Friday Reflections #9: Wins, breakthroughs, and retreating to the shadows

Momentum, at a cost.

Welcome to Friday Reflections! A weekly newsletter sharing 3 thoughts and/or things I loved and learned from the week as I navigate learning how to create a life I’m nourished by, and thriving in, without my mom (or caregiving for her).

Grandma’s rose from grandpa’s funeral.

Heeeey there!

Last Friday’s Reflection I mentioned that I was gonna be taking a break from writing publicly.

Kinda. Possibly... Maybe.

And, I think I’ll give myself one more week before posting again. Except maybe for these reflections (they’re a good commitment challenge since it’s such an open place for us to chat, but there’s still something I’m not digging about the way I write these).

I’m learning that I may want the future of my publication to be written when it comes. If I have to force a piece out that I’m not proud of, then I won’t be posting anything extra for the week!

Everything’s not figured out yet; I got really excited just yesterday about a “business model” I came up with that focuses on my Substack (and its ecosystem) being my top priority, but I don’t wanna jump the gun just yet.

My business coaches have said time and time again that anything you’re curious about, you’ve gotta test out, so that’s what I’ll be doing in the near future.

And speaking of my business coaches, they’re changing up their business model cause their lives are drastically changing, and they’ve been keeping us in the loop. But I started to feel some FOMO around what will start to roll out in the next couple of weeks.

I wanna be churning out a business idea with them as they give us new classes live!

I wanna create an offer I’m excited about and can create a form of income from that appeases me and my family so I don’t have to take on a “REAL” job!

I wanna be in the same firey energy I was in before mom passed!

But I’m not. None of that’s true for me right now and I’m not willing to force myself to do something have no interest in or fire behind.

Writing’s been my only constant since mom passed, while every other passionate pursuit lost the life-changing shininess it once had. But I got a chance to reflect on that.

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This is the part I’m still mulling over, and what I plan to experiment with, but I think I’m gonna go ALL in on my newsletter however I want to in the near future. Commit to it for 3 months and see where my journey takes me as I scream about it from the rooftops and stay as engaged as I want in the community.

I’ll set up a date for when this starts, prepare some scheduled material (because I may return to IG for this too as well as email my old mailing list), and just… write.

And read.

And share.

And chat with fellow writers and creatives!

It seems like a good plan. A loose one, but a plan I’m willing to try.

If I keep up with it, I’m thinking of giving myself a week or two (at one time) off every quarter, leaving people with a roundup of my favorite and the most popular pieces as I rest, reset, and more than likely come up with more to write much more easily.

(Swear I came up with like 3 new pieces and even wrote a lil somethin’ somethin’ while standing in my grandma’s guest bedroom.)

I have some other ideas down the line, but we’ll just stick with this for now.

Now on to the three things for this week!

ONE: More Celebrations!

It’s wild. Since last Friday I’ve gotten six new subscribers (welcome!) leaving me one subscriber away from hitting 50 subscribers!

Thank you, everyone, for supporting me in all the ways!

I also received suuuuuuch lovely words of praise and encouragement and a sweet monetary tip from another new subscriber! (I’ll censor this a little less only if you’re comfortable with it!)

Your encouragement was so appreciated and needed. You know who you are; thank you!

I know it’s cliche to say, “Your support fuels me to keep going”, but it really does!

TWO: Therapy (another celebration!)

I have juuuust enough to report here! Had my first session on Monday and it went so well!

I got a diagnosis that makes sense for what I’m going through and need help with, and before we logged off she told me, “We’re gonna get you feeling better.”

That just… just made me feel so relieved and hopeful.

I’m ready for appointment number two this upcoming Wednesday!

Goodness… I’ve waited over a decade to properly see a therapist and it’s finally happening. So grateful.

THREE: A drawing breakthrough

I’m still determined to figure out what my drawing style is; I have too many comic ideas to let this desire go!

So I’ve been looking for Skillshare classes to help me find my style… And I think I found one! I should be finishing it up today, but it’s been the first class that felt like I popped through my drawing frustrations like poking a hole through the plastic wrapping on an Amazon package.

I felt a mental exhale just doing the warm-up! I’m loving how she explains why certain elements and colors work to help communicate what you’re wanting to

And that’s exactly the starting point I needed.

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Well, that’s it for this week!

They’re still in the works, but make sure to subscribe to Losing Orbit if you want to possibly read the other pieces I started during my break:

• What’s my “controversial truth” on my welcome page?

• A dive into envy for other people’s passions

• Another look at how to tell the future

• And more!

Amazing what a break does to the mind; it’s like the floodgates opened, haha.

Oh! Also, I had a request to spill the jerk smashed potatoes recipe, which I figured out how to prepare in like, half the time! One more tweak and I’ll be able to share. 🙂

And if anyone remembers my brief mention of it in a past Friday Reflection: grandpa’s funeral went so well. I hope to impact as many people as he did within our local community.

See you soon!