closest to me that I'd made a mistake in taking on so much, and so I started taking active steps to simplify. I had hope for a better way.
And now, after taking many baby steps at a comfortable pace I could sustain (which, much to my surprise, led to even more clarity), I'm excited to announce my newest project, which will help all of us hop off that churn-and-burn lifestyle of meaningless content creation. It is another Substack publication called The Mindful Content Creator, and a new podcast, The Mindful Content Creator Podcast. I won't spend too much time explaining it in detail right now, but you can learn more about it and subscribe here, and listen to the podcast trailer below.
This project combines all I've learned and am interested in, and it allows me to use all of my talents. The whole project is informed by my experiences as a writer, storyteller, video editor, content creator, speaker, yoga teacher, meditation teacher, and all-around spiritual person. This project will simply be another expression of who I am.
It is how I truly feel called to serve at this time, though I know this will continue to evolve as I take more steps on the path.
I wouldn't be able to pursue this project if I hadn't cleared space for the idea to land and to ultimately grow. And so this week, I encourage you to look at your moments of clarity. What were the circumstances or situations that led to them? And how do you create space to nurture them?
As always, please feel free to share your insights.
With much love and gratitude,
Marcy
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