Hello, Friends and Readers,
Are you feeling a bit of lightness in your soul as Spring brings lightness to our days? Or are you feeling totally done as winter puts on her final show (here in Alberta, anyway)?
I’ve been in a bit of a slump in terms of writing this newsletter. It’s not been a good feeling, but it was probably silly of me to think that I would be able to consistently churn out really great writing every week, now that I am able to make space for it in my job. Perhaps this has been the winter of my writing, a time when the compost of my experiences has been laying dormant in order to provide rich new ideas in the spring to come.
When I started this newsletter, it was mainly about parenting and working with children. Then I shifted to be more general because I wanted the flexibility to write about a variety of things that feel relevant to me. What’s happened, however, is that without something tangible to hone in on, I end up feeling really scattered. Recently, as I was pondering this lack of direction, an idea came to me to start writing series: I focus on a topic that interests me and break it down into smaller pieces for each newsletter.
I chose The Art of Showing Up because I needed to create a framework for myself as someone who began a job without all the answers, credentials, or experience. I’ve noticed, in myself as well as others, the tendency we have to regard ourselves as wholly inadequate when we perceive that we aren’t qualified compared to others, and so we give up on pursuing a vision that lights us up or overwork in order to prove ourselves. I believe education is important—I’m not trained as a doctor, so I’m obviously not going to perform surgeries or diagnose illnesses—AND I wonder if we’re losing the ability to fully show up in our careers, relationships, and communities because we’re afraid we’ll get it wrong.
Perhaps showing up isn’t a class we can master, but an art that involves practice and curiousity, even when we miss the mark or it feels uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s the willingness to say that, even if we don’t have all the information, something is important enough to keep learning about and speaking up for. Perhaps it’s the balance of facing criticsm with reflection of where we might have gone wrong and the knowing that we honoured and respected others in the process.
I believe my role is not to give answers, but to ask really good questions. In this series, my hope is to give each of us the permission to look into our own inner knowing and find the answers that can only come from our unique perspectives and experience. With any luck, it’ll be a combination of writing and videos, but that’s new to me. So I guess showing up for me right now is learning how to make this series happen.
All along the way, I’d really love feedback from you. It’s difficult to express how much it means to me when people comment, email, call, text, or talk with me in person about what I write here, and I’m going to be more intentional about offering heartfelt responses than I have been. I’m learning on this path, and having the opportunity to hear your experiences teaches me, too.
Thank you for being here,
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