Check Out the Podcast Here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1914247/share
If you find the podcast inspiring or helpful, I would LOVE it if you could rate and review!!
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Watch the video below to learn how scaling back can breakdown the barrier to entry and surprisingly lead to a road of work you love!
I have 3 ideas swirling around my head for 2022 and I will pick one lucky winner for my 100 Epic Days project that starts in January. In about a week, I will pick one of the following:
BOOK
If I create a book this year, YES of course I would love to write an intricate story with my illustrated character that I use in all of my drawings and have her march through her hero's journey, but I've never made a book before. If I want to realistically figure out how to lay out the pages, get it printed...etc. in 100 days without staying up late and sacrificing my day job, family and self - I need to scale back my intentions here. My plan is to simply take the drawings I used for my affirmation deck and have 1 drawing per page with an explanation on the opposing page. Boom, done, book in hand on day 100! I will celebrate the triumph of completing the book and look forward to the next one where I can take on something a little more complicated now that I've gone through the motions once.
ANIMATE MY DRAWINGS
I have such GRAND ideas for setting these images in motion! However, if I try to take on something too complex, I will get paralyzed and not even start. So, if I decide to do this goal, I will simply make a 5-10 sec. animated GIF that flickers back and forth between 2 similarly drawn frames, just to add a touch of motion. This will allow me to feel confident going into procreate and messing around with animation, exporting in the correct format, posting on social media...etc. By lowering the stakes with this goal, it frees up my mind to effortlessly step into day 1 without the fear and hesitation.
MONEY MINDSET DECK
If I decide to make a new card deck, I will follow the same process I did with my last deck. I will allow myself to go inward and create drawings based off of the books and podcasts I listen to about shifting our mindset around money. I will make a drawing a day interpreting what I am learning and let those drawings pile up without the outcome in mind. The in ANOTHER challenge, I will format the drawings for cards and print the deck. This takes the pressure off and acknowledges what I have time for. It will allow me to slip into that effortless job of going inward and sharing my soul.
I DARE YOU to lower the stakes this year with your goals!! Looking to get support with your creative practice or personal project?
CLICK HERE to join me for 100 Epic Days!
Let's activate your creativity in a way that suits your unique circumstances and season of life!
]]>How do you make a product from start to finish in 100 days?? You release perfectionism and compromise with your art. NO Artist ever wants to hear the word compromise - this goes against every fiber of our being.
Trust me, it was extremely hard for me to let go, but I said I was going to make a deck in 100 days, and I wanted so desperately to follow through on that promise. I'm SO glad I did!!
Watch the video above to see how these things in the past would have held me back, but not this time!
This is incredibly inspiring to watch if you are thinking of taking on a project in the new year. I dare you to surrender and let go!
Do you have a habit you're looking to form or a project you want to take on, but not sure how to fit it into your busy, chaotic life?
This is is exactly what 100 Epic Days is all about. I'm a busy mom with 2 young kids and a full-time freelance job. I pick things I can complete in 20 min. or less and reveal in the wild satisfaction of having shown up for myself for 100 days, you can do it too, let me show you how!
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College hunting with first child
High school graduation parties
Mom's 75th birthday party
Dad's failing health
2nd child college hunting
2nd child high school graduation
Mother-in-law's failing health
1st child's college graduation
Father-in-law failing health
1st child wedding
Father passes away
2nd child wedding
1st child has kids
Mother passes away
2nd child has kids
the list goes on...
Seeing all of these events really stopped me in my tracks.
For the first time I saw the proof that I simply could NOT wait on my dreams. I saw that actually THIS window of time, while my kids are young, is the most open it's going to get.
On my timeline, I mapped out that I would die at age 108, in the year 2090. I didn't do the math to see how many years were between then and now to see 'how productive I could be." Instead, I saw that each passing year was an opportunity to figure out how to fit some semblance of art-making, even if it wasn't perfect, into my day, and that each day would build on the last and over time, what I was slowly, methodically, gently, compassionately working on would unfold into my beautiful life.
