(This is a now page, and I got the idea from Derek Sivers.)
Where I am now:
I’m getting to know a new person in my life, who has been in our arms for less than a year. He’s astonishing and lovely and never stops moving. He made me a mama for the first time, and I adore him. There’s so much I could write about how two becoming three is entirely reorganizing. I post a lot of pictures of him on Instagram, but I try to keep my face and projects in the mix, too.
I’m a wife, a partner, and a mom.
We moved to a brand new home in Inwood, New York. It’s at the top of Manhattan near a glorious large old-forest park and near two rivers. I go walk in the forest or running several times per week.
What I’m doing:
Perhaps the most exciting new development is that I sent a new book idea to an agent I adore. She read it and told me she can’t stop thinking about my idea. (!) She wants me to write it immediately. When I shared this story with my friend NotoriousMPD he said, “She likes your idea? Quit your job and get writing!” So I stopped my startup job to write furiously on the book.
I have a chapter due next month. So right now, half of my time is dedicated to writing a book. The book is currently called “Startup Pregnant.” If you want to know more about it, check out the website I made for it: www.startuppregnant.com.
The other half of my time, I still run a company that helps people connect more deeply to their minds and their bodies. I’ve run this project for six years. I believe that by exploring your body and mind, you can tap more deeply into your own inherent wisdom. My company doesn’t have a good overarching name yet. I feel like I’m still searching for one. If you know of a great branding, naming, and visioning company that can help with this, I’m all ears. Now, naming the company hasn’t been the focus of my attention because the business is working, and that’s actually the cool part. We’ve had nearly a thousand students take my paid courses so far.
I continue to see people take my free mini-courses on yoga and writing. I love hearing about their journeys. 1,375 students and 376 students so far in each mini-course, respectively.
From September 2016, I’ve been leading a private Mastermind with eight remarkable, ambitious, soulful people. It goes through January 2017. My goal is to help people connect to each other and show up in a way that deeply changes their ideas about how they live their lives and what they’re building in the world. It’s not a course — I’m not “the expert.” I’m building the framework for their own expertise to blossom in structured relationship with each other. I’ll probably share more on how that turns out on my blog throughout the year.
I still write a blog on a mostly regular basis. All the archives are here. There are 405 published essays and counting. I definitely slowed down when my little one was born, and it’s starting to get back to a rhythm again. It waxes and wanes depending on the projects at hand.
I started a monthly writing prompt for people to join me in reflecting on a theme each month. October’s theme is “Routine.”
My newsletter is here.
Things I’m thinking about:
Friendship is incredibly important to me. So is showing up for each other. How do you show up in your communities? Who do you talk to on a regular basis? I’ve been thinking and reflecting on community, engagement, and integrity with words. Do you do what you say you’re going to do? I’m not fond of the habits (in New York, in particular) of signing up for things and bailing or being hours late. On my first night “back out” in the city after my maternity leave postpartum, at a dinner with 8 people, every single person showed up late. I sat at a table alone and had to leave the restaurant to get back to my kid to feed him before the second person showed up. It got me thinking a lot about how we show up for people and the integrity of our actions.
I decided I wanted to show up in a comfortably-close way. Each month, I write a list out of 50 people I want more of in my life and dedicate time to writing letters, cards, texting, emailing, and calling. If people weren’t showing up in my life the way I wanted, how could I change how I showed up in other people’s lives? This is a new development and experiment.
Routine and habits. I’m tired of the old “show up in the office and respond to what comes your way,” system of doing things. I’m experimenting with radically different patterns of being at work, and re-investing in structures, deep investigative work, and designing a pattern that works for me.
At the moment, that means I rise early, wake with Leo, get him ready for daycare, and then work on my body. After the routine of morning physical exercise, on most days of the week, I spend 10am – 1pm writing. All business activity happens after that. It’s a new experience and a new design. I’ll have more data on the effectiveness of the program in the next month.
Leveling up. “What got you here won’t get you there” is a theme on my mind a lot lately. Musing on how to work smarter in this frenetic world. Note that I didn’t say “more.” Better work, less time.
Slow email. I’m trying to email a lot less urgently. Most emails take me 2-3 days or a week to reply to. I’m not convinced that answering emails fast really helps us move faster on things worth doing. If we’re dependent on emails, we’ve designed the system wrong.
Naps. I’d like to learn how to take more naps.
Things I’m learning:
I’m playing with hand lettering and calligraphy.
I’m re-learning Spanish and some sign language. Teaching my kid baby sign language. (The sign for poop is fantastic.)
We’re teaching our kid how to swim. Well, splash. He gets very confused with water on his face.
Reading a lot of books. You can follow me or friend me on Goodreads to see what I’m currently reading and what I recommend.
I’m undertaking a fairly massive project to rebuild my website (it’s a big and messy infrastructural project). Along the way, I’m learning git, bootstrap, and jeckyll.
Always a student of yoga. I teach on occasion, as well. I’m definitely re-learning my body and discovering myself anew postpartum.
I’m cooking a lot more food, and learning new recipes. I just mastered broccoli in a whole new way. Like, devour it so good. I have a Blue Apron subscription I’m trying out. We also make some very excellent stews and soups in our house.
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This was updated October 2016.