➡️ #AtoZChallenge: P is for purify your mindset

The things that cage us aren’t insurmountable.

I’m sitting here early on a Saturday morning.

I’ve pondered how to streamline my life. I’m working from home as many of us are. I’m struggling to find balance. I wake up every day encouraged that this will be different. Often, I go to sleep wondering where it went wrong.

See, I’m the same guy who has found success before.

Not success in dollar signs or prestige. In peace of mind. In the moment. In trusting that the process is the thing, in that I must keep my eyes and heart open. The stuff that makes the biggest difference are things I haven’t planned for. But you have to have an efficient way to get to those things.

😊 #AtoZChallenge: N is for Nancy Kempa, realtor and translator for #GirlsRock

I love to see effective marketing in play.

I have lots of friends whose marketing efforts for all sorts of businesses inspire me. They show me that there are effective ways to stand out in a crowded space of posts and links. It’s a personal touch that gives a person and business a signature feel.

Nancy Kempa does just that in her posts.

We became friends on Instagram, and talked a lot about our messaging and about life. She has one of those determined wills that is also inspiring. Have something you’d like to do or do better? Nancy’s approach is to tackle it.

#AtoZChallenge: C is for conversations, Camdyn and cookies (#GratitudeAndShit) 🍪

Turns out, I love L.A. Just not the dodgers or lakers.

I wonder how many people will go with COVID as their C word.

Or, coronavirus. It’s difficult for me to, even if I wanted to. Friday is my #GratitudeAndShit day, and pandemic viruses don’t make the cut. I am grateful, however, to have this new reality upon me. It’s not been easy, but there have been some pluses on small scales.

It’s exhausting to read post after post about how to work efficiently from home. 

I haven’t found that. There are small gains. There’s stuff like birds on my bird feeder and tortilla chips in my pantry to serve enough distraction to get me off track. But I’m eating less fried food and takeout, more conscious that I’d better watch my intake.

I’m not getting in those steps at Target and hustling to the bus stop these days.

🚁 #AtoZChallenge reveal: A post smorgasbord

Much love to you, Seattle. Stay strong.

The A to Z Challenge is upon us.

I thought, man, I’m gonna need, like, a month or two at home just to write the daggum posts to do this daggum challenge this year. Well, I thought that a few weeks ago. And then this coronavirus thing happened.

So there’s no excuse now.

If I craft a post every time I hear COVID-19, that’s enough for 37 Aprils. And have enough to let a blogger named April have 31 for her next A to Z Challenge. Honestly, I don’t have to write much, because the Challenge has become the Month of Purge for me.

#GirlsRock: An Interview with health and wellness advocate Holli Nesbitt 💮

A stormtrooper poses with Christmas balls at an antique mall one day.

Oh, man – it’s good to be back.

Before I start writing again, I want to share with you a handful of wonderful interviews for #GirlsRock. For the uninitiated – #GirlsRock is an interview series that highlights women who do cool things.

Holli Nesbitt and I met on Facebook, and I quickly learned how passionate she is about helping people find better health.

During my time at ACN, I’ve seen how challenging network marketing can be. It takes someone special, with people skills and perseverance. You can’t have one without the other – and Holli has both in abundance.

#GirlsRock: 📒 An interview with account management representative Sarah Gowher

Our conversation began, naturally, over tacos.

Sarah Gowher and I had been connected on LinkedIn. She posted about tacos, and predictably, I responded. This is how all the strong connections in history are made. Everyone from Brad Paisley, Will Smith to Nostradamus would agree.

I found that Sarah’s story has a lot to love in it.

Finding confidence, getting support from peers and moving ahead – that’s the theme in Sarah’s journey. I love that. I feel like many of you will find parts of her tale to identify with. She has confident mindfulness with hope for what’s next.

🤯 Guest post: Author Britt Skrabanek, on how to protect your creative mind

A creative mind is a kind of mushy not often found in this world.

Not in a ‘this apple is too old to eat’ kind of way. More in a, ‘you can’t sit on a plate of flan or you’ll flatten it’ kind of way. It’s malleable in all the right ways, and when it’s healthy and strong, the best stuff comes shooting out of it.

Yeah, like sparklers.

Like a new pair of glasses or first-edition Chewbacca figure, it’s best to keep a creative mind protected 24-7 in the box it came in. But what fun is that? And what function? Just don’t sit on your glasses. Or lose Chewie’s crossbow.

🦸‍♀️ Weekend Reads VII: Moms Rock

God, moms.

No, that’s not a redundancy, although it kind of is. Moms do make the world go ‘round. You know I love moms. I feel like moms read this blog. Did you know when I started, I thought, I’m going to write a blog that dads and dudes will read and follow and love.

Yeah, right, a cohort said at the time.

It’s going to be women who read you, she was saying. Moms, mostly. They’ll identify with you and share your stuff with each other. They’ll share with their men, too, but mostly, the men won’t listen. They’ll wish their men were a bit like you.

🕐 #AtoZChallenge: V is for Virtually anything

It’s going to be tough to claim victory in this one.

I’m days behind, trying in vain to catch up for the A to Z challenge. I wanted to write about vulnerability today, harkening back to some meditation fog observation I’d made about stepping in from the vestibule of life and really opening yourself up.

Me preaching the virtues of vulnerability would be like me spelling out the benefits of Valerian Root for menopausal symptoms.

I haven’t ventured out of the vortex of my comfort zone like that in ages. I’d be a villain to write that post. I wrote about valentine’s day once, the day after valentine’s day. This wasn’t long after Madison decided not to play for the Converse College Valkyries.

#AtoZChallenge | R is for Ruining our lives, but also rules for divine timing and happier parenting (Weekend Reads VI)

Two pervasive thoughts dominate my brain usually.

I don’t have time for all this! But also, I’ve been given 24 hours to figure out how to do it all – that’s a lot of time! (I also think about Michelle Gingras, Stonehenge, and Havarti cheese, but that’s for another post.)

What’s left in the middle is that time is time, there’s no time like the present, you can’t make new time, and it’s time to go. Also, I might not have time to finish this post until tonight, which is sorta like getting to the fair 10 minutes before it packs up and hits the road.