Inspirations from David Sedaris - Small Talk is a choice. You decide when, if and how you engage with others. Choose wisely

Recently i discovered the magical stylings of Justin Willman from magic for humans. Willman packages entertaining storytelling with illusions and lessons about what it means to be human. He addresses belief systems, emotionality, human connections. What did this inspire for me?

One of my favorite podcasts is called pop culture happy hour and every week they go around and talk about what makes them happy each week. It’s my favorite part of the show in fact. I love hearing other people’s joy and whatever is inspiring their joy. And that inspires my joy even if it doesn’t always inspire me to go and find whatever book or meme or tv show they’re talking about. (But a lot of times it does too so there). So - I’m thinking this week I want to dedicate to things that give me inspiration and Of course I’m starting with pop culture happy hour because I love smart and funny people who take all the guess work out of finding something to watch on television. What inspires you? You think about it ok? See you. Bye.

Personal growth can feel overwhelming, but it’s a journey of discovery and along the way we find a new fear or habit or awareness and we get to decide what to do with that. Maybe we take that on for a while. Maybe we don’t. That’s ok too. This path has many sites to see. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle.

Fear of missing out. What happens when you think others are living your best life?

Many bad decisions or indecisions can be traced to fear of loss. To address it there are two important truths to recognize. First, loss is inevitable. And second, not all loss is.

Fear of setbacks is a little bit like fear of failure but the cost is different. The problem here is the negative focus. If our attention is on the set back we are actually stealing attention from the aspiration and that is working the goal and that means focusing on the plan and celebrating progress. It may also mean setting interim goals or milestones along the way.

Marianne Williamson says that our greatest fear is not failure. She says... “it is our light not our darkness that most frightens us” it’s like sometimes we really fear success or not so much success as what it means. What’s the story of success? What comes after it?

Many people have a tremendous fear of failure. The cost of this fear is often not taking risks and playing small or playing safe. This limits the possibility for growth tremendously though too. So one way to address fear of failing is to just fail. You know. Just a little bit at first. See how it feels. Choose some things that it’s reasonably safe to fail at - like karaoke. Everybody fails at karaoke.

A lot of life goes unlived due to fear. Begin to confront fears a little bit every day. Become comfortable being uncomfortable.