Your rival is thinking about you, too
Oh, hi friends!!
What if you knew that a person you admired, or maybe even consider your rival, had all the same insecurities and doubts and fears that you have?
Would it make you chuckle, knowing they didn’t have it so easy?
Would it make you feel better about your own work?
Would it make your own faraway goals, which this other person seemed to grasp so easily, feel more achievable?
Or would it make you appreciate their success even more?
Because I’m guessing they’ve had, at one time or another, similar doubts and fears.
You might not be close enough to see them, but they’re there.
To me they look like light at the end of the tunnel.
They did it. And so can you.
“What Patti LuPone does need is structure. If she doesn’t do something in the morning—and this can be as simple as making the bed—she feels like ‘I’m wasting my day, wasting my life.’”
No one’s ever accused Patti LuPone of not being dramatic, but I’m with her on this! (This quote is from my friend Tim Teeman’s excellent interview with her at The Daily Beast.)
My best days always start with a good morning. Even if it’s a small task like making the bed, opening the blinds, emptying the dishwasher, it never feels like a waste. I am a very simple creature?!
For this month's interview, I’d like you to meet my friend Heath Brockwell. We met while briefly working at Billboard magazine a few years ago and have stayed in touch. (Heath is excellent at this; I have voicemails saved from him calling just to say thank you or leave a kind word.)
It wasn’t a surprise when he combined his background as an art director with his contemplative mind and created something entirely new. The New Maturity is a digital journal about being kind to yourself. His hope is to inspire a better way of living and to help people create the change they want. Just look at it!
The first digital edition of his magazine created for kindness is available today — go here to read it! — it’s full of ideas about how to slow down, make a great meal, and appreciate the world. He’s holding a digital launch party tonight on Instagram Live at 9pm ET.
See below for his inspiring advice on creating a new project, banishing perfectionism, and his favorite way to wind down at night.
KARA: Describe the inspiration behind creating The New Maturity.
HEATH: I was struggling with the stress of a new job. It got so bad I was having chest pains. A friend suggested I try meditating. Since I now had a longer commute in the AM, I gave it a shot. It wasn’t easy for me to do, my mind would race, and it was hard for me to concentrate. But after a month or so, I started to see some shifts for the better. I was calmer. I was more present for my husband and friends. The chest pains went away.
When I would chat with my friends and they would tell me about changes they were making like drinking less, going to bed earlier, or trying to exercise I would circle back and say you know what that’s called? That’s The New Maturity! And from that shift in behavior, a website about being kind to yourself was born.
You write about the learning curve of taking up something new — how did you get past mental roadblocks?
To be honest, I’m a dyslexic art director, so there have been lots of roadblocks. I’ve done my best to embrace failure and learn from my mistakes. I go into most projects knowing that people are busy and might not take the time to see what I’ve made.
Building and evolving The New Maturity has happened in real time. Was it perfect when I launched a year ago? No. Is the magazine perfect that I just launched? No. But that means I get to change it and make it better. I’m already concepting the next magazine based on what I learned doing the first one. I want to get things out into the universe and see how people respond rather than being a perfectionist.
What’s one way you’re being kind to yourself these days?
I’ll give you two! FaceTime and Skip Bo! I miss my friends and family. Seeing and hearing their voices on FaceTime really helps improve my mood. And Skip Bo is a card game from the makers of Uno. After dinner, it’s a great way to unwind in a lo-fi way. I’ve been having a tournament with my husband for 18 years. He is winning, but I’m giving him a run for his money over the past six weeks.
Can you describe the most memorable meal you’ve had lately?
Saturday night we soaked a bag of dried white navy beans overnight. The next morning we par cooked them with some aromatics. Then we put the beans in the slow cooker for a few hours with some canned tomatoes. We ate it with some toast and leftover pork loin for lunch on Monday. Why was it memorable? We made it together, it was insanely simple, tasted incredible, and was budget friendly. For me, those characteristics define a memorable meal.
Thank you, Heath! And don’t forget to check out The New Maturity.
PS — If you'd like some friendly accountability and a fresh start every morning, please join me and my brother Eric for the 10:11 Club — every weekday morning at 10:11am ET (or whatever time zone you're in!), we're starting our day together and working toward one goal until noon. It's simple: At 10:11, you pick one task and go!
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara