My best newsletter of the year

You all are doing it. / Issue 1,148

Oh, hi friends!

Yesterday I asked you to finish this sentence.

This year, I'm grateful I finally decided to...

And your responses…wow! Your responses covered physical strides, career changes, relationship improvements, and much more. This is meaningful work.

Thank you so much for sharing.

So here they are, from all of you…

This year, I'm grateful I finally decided to...

• Write the first draft of the memoir I have been thinking about writing for the past decade.

• Start looking out for myself and stop pleasing everyone around me.

• Take a break to recalibrate.

• Brave the housing market in California and bought a house!

• Say YES to getting engaged to my partner of nearly seven years! I didn't think I would ever want to get married, but I recently changed my mind. We're both very happy and excited. :)

• Do the Vipassana retreat — probably the best decision in years!

• Move in with my boyfriend.

• Quit my job! After 10 years working in agencies — as a copywriter then creative director — I made the leap to freelance writing. It's been easy in some ways and hard in others, but I finally understand what it means to feel congruent (an old therapy standby); just feeling right about what I'm doing.

• Learn Korean language on Duolingo. I love K-pop, and want to visit South Korea. This is a little step towards that goal.

• Live intentionally — I decided to take daily inventory of myself. Do something that I use to enjoy: listen to music, exercise, write, draw, etc. And be self-reflective. It’s a slow journey. However, I am noticing a small difference.

• Pay someone to paint my living room a bold color. I live in a rental, so if I ever move, it'll be a lot of work to change back, but it makes me happy EVERY DAY of my life.

• Start an art blog!

• Say no to running again for elected office. I will remain “The Honorable” for the rest of my life but stepping down honors myself.

• Start couples therapy with my husband! We had been discussing it for years to address a pain point in our relationship but we constantly put it off. As a child of divorce, I was so afraid of what it would lead to, but it’s been the best experience. We’ve gotten closer, talked through so much, and overall we’re both so grateful we invested in our relationship.

• Throw away old clothes I wasn't wearing.

• Leave an unfulfilling, unhealthy relationship. I am the happiest I’ve ever been and have been crying more tears of gratefulness.

• Learn to ice skate and play hockey!

• Sign up for a half marathon. I’ve always loved running in a casual way, never going above three or four miles at a time, but this year I decided to push my limits and commit to the training that will help me run 13 miles straight. It’s been a grueling three months, but I’ve never been stronger as I head to my race in two weeks. Committing to running and seeing it through is giving me confidence in myself.

• Start a women's networking group! We've placed multiple women in new jobs and helped launch businesses.

• Apply for a new job! It was completely random from a company I have been following for a while. Then three months after I hit send — I was hired! If you told January 2022 Kayla that she will find a job that pays more with less hours...she would have laughed/cried.

• Finally give weight lifting a shot.

• Start writing on Substack! An idea I would not have had if not for the Authors Guild Foundation's June 28 panel on newsletters that I attended. ;) 

• Dust off and attach the child bike trailer to my bike so that we could have new adventures on wheels.

• Act in a play and start writing a novel.

• Leaning into, rather than away from, my people skills. Seeing people is my jam.

• Hire an assistant (now I don't know what I would do without her), take up all-season open water swimming in the Puget Sound (sometimes WITH my wonderful assistant), and join a Conscious Dance group that meets on Sunday mornings.

• Move to San Francisco! My first time leaving the East Coast and my family!

• Become a solopreneur! It's still terrifying but I made the leap, and often that's the hardest part.

• Declare my boundaries and do only what's meaningful for myself.

• Sign up for a writing group. While their comments are often tough to hear, I can feel myself becoming a better writer. 

Aren’t these amazing?! I am FIRED UP hearing about your lives.

If you’d like to finish this sentence too, drop it in the Google form and I’ll send any more that come in tomorrow as a little Thanksgiving treat.

This year, I’m grateful I finally decided to...