This 60 year timeline I made in 2017 was the start of a mindset shift that took years to process. I didn't start taking actual action until 3 years later in 2020 after a bunch of personal development work. A lot of people say, "the time is now," or "seize the moment" and while I agree with this sentiment, I would say, "start softly and do what you can with the time that you have."
Listen to my podcast episode about this here
If this resonates with you, and I invite you to enroll in 100 Epic Days! CLICK HERE to learn more
Good luck to us all as we push through our resistance and continue the practices that are changing our lives!
- epic bones
That's what I think to myself when I read an affirmation statement like, "I am drawing boundaries to preserve my vitality." Traditionally, people say affirmations out loud to themselves over and over to let the statement kind of simmer into their existence and become true.
However, for me, I realized I use them as a question to challenge how I'm doing in that area of my life. In the example above, I'll say the affirmation, "I am drawing boundaries to preserve my vitality," and scan my body and mind for a knee-jerk reaction that sometimes comes as a hot flash or thought of outrage that I could be saying that about myself.
This is how I know I don't believe it. When I get that red flag, it's an invitation to ask myself if I'd like to make that statement true. If the answer is yes, then I ask what things I could change or shuffle around in my life to start taking steps towards becoming that type of person.
To become the type of person that makes boundaries, that means standing up for what I need. The word "preserve" means to maintain and the word "vitality" means energy. What do I have to do in order to push back against the chaos of life to ensure I have this for myself? For this example in particular, it means communicating with my husband that I'd like to go for a run in the middle of the day. Lately, I feel guilty doing this, because I work from home and I hear him working so hard taking care of the kids, but I really need to make time for it for my mental health. Saying that out loud to him will help me feel that "permission" that... I don't need from him, but more need to give to myself so that the next day I'll actually take action.
Check out the video I made explaining this backwards approach:
I'd love to hear how you use affirmations! There's no right or wrong way. They are a great tool for self-exploration and growth into the future vision that we hold for ourselves!
If you're interested in checking out the affirmation deck I created to challenge myself in this way daily and up level my life, click here.
-epic bones
]]>As the seasons change and we feel the brisk air roll in, this is often a time when we turn inward and reflect on all that has come to pass this year and beyond. In that reflection, there is often pain. Sometimes, we don't want to go there. We don't want to relive those moments. While it feels good to move on, if we don't truly honor our struggle with acknowledgment, understanding and a sense of importance, we run the risk of banishing parts of ourselves to our shadow or leaving the wound open to return to for bouts of unwanted rumination.
This is an invitation to ask ourselves some reflective questions in order to transcend with lightness to the next level that awaits. Try meditating, journaling or talking to a friend about these questions:
For me, at this time last year I was recovering from the birth of my son and dealing with the chaos of having a newborn at home during a global pandemic. I was also simultaneously managing my daughter's first year of school as a remote Kindergartener. I was exhausted, clawing my way through each day having been up all night breastfeeding my son and trying my best to support my daughter in her little school corner in the the living room as she tried to stay focused on the day's lesson through her tiny screen. I was tired, I was mad at the world for not handling covid more responsibly, lonely missing the new mom groups I had planned to join and just plain overwhelmed.
As the months went on, however, I started to get more sleep and get in the rhythm of managing school, nursing, baby's naps, walks, preparing meals and getting things done around the house. As my son approached the 6 month mark, I felt ready to dip my toes into creating art again...but I was a little nervous. Luckily I had done the hard work the year before to start plowing through my resistance of creating art and had set up a little drawing table in the living room that was waiting for me to return to.
In January, I decided the only way I was going to force myself to show up consistently to create art was to give myself a set number of days to make art every day. I started with 30 days. If I could make 1 drawing a day for 30 days, then I'd have 30 drawings!! That sounded exciting to me. I chose to create on my iPad so that I could be mobile drawing with the baby in his room, on the floor, or wherever I needed to be without a big setup and mess. I started with a topic I was interested in, the gut microbiome and mindfulness. I made drawing after drawing each day. It was such a feat to finish and post the drawing to my Instagram each day, but it felt amazing! I felt productive, I felt like I had a vehicle to express myself and started connecting with others online as I slowly built a little following.
