Good morning y’all. Just like that, we are about halfway through the year.
As I continue to refine what it is we do here at SELF MADE, two things:
Tuesday posts will continue to be of the personal essay/creative nonfiction ilk.
Friday threads will be a continuation of the Tuesday theme, from a more practical/resource sharing perspective.
There are so many newsletters these days that do link round-ups (You’ve got Anne Helen! Ann Friedman! Roxane!) so in an effort not to be redundant I’m shifting the link sharing section to “Read-Watch-Listen.” Of course, if there’s something I can’t bare to not share…
Anyway. Hi.
In this week’s post, I used an anecdote about my experience growing up around horses to consider what it might be like to be kind to ourselves, instead of punishing, as we sit with the discomfort inherent in attempting to reach a goal, or change a habit or pattern.
I want to share two resources I use to help me stay close to myself through these moments when I’m caught in The Messy Soup of Unknowing.
The first is the “Unfuck Your Brain” podcast by Kara Lowentheil. I recommend this podcast to every single person I work with, because y’all, as I often say - what’s the point of doing all this self-work/becoming sober/chasing big goals if you…hate yourself the whole time? It was this podcast—not all the therapy, or all the self development programs and seminars I did in my twenties and early thirties, or all the yoga/meditation training I’ve done for almost twenty years—that finally got me practicing new thoughts. This shit works. I recommend starting with this episode, or scrolling through the extensive archive and choosing a theme that pops for you.
The second is something new I’m playing with: I recently started a new practice I’m calling Baseline. I came back from the river on Monday and made this chart:
Between my recent move, hella work drama, and just the normal, day-to-day adulting life stuff, I’ve been feeling wobbly. This chart is back to basics for me. If I can hit one thing in each box every day, I can more solidly stand in the swirl without losing my center. Yours will look different. I hung this above my desk and am experimenting!
Ok boo boos, that’s it this week. Is this helpful? Interesting? I’d love to hear…
Sending you all my good everything, tuya
dani
📖Read: This article, about “The Learning Zone Model,” was the inspiration for this week’s post. “In the transition from Comfort Zone to Learning Zone we need to be careful when taking risks that we don’t go too far out of our Comfort Zone – beyond the Learning Zone – into the Panic Zone, where all our energy is used up for managing/controlling our anxiety and no energy can flow into learning.”
👀Watch: During a session this week, one of the people I work with told me about this video, “What Alcohol Does to Your Body” from The Institute of Human Anatomy. The scientist is charming and frank and it was SO RAD AND WEIRD to get a walk through of well, what alcohol does to your body with the help of some highly preserved cadavers.
🎧Listen: Just in time for summer, I finished my 🌺spring playlist🌺. It’s fun. I recommend listening on shuffle.
BONUS: This tweet (click through!) is cute. But the subsequent responses—where people share their mistakes in solidarity with the intern—are gold.
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I love this Baseline concept! It reminds me a bit of the recovery chart. I think I'll play around with your Baseline idea for myself. Thanks for sharing.
I love this Baseline concept! It reminds me a bit of the recovery chart. I think I'll play around with your Baseline idea for myself. Thanks for sharing.
yay Lori!