This time next year I’ll be another year older. This time last year was pretty awesome. The year before that was super cool too.
In 2018 I did lots of cool things- I toured with my closest friends, I went on a roadtrip to Texas with my family, I baked in the hot Texas sun, I went on tour to Germany with my oldest son, I took a group of high school kids to New York City, I took my sons to see Dawes in concert-their first real rock and roll show, I drove to Chicago just to see Cory Branan play for 45 minutes (worth it), I lead music at Vacation Bible School, I went swimming and went to California to visit my family and my friend and I had lunch in Laguna Beach as is our new tradition when I go back home.
I was invited to join a catalyst group of “Change makers” filled with artists, writers and dreamers and, from that group, started Life Coaching with Leah Badertscher in The Art School (leahcb.com) filled with more artists, writers, dreamers and innovators. Mind blown.
By December I finished all twelve comission songs, I directed the Christmas eve Sunday school pageant at church, and, by February I was enrolled in a Peter Himmelman online songwriting workshop (and you should be too) and second round of The Art School for more coaching.
Now it’s March. Since the start of 2019, Emily Dunbar and I have launched and continue to produce our podcast, Prompt Queens, I’ve toured Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas with Tim Grimm, I flew to Montreal for Folk Alliance International, hung out with friends, came home, survived snow and ice and more snow and ice, facilitated a womens retreat, I’ve written at least 18 songs and last weekend I went and recorded demo recordings for one of two upcoming albums.
This year: 75 gigs, two records, and world domination.
Please don’t read that there weren’t any troubles or hardships, sleepless nights or adulting that sucked over the past 12 months. There was plenty of the hard stuff. But oh my goodness! There was so much abundance, so much love and friendship and wonder and discovery too. I am so thankful.
And this time next year, I’ll look back and see how I crushed my goals and came up with new ones. Or maybe I won’t have crushed them. Maybe life will throw some curveballs and I’ll be asked to get real creative. That’s OK too.
It’s taken me forty one years to look in the mirror and think I can do it. Forty one years to not be so disappointed in myself or feel like I can only create things “in the margins of the junk mail.” No more margins. I’m taking up the whole page from now on. And I’m going to celebrate all the good things like I never let myself celebrate the good things before.
Thanks for being there and reading this. Thanks for helping me just by letting me know you see this. I hope it helps you too. Now let’s go kick some ass. Love,
Hope