As day 29 approached, I declared I would go for another 30 day drawing streak and try to get to 60 consecutive days. As day 59 approached, I went all-in and decided 100 days would be an epic finish! And so it was. each day got easier, each day I learned to break my black and white thinking around what I needed in order to create. I found myself snagging literal seconds to do a couple strokes here and there with my Apple Pencil before needing to rush off to get someone a snack or busy my baby with snuggles. I was doing it. I was becoming the type of person who creates despite less than ideal circumstances. I was no longer mad at the world, I was energized. I was no longer lonely, I was feeling supported and encouraged, I was no longer playing the victim, I was working with what I had and what I could do and showing up in the way that was right for me each day, but always dipping a toe in that future direction.
I completed the 100 days and felt on top of the world. Absolutely transformed! So changed, that I mustered up the courage to invite other people to join me when I decided to take on the challenge again in June. I successfully ran a program that transformed other people's lives in picking a goal to do each day for 100 days and found my calling. The challenge ended in September and it is now October. I launched the pre-order for the affirmation deck that I created during the summer and now sit here looking back in awe. Did I really just do that?
It was so hard to get started. It was hard to stick with it, it was hard to put myself out there. I remember when I first started doing Instagram Reels to share my art and the challenge, I was so sheepish and low energy. Now, after practicing for almost a year, I feel like I really have a handle on it. I remember the panic during my first Zoom 100 Day Check-in not knowing how to do a break-out room and worrying how I would know what to say while being on the spot like that, but I got through it and the next time I was better. I remember trying to so hard to figuring out how to format the box for my affirmation deck in Adobe Illustrator according to the template the printer gave me, but forging ahead and doing it anyway. I remember messing up the CMYK values for my cards and the printer rejecting my files, but I asked for help from my community and so many answered my call! It was a real struggle, but yet a true triumph to get through this year.
Thank you old-self for acknowledging that you were unhappy -that you needed a change and you needed support from those who loved you. Thank you for speaking up and asking for what you wanted even if you didn't know exactly what that looked like. Thank you for being brave and following your curiosity versus attaching yourself to an end result. Thank you for trying new things even though it was scary and you risked looking like a fool. Thank you for persisting and putting yourself first while delicately balancing your family's needs and letting what could be let go - go. old self, you were a true warrior this year. I'm a different person now in October 2021 than I was in October 2020, because of you. I'm putting all of your old things done to rest with you as I say good bye and send you off for your peaceful sleep. I treasure our time together however painful and I love you, always.
Take a moment to thank your old self for the journey it has taken this year. All the best to you as you continue the work that is changing your life.
-epic bones
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Part of my process was reading (well...listening to audiobooks) and listening to a ton of podcasts, where I slowly unblocked a bunch of limiting beliefs and pieced together a new story for myself. Here are the top 3 quotes that I still have running in my head today.
I heard a podcast interview with Erin Brockovich explaining her book, Superman's Not Coming, which is actually about the grim circumstances of our nation's water supply, but when I heard this phrase, "superman's not coming," I couldn't shake it and couldn't help relating it to my own personal circumstances. What I took from this was, if I'm unhappy, it's my fault. It's not anyone else's responsibility to make me happy, it's my job, and I've been stuck in a self-pity spiral looking to others to notice my unrest and do something to help me...when this whole time that job has been for me. I need to take responsibility for anything I don't like in my life, communicate it with those close to me and make a plan to fix it. I found myself wallowing in my misery. I had built this grand story in my head that I could not create art because I was too tired from our daughter waking up at night, there was no time because I had all of the stay-at-home-mom duties...etc. I blamed society, the patriarchy, my husband. It felt SO good to point fingers and blame everyone but myself...because that meant I didn't have to do the hard work of fixing it. This quote, "superman's not coming." hit me at just the right moment to open me to ask questions like:
Everyone's lives are busy. No one is a mind-reader and even if they love you deeply, they're not spending their day analyzing and re-evaluating how to shift their daily tasks around to get you what you want. We have to have the courage to take responsibility for our dissatisfaction, communicate what we need, find expanders who are in similar situations as us to prove that it is possible despite our sob story, put systems in place and then consistently work to maintain those systems so that we can uphold our vision of the type of life we're looking for.
