A message from the mud.

Who do you think you are?

What makes you qualified to do this?

Why would anybody want to listen to you?

Well, well, well… if it isn’t my old friends, self-doubt and negativity. As Kim likes to say, its the itty-bitty-shitty-committee, meeting in my head.  We all have them, right?! Sometimes the meeting is large and loud. Sometimes it's just a general rumbling among those usual naysayers. It’s something we’ve all experienced; some meetings are easier to dismiss than others. So when Kim approached me about the idea of starting a fun podcast to talk about the things we love while simultaneously promoting health, positivity, community connection AND advertising for ourselves and our respective businesses, the initial rumblings were low.  

I love podcasts.  

I listen to them all the time.  

I like to talk.  

I enjoy talking with Kim.  

Sharing the things I’m passionate about makes me feel good.

A seed was planted.  We came up with ideas, topics, and a list of duties. How fun, to pick a name and find meaning!!  Things began taking shape. Let’s get organized, start with outlines, do some research, split the work. We’ll need a website, that means photos, copy, a logo… we need social media, Oh Boy!  It was all so exciting, and creatively energizing. It was easy to push past the “what ifs” and quiet the committee members, after all, it was FUN! Until we actually sat down with the mic and hit that red button….

Then the committee in my head got LOUD.  Ugh - your voice! Dead air! You sound scattered and unprofessional! Your peers are going to laugh at you! Other professionals will hear this and know you’re full of shit! Did you just confuse Eckhart Tolle and Ram Das?! What an asshat! Wrong, wrong, wrong….

…you’re doing it wrong!

But wait….

Wasn’t the sole purpose of our mission to “get dirty and grow” - what kind of vision are we sharing if it’s as polished and filtered as some influencers Instagram?!

How many times do you really want to hit delete and start from scratch because you smacked your lips too loud, your cat meowed in the background (fun fact: those can be fixed in post -whew!) or you stumbled over a few lines?

Who benefits if pictures for the website don't get taken because you’re 7.5 months pregnant and feel unphotogenic and large?

No one benefits…. especially not you.

But if you do that photoshoot anyway, you publish those first few episodes with all their mistakes and mumbles, if you breath past the fear of judgement (they’re going to judge you regardless, y’know), and just DO the fun, creatively energizing thing - present yourself, warts and all. You might just do the thing you set out to do in the first place - inspire people.  

Authenticity takes  courage. It is a risk to expose yourself to others (not that way, you perv) particularly if sometimes it's unflattering. But we must do it anyway.  We have to remember: nobody elected that committee in our heads. In fact, we formed it, which means we can bang that gavel and adjourn the fuck out of that meeting!

The lotus grows in the mud.  The beauty of the flower cannot exist without first struggling through its filthy environment.

So we planted a seed, and it’s started to grow.  Let’s see if this bud opens.

Love & Gratitude,

~T