So things have been a little quiet around here lately. I’ve been mulling over how to write a ‘break the silence’ post for nearly two weeks now.
Hopefully this is it.
The Back-story
Just over two weeks ago, I came back from a short holiday. I’ve developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with holidays over the last couple of years because, as nice as it is to get away from London, my brain seems to turn into a frenzied idea-making-factory-on-speed whenever I have a change of scene. It’s inspiring, but it’s also kind of scary.
This particular holiday was four lovely days in the sun (my favourite place to be) but I felt pretty low when I got back. Even a consulting call with the lovely Catherine Caine didn’t totally lift me up, despite giving me a heap of stuff to work on that felt meaningful and productive.
Why?
Enter Overwhelm
What I realised on that holiday is that there are a few changes I’d like to make to my life as it is right now.
- I don’t want to stay in England for ever. If I do, I’m not sure I want to stay in London. But I’m also not sure whether I’m ready to leave London (read: a lot of indecision). Either way, living in another (preferably hot) country and culture for at least a while has been added to my bucket list.
- Did I mention the lists? While I was away, I read an awesome book called Journal to the Self
. Now everything in my life is a potential list of 100. Making time for some good, wholesome naval-gazing is one of the things I really want to improve upon.
And this site. I finally got what I wanted to do with this site. That’s the scary part.
Over the last few years, I’ve been a bit of a drifter in jobs and living situations. Not being a drifter has been one of the challenges I’ve faced this year (part of me seems to be convinced that happiness can be found in packing boxes).
So here goes with the hard bit: This is what I want to do. I want this site to be the resource I never had. I want to provide a valuable information source that will be helpful to people who are interested in personal growth. I want to provide coaching for people who need help getting started, encouragement along the way and an objective voice to provide alternative perspectives and ideas. Most of all, I want to help people become who they are.
What I don’t want is for money to be a barrier to personal growth. So I’m going to be giving a lot of stuff away for free or for a very low price. It’s going to be personal development for people on a budget.
It’s scary finally knowing what I want to do and it’s scary knowing that I control most, if not all, of it as well. Cue lots of internal pressure to be perfect (like planning my ‘break the silence’ post after just one day of not posting) and ta-da, there’s the avoidance.
Avoidance
Avoidance comes under many guises. It manifests as business, procrastination and apparent laziness.
But behind all these things is one emotion:
fear.
The big truth: I love working on the site, and I’d like to spend more time working on it. Somewhere down the line, so that I can do this all day every day (well, almost), I would like to make a living out of this.
I’ve been thinking about this for months. I have a list of stuff I want to do with the site as long my leg, as well as an impressive list of excuses about why it’s never going to work, this just isn’t the right time, there’s too much other stuff happening, etc. etc. *sad violin*
But you know what? Excuses are just excuses.
So here’s what’s coming up.
Ch-Ch-Chan-ges
- Moar resources! Books, apps, websites… if it exists and it’s useful, it’s going on the page.
- Moar freebies! As well as the above, I plan to start releasing themed worksheets containing methodologies and questions that I’ve found helpful. You can be hugely useful in this by telling me what areas of life you’d like to see covered, whether it’s career, relationships, family or otherwise.
- Moar goodies! At the moment, the Cafe Press store is a little lonely all by itself so there are going to be new additions coming soon. I have some pretty exciting ideas for some affordable and useful tools and I’m looking forward to sharing them.
I hope these things make a difference to your experience and, as always, I’d love to hear your feedback.
What do you want to see from the site? Are there any topics you’d like to discuss or hear more about? Tell me in the comments below!
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Thank you for your post. I was thinking about giving things away for free while “helping people become who they are.” One concept or practice I find helpful is to recognize the value of reciprocity. In this case; as you make it financially possible for people to receive your gifts or services, in order to remain fully reciprocal, I think we have to open to the gifts and services they are able to return to us. Sometime this is money and in many cases it isn’t. Giving is always a safe reset point. Your willingness to model generosity is enhanced by your willingness to receive. It takes the focus off of ourselves and into our relationships.
Other People's Awesome Ideas | Becoming Who You Are // Jul 20, 2010 at 9:09 pm
[...] with other things right now. Perhaps it’s because I still feel a little stuck in the post tundra. Either way, the words just ain’t flowing [...]
I couldn’t agree more! Although it might seem counter-intuitive at first, I do believe in the idea that if you are need, being generous is a great catalyst for change.