We all know that paralyzing feeling when we want to start something new. It's this burning desire to start coupled with the crippling fear holding us back because of the PRESSURE that has built up around it. This is exactly how I felt when I had finally worked through the block of being able to create while caring for my daughter. Just as I was patting myself on the back for pulling myself out of my victim mentality, I came up against the worry that what I would make wouldn't be good enough. There I was, with time, space and permission...but I was terrified. I love how Elizabeth Gilbert encourages us in this podcast to follow the bread crumb trail of curiosity versus trying to aggressively hunt down and capture our passion, or thinking that we should even know what our passion is when we start. She says that a lot of time we're looking for some big sign from God to "show us our passion," but it really doesn't work that way. Curiosity is gentle, and very subtle. It's easy to overlook and dismiss, but if we can open ourselves to recognizing a tiny little thing that we're interested in and see it through for a while, detached from the outcome and just follow it a little ways to see where it will take us, often times our passion develops from that journey. This podcast was absolutely pivotal in getting me started to create art again and if you're feeling stuck, I highly recommend giving it a listen.
As my journey progressed and I was starting to create and learn more and more about manifesting the life of my dreams, I stumbled across the concept of energy. One manifestation leader I really connected with was Lalah Delia, where she talks about the vibrational frequency that we hold, that the things around us hold, and our future state holds. Doing the work to bring ourselves from a low vibration to a high vibration is no joke and requires daily commitment. This word daily really stuck with me. This is actually the name of her book, Vibrate Higher Daily, which is a really great read. What I took from reading this is that there are no short cuts. We can't just read about manifestation and wake up tomorrow with everything we desire. We have to not only become that high vibe person through thoughtful personal development work, but we have to maintain it with practices that keep us elevated every day - well...most days. This is partly what led me to the 100 Epic Days concept where I decided if I wanted to truly change my energy and thus change my life, I needed a little push to help develop a daily practice. When we show up consistently, transformation is inevitable.
Well, there you have it, those are my top 3 quotes that absolutely changed my life this year. I hope that was helpful! Take care everyone as we continue the work!
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Because I had already done a 100 day challenge, I really thought there wouldn't be many lessons learned doing it again, but I was wrong! Here is a quick outline of what I learned, but I made a video explaining what I mean with all of these below:
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3 Goals = too many
This was my 2nd time doing the 100 Epic Days Challenge and I got a little too excited… I made 1 big goal, to create an affirmation deck, 1 medium goal, to do 6 ab exercises every day and 1…seemingly small goal, to stare at my husband for 5 seconds every day. I stuck to my main goal and saw it through to the end, but my other goals I did A LOT of cop-out days and skipped a bunch of days, which is completely fine and part of the process, but I felt like I didn't truly commit to the other goals. It felt overwhelming and that I had taken on a little too much. So, next time I will pick just 1 goal, maybe a secondary small health goal, but definitely not 3 goals!
Seize the moment
With my ab exercises, after I overcame my limiting belief that I had to change into my yoga pants in order to get down onto the floor for the low impact workout I had planned, I realized a theme forming as the days went on. I saw myself constantly scanning every situation I was in to see if it might be a good time to drop to the floor and do some exercises (is my baby happy playing with a toy…is my 6 year old safe, ok quick, GO do a set while you can!!!). This has been a fantastic area of change for me because in the past I had more of an all-or-nothing attitude towards exercise. If I didn’t have 1 hour to devote to it, what’s the point, I would say. Not anymore, seize the moment!
