My best newsletter of the year (part two)

You’re thankful you finally decided to… / Issue 1,347

Oh, hi friends!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the U.S., and happy Thursday to my global friends. 

I have another wonderful batch of inspiring answers to this sentence:

This year, I’m thankful I finally decided to…

If you’d like to share yours, please add it here, and I’ll continue our round-up tomorrow.

I am so moved by reading about these big changes and today, like every other day, I’m very thankful you are here.

This year, Brass Ring Daily readers are thankful they finally decided to…

• Be kind rather than “right.”

• Stay sober. For myself, my marriage, my four kids, my aging parents, even my dog. It's hard seeing my friends who are still living for wine o'clock, but the tradeoff is priceless. 

• Use my voice and say “no” to things that don't enrich. No more long inner dialogues spiced with resentment after “going along.” Feeling so much lighter.

• Give in to what is pulling me. What Elizabeth Gilbert would call ‘whispers.’ In last winter's silence, when I wasn't at all feeling like a me I could recognize, I heard them and finally listened. And you know? I'm an object in motion right now. I applied to and took a properly life-changing and intensive poetry course, putting me in with a community I didn't know I needed. I have a mentor who I can't even believe shares their time with me. My poems were rejected 12 times (aiming for 100). Two wonderful poets agreed to be my references for my MFA application. MFA application! I have no time. I have a full-time job, two small kids. I am so tired. I make things. I am alive. I cry a lot. Sometimes I cry reading your newsletter, because I am so proud of you. I think, the dam has broken.

• Give in to the desire to explore becoming a hospital chaplain. 

• Start an anti-depressant! My mood has improved, my motivation has increased, and my anxiety is much more manageable. 

• Hire a dating coach.

• Get a sponsor, work a 12-step program, and be an active participant in my addiction recovery. 

• Test out this digital nomad thing and traveled around Europe for two months this year!

• Trust God with my future and plans.

• Take up skateboarding! My hubs has always loved it and reignited his passion for it last year. He's cut some sessions short because we had plans. If I'm there too, he's all set. And I found a new, fun, challenging, physical thing to undertake (at 53...with pads…). I’m thankful I decided not to put so much emphasis on hardcore HIIT or cardio-based workouts due to judging my "effort" and success largely based on sweat and pain. Moving to focusing on (and being OK with) strength and growth being the goal.

• Take myself seriously as a writer.

• Start my own vintage resale business! Share my writing and start a Substack! Return to my art practice! Give less of a fuck what other people think! Throw caution to the wind and follow my intuition! Put myself out there and apply to artist residencies! 

• End a destructive relationship. Now I'm with someone who's always looking for new ways to show me he loves me.

• Get a third kitty.

• Return to doing things I love with new boundary-setting skills so that they could be sustainable activities!

• Leave my job!

• Hire an author coach.

• Apply for a higher position (even though I didn't get it)!

• Start ketamine therapy.

• Write and offer the Keep in Touch! A Workbook to Help Independent Artists Deepen Customer Relationships.

• Look for a new psychologist and start working on my wellbeing again :)

• Stop caring about what people think and trust myself to know what I want.

• Quit my tech job and start teaching (in person)! I started working at a well-known big tech company in March 2020, the same week the pandemic changed all of our lives. On October 13, which the internet told me was "goddess day" on the eve of the eclipse, I turned in my badge. In February, 100 students from my alma mater visited my office and it was the best day I'd had in a long time, as an extrovert who's always loved the energy of the classroom. Soon after that I got sick with COVID which gave me plenty of time to think. I decided I wanted to start teaching: in person, at a place that valued my experience, with students who wanted to be there. I started asking around and got referred to a master's program in my field. They offered me one class a week, with 15 students from all over the world. I got my tech employer's legal and logistical permission to do both jobs at once, but knew I didn't want to do that long-term. I started tracking my expenses and maxing out my benefits and decided I could make it work financially. I looked at my work calendar and plotted my departure around my favorite project. It's been a wonderful change! 2024 will be a building year, figuring out the next stage in my career. 

• Adopt a dog!

Sunrise at Joshua Tree, a recent event to be thankful for.

Read part one of our “thankful” list here.