Resonate so much with everything you wrote here. I used to think in terms of “leveling up,” but now see that as kinda toxic. It has a connotation of flying away from our lives, a deeper sense of running away from what’s wrong rather than, like you said, embracing ourselves and the world around us. When I got my first group of freelance writing clients, I remember thinking, “up, up and away,” like I’d reached some pinnacle and would continue to the stars. That’s ultimately so defeating because success isn’t final just like failure isn’t final, but encountering failure from a “level up” perspective basically pops our balloon and can leave us reeling instead of taking it all in and saying, okay, what’s next.
I now like to think in terms of expansion. Expansion to me is very grounded. It’s about making the absolute best out of all your blessings and challenges, and from that place, naturally expanding into the next chapter of life. Every time I live this way, everything seems to flow much more gracefully. I’m still deeply ambitious but this helps me grow toward my dreams in a grounded, peaceful way rather than trying to escape my current reality because I don’t feel good enough.
I still can’t get over how similar our backgrounds are! Newsrooms, corporate comm, journaling… everything!
Oh expansion is a great word to use instead of leveling up/rising up. I really like that. And it’s so true that we can think of success as final, the end of the story. I am all about stories and storytelling, but I think that also makes me want everything to have this neat, tidy, clear and clean ending. Colette Baron Reid said this in an Oracle card reading training course, and it’s really stuck with me: “We are all stories in motion.” So to remind myself of that feels freeing. There’s still more to go. You can keep telling and weaving the story.
So good. I felt like quoting many different parts but then figured I should just recommend that people read the whole thing. It's a shame that Substack and other social media isn't meritocratic. If someone with a minimum threshold of followers had posted this, it would take off.
Hi Ryan! Thank you for your kind words and for saying that about the platform. Sometimes it can feel disheartening to put out something you worked hard on for it to be mostly received by dead silence, but I suppose that's all part of the process--we all have to start somewhere! Happy to find even just a few people that this resonates with, so thanks so much again for reading.
Marcy, I am always in awe of your deep content. This IS impressive and truly what it's all about!!! Thank you so much for the soul searching prompts. I appreciate you!
Resonate so much with everything you wrote here. I used to think in terms of “leveling up,” but now see that as kinda toxic. It has a connotation of flying away from our lives, a deeper sense of running away from what’s wrong rather than, like you said, embracing ourselves and the world around us. When I got my first group of freelance writing clients, I remember thinking, “up, up and away,” like I’d reached some pinnacle and would continue to the stars. That’s ultimately so defeating because success isn’t final just like failure isn’t final, but encountering failure from a “level up” perspective basically pops our balloon and can leave us reeling instead of taking it all in and saying, okay, what’s next.
I now like to think in terms of expansion. Expansion to me is very grounded. It’s about making the absolute best out of all your blessings and challenges, and from that place, naturally expanding into the next chapter of life. Every time I live this way, everything seems to flow much more gracefully. I’m still deeply ambitious but this helps me grow toward my dreams in a grounded, peaceful way rather than trying to escape my current reality because I don’t feel good enough.
I still can’t get over how similar our backgrounds are! Newsrooms, corporate comm, journaling… everything!
Oh expansion is a great word to use instead of leveling up/rising up. I really like that. And it’s so true that we can think of success as final, the end of the story. I am all about stories and storytelling, but I think that also makes me want everything to have this neat, tidy, clear and clean ending. Colette Baron Reid said this in an Oracle card reading training course, and it’s really stuck with me: “We are all stories in motion.” So to remind myself of that feels freeing. There’s still more to go. You can keep telling and weaving the story.
It is so wild how we have so many parallels!!
So good. I felt like quoting many different parts but then figured I should just recommend that people read the whole thing. It's a shame that Substack and other social media isn't meritocratic. If someone with a minimum threshold of followers had posted this, it would take off.
Hi Ryan! Thank you for your kind words and for saying that about the platform. Sometimes it can feel disheartening to put out something you worked hard on for it to be mostly received by dead silence, but I suppose that's all part of the process--we all have to start somewhere! Happy to find even just a few people that this resonates with, so thanks so much again for reading.
Marcy, I am always in awe of your deep content. This IS impressive and truly what it's all about!!! Thank you so much for the soul searching prompts. I appreciate you!
Thank you so much, Annette! I'm always just so happy to hear that someone is reading/listening and can relate. I appreciate you being here!