Kick Monday’s Ass: you’re the only you out there (November 16, 2020)

It’s time to kick Monday’s ass…

Today marks the start of a new adventure for me – the yearlong domestic digital nomad journey.

At least, that’s the plan… who knows how things will shake out as the COVID crisis continues to unfold? As of now I plan to move from Airbnb to Airbnb and take in local sights without shaking too many hands/getting coughed on by too many strangers.

I’ve even got a “quarantine Mardi Gras” planned in New Orleans early next year.

So today I’m thinking a lot about the unknown – because let’s face it, the unknown can be pretty freaking terrifying.

I liked the comfort of having a home base to return to. Now my home base is a PO box. I liked the reassurance of having a lease and a partner and knowing there was a corner of the world that was mine. Now my cat and I are exploring a different corner of the world and I don’t know what’s next.

It’s both exciting and scary.

And I could easily spend all day, every day following interesting internet rabbit holes about all the shit that can go wrong when you decide to become a digital nomad (I made that mistake Friday – trust me, don’t look it up if you’re interested in following this path)… or I can trust in myself and my ability to figure things out on the fly. I can remember there are people all around the world rooting for me, my happiness, my success.

To paraphrase Marianne Williamson – as I let my light shine, I give others permission to shine theirs… and so on, and so on.

So if you’ve got something holding you back – remember, the unknown is only scary until it’s known. Then it simply becomes an obstacle to move around on your way to your goals.

That brings us to this week’s video…

 

Kick Monday’s Ass: you’re the only you out there

 

I hear a lot of “but the market is already saturated” and “don’t I have to have my own thing?” objections to starting/building a business. And to that I say: you are your own thing.

With close to 8 billion people in the world, there’s plenty of space for you to find your tiny corner and build a platform.

And one thing I love to do?

Borrow and adapt – look at what others are doing, see what’s working for them, and see if there’s a version of that you can model on while building your own thing. Then get out there and sell it – ’cause without sales, you ain’t got a business.

Badass of the Week

Scott Macaulay is my hero this week – for years, he’s hosted a big Thanksgiving gathering for people with nowhere else to go, figuring people could use some company and kindness around the holidays.

He even works a second job year-round to be able to afford the annual event.

This year (of course), he can’t host a big gathering like he normally would. So he’s adapting by providing groceries for folks to cook meals at home.

This is the part of his philosophy that speaks to me on a deep, spiritual level:

“My philosophy is: I can’t fix the country or the world or even the town, but I can brighten my own corner,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what any of the differences that we can divide ourselves with — if your neighbor’s house is burning down, you run to help. You run to put the fires out. I’m not going to sit around, talk about it, I’m just going to do something about it. And that’s sort of what the Thanksgiving dinner is all about.

That would be my hope for America, that everybody would just brighten the corner where they are.

(If you know someone who should be featured as my Badass of the Week, leave a comment and tell me!)

On Repeat This Week…

 

We got some new Foo last week if you haven’t heard.

By that, I mean the Foo Fighters just released a new single from their 10th studio album. This one is unlike anything I’ve heard them do – I heard it in my car on Friday and I’ve had it on repeat all weekend because it keeps getting stuck in my head.

Warning: I will not be held responsible for this getting stuck in your head. But I do hope you dig it as much as I do.

If you want to
I’ll make you feel something real just to bother you
Now I got you
Under my thumb, like a drug, I will smother you
I’ll be the one
Be the moon, be the sun
Be the rain in your song
Go and put that record on
If you want to
I’ll be the one
Be the tongue that will swallow you