Returning after a skipped day is the most victorious
Sure, I was proud of myself every day that I did my goal, but I was so surprised to notice how insanely victorious I felt after coming back to my goal after doing a Cop-out day or skipping a day. I think it’s because by returning to my goal, it was reinforcing my “becoming.” The coming back day was saying this continues to be important to me. These were days when I felt the habit was really solidifying and getting locked into my brain.
Self discovery vs. Project Implementation
There are 2 types of challenges here I’m noticing. The self-discovery challenge is what I did the first time. I was terrified to get back into drawing for myself after an almost 10 year break and I didn’t know where to start, what to draw or how to do it. Through the 100 days, I found the joy in the process, I found a style, a theme I liked and showed myself the “why” behind my art-making. The 2nd challenge (the one I did this time) was very clearly a project implementation challenge. I had a very specific big thing that I wanted to break down into little bite size chunks and chip away at every day until I got to the end. I was still wanting to “become” through the process, but there was a very concrete objective. I think it’s important to clarify which challenge you’re doing so that you can set yourself and your expectations up for success.
After the first 25 days, time flies
It’s intimidating to take on 100 days of doing something, but it’s really not a 100 day effort. The big, arduous push is that first 25 days. I made a note of it last time and this time. It’s day 25 when the thing becomes the new normal. Any day after that seems like a breeze. Multiple people who did the challenge this time around said that they couldn’t believe it when it got into the 80’s. They felt like time was flying and they didn’t want it to be over!
Stay in the box
On day 7 you’ll be tempted to change your goal. Your brain will be getting used to the action that you picked and you’ll want to, do it differently, make it harder, pick something else…etc. It’s one thing to follow your intuition and pivot if that is truly necessary, but if you know deep down this is the thing - don’t change it. Stay in the box. Do the the SAME thing over and and over and over again. You will be surprised as to how this constraint makes your creativity explode and brings new insights that would never otherwise fall in your lap.
Group Accountability = Insurance Policy
On day 35, I made a note that I would have abandoned the affirmation card project on that day had I not been doing it live in front of a group. You know what it’s like, you start something and then get a million ideas for something else you can do related to that thing – shiny object syndrome! Having our little Facebook group and checking in every day, being able to search the hashtag #100epicdays2021 on Instagram and see that other people were still in this with me, made me plant my feet firmly on the ground and sit myself back in that chair to do the thing I said I was going to do! I am so grateful to everyone who did this with me!!
I Like Leading A Group!
It was a very spontaneous decision to offer this challenge to other people. I originally did my for 100 days by myself and that was challenging enough. I had this little whisper in my ear that because it helped me, it would probably help other people. I was very hesitant to open it up to a group because that meant a lot of extra work with sending emails, managing a Facebook Community, hosting live check-in events, commenting on people's Instagram posts...etc. I was already nervous about finding the time to make my affirmation deck, how would I fit this other work in?? Well, I did! Life makes a way and I'm so happy that I did because I think in doing this, I have found my calling in life! I want to be a leader that shows people by example how to take on fear, gently make small steps, and follow through with a goal or project.
I Can Do Hard Things
One of the women in our group said this and it really resonated with me. Creating this affirmation deck was very intimating, but I showed myself I could do it. I started with what I knew how to do and took on each step after that one at a time, figured it out and when I got stuck, asked for help. And now I'm standing here with a product in production right now with a LIVE pre-order page on my website to buy the thing that I was so terrified to even start. Now I have confidence to take on new, challenging projects in the future because I have shown myself that I can do hard things!
Thanks for following along on this round of my 100 Epic Days! If you'd like to join me next time, click here to learn more.
