Anatomy of a “Doing It Anyway” Moment
I LOVE putting together videos, creating DVDs (ok, so now I’m aging myself!)and photo books. I now can acknowledge that I have an eye and a sense and an ear and a feel. In fact, I feel very free as I piece the elements together to create something special and beautiful and fun.
I made the DVD’s for my sons’ 8th grade classes.
I created the DVD that McCord Gallery used for our very successful fundraising campaign.
I made videos for friends and family,
for the music parents at St. Rita High School.
And I made the videos for my parents’ 70th anniversary party
and for their funerals.
I love this stuff.
So, tell me…
Why, oh why do I get so very worked up and anxious about doing a 23-second reel for Instagram?
Why is my techno-anxiety so debilitating that I can barely swallow when I even THINK
of doing a reel?
It reminds me of my Math anxiety: I can do it, but the very thought of Math
sends me into paroxysms of anxiety. My throat closes. My chest hardens.
My stomach knots. My hands clench.
Yesterday,
I was nudged by the desire to make something interesting and fun
about my upcoming retreat in the South of France.
The familiar sensations struck…
BUT
I reminded myself to remember
how much I love making art in some form or another—
arranging flowers
making photo books
painting or coloring greeting cards
writing poetry
guiding retreats...
….making videos.
A “reel” is a really short video.
It contains all the elements I enjoy—
words, photos, colors, dreams…
Voila!
My way-in appeared
as I reminded myself to remember
how much I love doing this…
and how I've been successful
and AM successful...
And I reminded myself to remember:
Focus on the steps.
Let the end result/outcome take care of itself.
Let it all unfold.
Let go of any attachment to that outcome and
Do what you need/love to do.
(You can watch this 23-second video here.)
It’s about my retreat en France en septembre, 2025.
At the same time,
it's a shining example
of how we can do what we love and want to do
even when our nervous system is working overtime to DISSUADE us
from doing
what we love and want to do.
We can:
remind ourselves to remember what we love
remind ourselves to remember moments where we did something similar with pleasure and success
let these reminders shift our brain so that the journey/process, rather than the end result/outcome is our focus
and with all this,
we can
Do. It. Anyway.
At the same time that there’s fear, we do it anyway.
At the same time that there’s worry and reluctance, we do it anyway.
At the same time that the cloak of defeatism weighs on our shoulders,
we defy it and
we do it anyway.
At the same time that our nervous system is busy convincing ourself that failure is likely,
we remind ourself to remember the smallest of our successes
and we do it anyway.
The little, itsy bitsy successes become our monumental triumphs.
And then, these triumphs remain part of our history of triumphs so
we can remind ourself to remember to look at them and feel…
TRIUMPHANT!
Here is my current 23 seconds of triumph!
THIS is what I’m sharing with you today.
Will you celebrate with me?
And what may I celebrate with and for YOU?!?!?!?!
Blessings,
Paula.
p.s. Today is January 19, 2025. 1000 Euros OFF goes away on January 31. Let me know what you need if this is something you want.
p.p.s. Summer in Wisconsin is now $300 less than the original price. (We found a mistake and everybody gets to rejoice! )
