Walking through a blizzard, trying to understand directions in a language with nary a vowel in sight, I had never felt so lost in my life.
It was spring of 2001. I was in Prague, in the Czech Republic, for a weekend while studying abroad in the UK. We were definitely NOT there for the Absinthe (Remember Absinthe?? Me neither, Reader).
Actual footage of me after drinking Absinthe in Prague.
My friends and I had met a group of “locals” and followed them to a bar across the river, in the part of the city less populated by tourists.
Basically, it was mid-plot in a bad murder drama when you are screaming at the TV: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
My mom’s voice was on repeat in my head.
So of course, I went right along and followed them over the river, anyway (Sorry, Mom).
This ending of this story is safe, actually, and involves a long walk, and a deserted “tram” ride home, in the middle of the night, to the hostel we were staying at.
In fact, looking back, it’s possible I wasn’t really all that lost, but didn’t have the Birdseye view or perspective (or coherence if I’m being honest…) to see where I was.
And if there’s one thing that’s become abundantly clear, it’s this:
If you can’t see clearly where you are, you can’t figure out where you are going.
It took teaching from home during COVID for me to clearly see where I was.
The exact location was: on the corner of broke and exhausted. I knew I was done teaching and needed a way out.
I’m here to tell the story of how I made that happen and maybe, just maybe to be a light house for someone else who sees their story in mine.
(Not the lost-in-Prague-after-smoking-pot-at-a-locals-bar-part, hopefully. (WINK)
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The 4×1
Here I’ll drop a weekly peek into what’s happening in all aspects of life and biz. Hopefully at least 1 of things make you pause and think (or laugh or roll your eyes)!
1 thing happening in my education content biz: I am launching a new content strategy offer! Yay! It’s a Science of Reading-specific content audit for companies and founders who need to establish trust and authority in the Ed or EdTech Market and want to be sure all their copy is aligned and working FOR THEM. It’s also a low stakes, easy way to see if working together is a fit for both of us. Interested? Reply to this email and say hi!
1 thing happening in my coaching biz: I’m working on my content and copywriting course specifically for educators who want to be paid writers! I’m so excited. Stay tuned for more info here! (if you know someone who would be interested, please do forward this along!)
1 Tiny Brave Thing (mine or someone else’s) (for more like this, come check out my substack!): My tiny brave thing this week is this flipping newsletter. It’s taken me years to decide I am going to build an email list…with just the things I think are important to say? This is nuts. And I’m doing it anyway. I hope you’ll come along for the ride. I promise to make you laugh, roll your eyes and say What The Actual F*&%?? at least once a month. In fact that was on the short list for newsletter names. (I kid.)
1 to Grow on (journal/reflection prompt, quote, highlight someone else’s work): this week I’d like to be cliche with a quote because it fits right in with my brave thing: “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” ~Rumi
Here’s to walking on the way.
Here’s how you can support me or work with me:
–Need clarification on your SoR content strategy or education marketing content (think ebooks, customer stories, sales enablement email campaigns?) Book a call!
–Do you know you want to be a paid content or copywriter? I’m building a combo learning/support container exactly for this. If someone forwarded this to you, get on the list and stay tuned to learn more!
–Are you a fellow entrepreneur and wanting to chat about, I don’t know, Everything? Book a virtual coffee chat!