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1. Forming Your Idea
If you're trying to think of an idea to do for your 100 days, think about an area in your life that you would like to see some improvement, change, or would just be curious about (career, love, health, self-care, creativity, friendships...etc). Now think of a big thing that would take a ton of time, but would be amazing around that area. For example, I would love to see some change around my love-life. A big thing I could do is have date-night every week with my husband. Since I know that's not something I could do every day, what about connecting after bedtime every night to watch a show or just hang out, nope! Still too big and time-consuming for us. Ok, what if every day I stared lovingly into the eyes of my husband and we both counted to 5. YES! Now that's something I could do every day for 100 days. How you can work backwards to find your idea.
2. Goal vs. Becoming
Now take that area of your life that you picked and think about who you want to become. For the example about around my love-life, my goal for the 100 days is to stare lovingly into my husband's eyes every day for 5 seconds, but who I want to become by doing that is more connected to my partner. Another example for my past challenge, my goal was to create 1 drawing a day, but who I wanted to become was an artist who creates freely with joy and zero hesitation or fear.
3. Create Some Theatre Around it
Tell your partner, roommates, family, friends, cats, dogs (whoever is in your inner circle) that you are committed to doing this every day and it is very important to you. There is great power in saying something out-loud. In forming the words outside of your head, you are setting an intention, which is an essential part to ensuring success throughout the 100 days.
4. Cop-out Plan
Whatever you pick to do for your 100 days, choose a very short 2-5 minute or less version related to this thing that you can do on the days when you are too tired or just don't feel like showing up. 100 days is a LONG time, and the magic is truly in doing your thing EVERY DAY, even if it's just the quick version. You want to keep the momentum going, but also ensure that the new neural pathways you are creating in training your brain to form this new habit strengthen to the greatest ability. For me, last time I did this my drawing a day involved a character with text and some other design elements. For my cop-out day, I simply drew a quick phrase or quote. I will also add here, try not to stock pile or backlog things to pull from for your hard days. The idea here is to show your brain that you can show up every single day, no matter what and let it sort out that puzzle by doing this "lite" version of your thing. This is truly where the magic is.
5. Don't Subtract
If you're making a goal around what you eat, for example, instead of saying "I'm going to quit sugar for 100 days," you could say, "Every time I have a sugar craving, I will eat fruit instead or journal about it." In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, he says a habit should be satisfying. When we simply remove something, it's not as satisfying as adding. Also, in adding something, we can document it easier, which is also very satisfying.
6. Acknowledge Where You're At
Some people will be searching and some people will be implementing a specific idea / project or doing a specific thing. In my past challenge, I was definitely searching for answers. I knew I wanted to draw, but I didn't know what or how or where it would end up. I chose a medium (black and white drawings on Procreate around the theme of the gut microbiome). I trusted that if I did enough drawings, it would morph and lead me to where I needed to go. By day 100 I was creating very consistent drawings around a new theme - manifestation and mindset! This time around, for my challenge I using the 100 days to produce a very specific project (an affirmation card deck based on the drawings I made). So, everyone will be in a different place with the challenge. Try not to compare yourself to others and trust that what you are doing is exactly right for you.
7. Make It Measurable
Instead of saying, "I'm going to write for 20 minutes a day," it's better to say, "I'm going to write 1 page on this specific theme every day." Or, instead of saying, "I'm going to exercise for 20 min." it's better to say, "I'm going to do 3 sets of these specific abdominal exercises every day." Yes, you can measure time, but there's something so much more satisfying in "shipping a product." I could have very easily said, "I'm going to draw for 20 min. a day," but there's no way I would have plowed through 100 drawings, discovered I wanted to draw mindset themes vs. microbiome, honed my skills and message the way I did if I hadn't picked a very measurable goal like, one drawing-a-day.
8. Your Thing Might Change, But Walk The Line of Fear
Listen to your intuition if you feel you need to change what you're doing for your 100 days. I set out thinking I would create drawings about the microbiome, but ended up shifting to drawings about mindset. The first 10 days of this challenge can be VERY difficult as our brains grapple with doing something new. While it's good to listen to your inner voice if you need to change what you're doing, make sure you're not ditching something out of fear. Also, one thing to note when I switched my theme to mindset drawings, notice that I didn't switch mediums or the character or add color...etc. I simply changed the theme. There were MANY times throughout the challenge when I was tempted to abandon ship on black and white with Procreate and start painting on canvas with color, but I'm SO glad I stuck it out for the 100 days.
