The fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of the unknown. These are a powerful trio. But there’s something inside each of us that’s even more powerful still. Read on to find out about this secret weapon…
Small Post, Big Risk
I’m heading out in a few minutes to a networking luncheon. That’s not the risk. That’s why this post is a small one. The risk is that, not only will I be taking a bag of my brand new books with me (The RiskADay Journal: 28 Days to Being You Out Loud with Courage, Creativity [...]
Well, our time in Evanston/Chicago, Illinois has come to an end. For those of you reading my blog for the first time, my husband and I took a summer sublet here, although we live and teach at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, a small rural town near the Iowa border. Earlier I blogged about [...]
Supervision of potty-training and more
While my daily life is peppered with small (and still important!) risks – risking accidents and labor-intensive trips to the bathroom by potty-training; risking night-wandering by moving a 3-year-old into a big girl bed; risking shame via haircut (bangs or no bangs?) – a new risk has appeared on the professional horizon. The small research [...]
Sink or swim
I am overwhelmed. I have never felt this vulnerable and “stuck” in my whole life, and I’m at the far end of my 50′s. I have wanted desperately to change my personal situation for quite a while now, but only recently have I truly understood the cold reality of what this will mean financially. It [...]
Risking Yes, No and Maybe
Saying “no” is often more at the heart of risk-taking for me than what may appear more daring—say, bungy jumping off a cliff. (And I’m terrified of heights!) The first chapter of my book on creative process, Foolsgold, opens with Gandhi’s words, “A ‘no’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better and greater than a [...]
One Thing
People ask me all the time what it takes to be a working musician. Most of the time what they really mean is what does it take to be a “star.” I generally have to explain the difference to them and hope they understand that, while, yes, I still have stars I am chasing, the [...]
Being Safe
Our daughter was a Peace Corps volunteer and served 2 years and 3 months in Niger, West Africa. She lived in a little village by herself in the midst of a loving community of poverty-stricken people. She had no running water, no electricity, no trash pick-up, no grocery store, no medical care, no car, no [...]
Where I’m From
Building off of yesterday’s blog post of admitting where you’re from (thanks for the inspiration Kory – in many ways)… As a 17 year old (and even earlier, but without the means and a place to go), I felt I had to reject my family and where I am from in order to grow and [...]
Tragedy to Comedy
On December 31, 2008 around 7:00 in the evening in a subway station in Manhattan, I found myself sobbing, gasping for air, choking on the disappointments of my life and my self, mourning the deaths of so many ideals by which I had defined my life, purging all the sorrow I had compressed down into [...]
