Tag: don’t give up

Pivots and Head Congestion

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Recovery from the flu has been frustratingly slow. My energy is still not at 100%. I go to bed around 8:30pm. I have this lingering congestion in my head and chest that refuses to leave, no matter how much medicine I throw at it. And I have developed painful knots in my neck and shoulder, a combination of coughing for over two weeks and working in my lesson on Tuesday as hard as I was two months ago, without consideration of the fact that I haven’t been working my body that hard for two months.

But my hip connection is feeling solid!

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A Thank-You Note to 2016

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2016 was a rough year. Just in the last week, the world lost two amazing women, who were also two of my favorite Hollywood actors. Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds were an inspiration to me. Princess Leia showed us that we can be strong and feminine at the same time. The way Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds’ character in Singin’ in the Rain) teases Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) as she’s driving him to Beverly Hills is my go-to when I’m searching for my Foxtrot character. I love the way she playfully puts him in his place and firmly stands up for herself, despite the fact he is a famous (and therefore intimidating) celebrity.

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Energy and Motivation

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In the Facebook group related to the Momentum ’17 challenge I’m doing, someone asked how many people were holding down a job while also trying to build their business, and besides the obvious time challenge, what their biggest challenges were related to that situation. If I haven’t already explained, this challenge is for people working on building their own brand/business, a.k.a. entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is starting to feel like a cliché to me as so many people reject the normal way of making money (i.e., get a job with an already-established company) and strike out on their own. It’s funny to think that being “self-employed” or an “entrepreneur” used to be a euphemism for “can’t get a job.” Now it’s all the rage! I’m not one to jump on trends (I frequently avoid them on principle), but I do want to be able to eventually support myself with my writing and dancing, and there’s no time like the present to start thinking of the business side of things. And when it’s a free challenge, why not!

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Don’t Give Up!

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(Warning, cheesy motivational post!)
Originally posted on the Girl with the Tree Tattoo Facebook and Instagram pages, I felt like sharing it here too.

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I thought I was done competing in ballroom for at least a year after CalOpen in February. Now I’m working toward going to TWO comps before the end of 2016.

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I had major doubts about my dancing, feeling like my progress had plateaued with no goal to work toward. Then I had my first coaching and the coach was “super impressed.”

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After the last jump in the Amazon ranks, my eBook “Dance Diaries: Learning Ballroom Dance” did nothing but fall every time I looked at it. I felt like my marketing efforts were having no effect. Then I woke up this morning and it’s back in the top 20 in its category.

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The common denominator is I never gave up.

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Even after I resigned to not being able to compete, I have kept working on ways to boost my income so I could afford it. I still go to my dance lessons and work hard, staying 100% present as much as I can, even when I can’t feel any progress and all I have on the horizon is another lesson. And I still work to find new ways to reach the right people about Dance Diaries because I know this book is just the thing for someone somewhere.

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Whatever you’re working on, don’t give up. Even when it feels like you’re on the path to failure, keep working as if it’s the path to success. Because the path to success actually feels a lot like failure. Until it’s not.

Debt vs. The Pursuit of Happiness

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After writing the Hermit Weekend post, I recalled a post I had written for the Uphill Factor about two years ago.  Eventually, that site will transform or disappear entirely, so I’ve been spending some time revisiting old posts. The particular one I recalled yesterday was written because I had been involved in a debate about debt and pursuing things that make you happy.

The debate was how much money, more specifically how much debt, is acceptable in the pursuit of a passion?  At what point do you stop being admirable for following your dreams against any and all odds and start being just foolish and irresponsible?

Two years later, my views haven’t changed much despite my constant questioning of myself and my need to take the occasional hermit weekend.

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