9. Identify and Unblock your Limiting Beliefs
Write a list of why this will be hard for you. Maybe you're like me and you feel that you can't create art because you have small children. Now ask the universe to send you Expanders to prove that thought wrong. I did this a while back and literally the next day I happened upon a podcast called "Artist / Mother" which had hundreds of episodes of moms who were succeeding in their careers despite having to care for young children! This showed me my limiting belief was just that - a limiting thought and I could overcome it easier knowing there were those out there succeeding with similar challenges to my own.
10. Become Super Human
No one wants to hear this, but...during these 100 days you're going to be asking your body to do something extraordinary! You're going to be creating new brain maps and neural pathways through this repetitive action that you're taking every day. In order to that, you'd going to be expending cognitive resources. To best support your physical vessel during this process, it's best to cut back on sugar, processed foods, alcohol...etc and maximize plant-based, whole foods. People were asking my last time I did this challenge how I was able to have so much energy despite being sleep-deprived nursing and caring for a newborn baby, and I attribute much of that to feeding my body to create a superhuman, high-functioning machine.
11. What Systems Can You Optimize?
I had a big talk with my husband the last time I did this challenge to see what things around the house were taking up a lot of my time and how we could change that. One example was the laundry and cleaning the kitchen. During my baby's nap time, I'd waste over an hour folding laundry and cleaning up after meals. We decided to free up nap time so that I could do my drawings during that time instead. We got 2 giant laundry bins and all clean laundry we dumped in there all week long until Friday, when we would put on a movie and fold it together. For the kitchen, we decided it was ok for the kitchen to be a disaster all day and let the dished pile up all day long until after dinner when I would clean while my husband put the kids to bed. This has become a nice zen time for me to listen to my podcasts and audio books. We essentially are taking tasks and batching them. So, what chores or time wasters can you batch in your day to free up your time?
12. Prep Your Stuff
Before you go into any sort of daily habit, what can you do to get ready? If you're doing a painting a day, but your watercolor paper and cut it into 100 squares. If you're posting on Pinterest every day, watch some instructional tutorials for best practices. if you're wanting to exercise every day, cue up your YouTube playlist.
13. Post It!
I highly recommend posting every single day what you did for the habit you're trying to create. If it doesn't make sense with your current brand, make a separate account (you can even keep it private if you want). if you're wanting to do yoga every day, take a picture of your feet on the yoga mat and write a little caption on how you're feeling that day. How cool will it be when you have 50 posts on there of your feet on the mat? It's super satisfying to see these little square tiles build up because it's a visual reflection of all of the hard work you've put it and how far you've come.
14. Get Specific
Write down with as much detail as possible where, when and how you will do your thing. For example, for my drawing-a-day challenge, it wasn't enough to say I'll do my drawing in the morning. I had to say, "When I wake up with the baby in the morning after I get my coffee, I will sit on the floor in the living room against the couch and sketch with pencil on paper my idea for the day. Then, during nap time, I take a picture of my sketch, import it into Procreate, make a new new layer and trace it in black and white. Then throughout the day every time I have 5 minutes when the baby and my daughter are happy playing, I will try to finish my drawing. Then, after I clean up the kitchen, I will finish the drawing and export it to post to Instagram and write my caption." Phew! I know, it's a lot, mentally rehearsing the little steps of how you'll get it down, makes it seem more doable.
15. Visualize
Speaking of mentally rehearsing, it's helpful to try to visualize the feeling of reaching day 100 before it arrives and before you start your challenge to create this daily habit. Imagine the intense feeling of gratitude for having shown up for yourself and pride for what you've accomplished. Imagine how happy you'll feel and try to embody the person you desired to become in setting out on this quest in the first place. Feeling these high frequency emotions will set an intention and energy pattern into the universe and start to call what you set out to do.
