How have you been?

And can we talk about expectation creep? / Issue 1,211

Oh, hi friends!

How have you been? What's new? How's April?

It's so funny – I said a week and a half ago that Nothing breaks if you take a break.

This is true!

This is true, but…

I did forget about one thing: reentry phase. 

Coming back from vacation or a big event. Gearing up after a wind-down. Monday after spring break.

How … do we … get … back … to it.

I was drafting a sweet little newsletter with photos of Rome and all sorts of historical and artistic references, but I kept getting distracted. 

And then one day slipped away.

Oh, I’m just getting readjusted, what’s one day?

Then I had a new problem. I wanted to write something really good!

Those are the hazards of creeping expectations.

I need to make this worthwhile.

And then another day slipped away.

Finally, moments ago, I said, C'mon Kara, don't let another day pass. The newsletter is supposed to be additive to your life, not something full of worry or stress.

There was only one solution:

Lower the barrier for reentry.

This one email doesn't have to be perfect or wise or original.

I just have to step back inside the arena.

Once an arena, the Colosseum is now home to at least one feral cat.

That can be enough, to begin again.

One newsletter is better than none.

Same goes for your one paragraph, one decision, one mile, one ride, one class, one tough email, one question, one idea, one song.

Lower the barrier for reentry.

One is sometimes all you need.

And then you go from there.

Thanks for helping me gear back up. See you tomorrow (she says, confidently!).

PS — On the plane I watched Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. I was a big fan of the original videos 12 years ago and the movie, oh, it’s a complete gem! Touching, quirky, hilarious, creative. I LOVED IT. It's streaming on Showtime and available to buy on Apple TV, or maybe you can watch it 33,000 feet up in the air over the Atlantic Ocean and cry, like I did!)

I mean, just look at that face.