That's it! Good luck on your quest to create a daily habit. If you set yourself up for success before you start, you will truly surprise yourself on what you accomplish and who you become!
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I am SO excited to start mocking up these epic bones affirmation cards!! I'm going to use my summer 100 Epic Days to design 1 card a day. I'm thinking I'll make around 50 cards, so when I'm done designing the cards, I design 1 side of the box each day...and then when I'm done with that - I'll trying to figure out how to get this thing actually printed.
It was fun to mock this one. I printed out one of my drawings from my instagram and then used my daughters glue stick to put it on a heavier cardstock to see if I liked that size. It feels good to hold something that feels a little closer to real. Got me pumped to keep working on these, I can see it taking shape!
This deck is now a real product and available in my shop :)
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]]>It’s so easy for me to dip into the abyss of self pity, but I’ve been trying to notice little moments during the day and sink into how grateful I am.
Sometimes after I put my son down for a nap, I lay down on the floor and close my eyes just for 2 min. before attending to the long list of things I want to scurry around and get done while he’s asleep. As I lay there, it’s just so beautiful to have that time. To let my aching lower back sink into the floor, to rest my tired eyes that were up all night with the baby, to feel the softness of my hair on my arms, to feel safe inside my home, to be the perfect temperature, what a gift that I can lay there like that for those minutes.
This is something I’m working on this year. I have a lighthouse goal that I am aiming towards and I’m intuitively feeling into one small thing that I can do each day to push the needle a tiny bit in that direction. I’m trying to stay present and not waste my precious time making calendars and giant to do lists. Instead, I ask myself (as I fix my 5 year old daughter a snack and balance my 7 month old on my hip) what can I do today towards my goal? What can I do before nap time towards my goal? What can I do right now towards my goal? And little by little these drawings get done. This one I started at 6am and in small 5 minute increments throughout the day it gets done. It’s now 9pm and I’m just finishing it. This is a drawing that if I had uninterrupted time would have taken me less than an hour 😂.
I don’t know where these drawings are leading me, but I know I’m enjoying making them and this year I am following my bliss.
It will all be revealed in due time.
]]>Every day I battle back the “but how?” and try to focus on what do I want to FEEL like. I want to feel in the flow, joyfully creating every day, feel proud of my work and that it helps others. I want to feel free in my day and throughout the year. I want to feel abundant with my resources. I want to feel that I can take risks and be spontaneous. I want to feel light in my body like I’m floating when I walk yet strong as an ox. I want the work that I do to feel easy and stress free.
I need to release this thought that I could possibly know how these things will come to pass. I need to stop planning and just keep doing doing doing one tiny step in front of the other. I need to trust that it will work because it’s coming from my heart.
I surrender.
It almost feels sneaky doesn’t it? That you could escape your current life and swap it for a new one.
It’s not that I don’t like my current life, it’s that I see what it could be. I’m ready to uplevel. I’m putting in the work to visualize a new me and answer questions like, “What would it be like to....” or “What if I was.....”
When we ask open ended questions like that and respond sincerely, we are forming a new mind, Dr. Joe Dispenza says in his book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. When we mentally rehearse new ways of being, we start to rewire ourselves neurologically to a new mind. New synaptic connections form and we start to break old patterns. The more we can fill our brains with knowledge of the person we want to be and find examples in the world of this type of life, the more building blocks we have to make a new model of reality.
Let’s get out of here!
I just have this feeling I’m supposed to be doing something BIG. I’m supposed to BE something big, or at least different. This can’t be it. It just doesn’t feel right.
I don’t know what “it” is, but I’m using what I have that comes the easiest just to start (drawing) and channeling the messages out as best I can. I’m closing my eyes, I’m following it. It’s going to change and morph and grow and I’m going to tumble along with it until it lifts me, until I’m flying, until I’m free.
I’m meant to be free.