Oh I love this! As someone who also took to self development I found myself going down a rabbit hole of “fixing myself”. When the true work came from actually living my life. It was a breath of fresh air when that realization hit.
I love your honesty and conversational style writing. It feels like talking to a very dear friend with no judgements, it’s fantastic. So glad I found your page
OMG YES I LOVE THIS!!! There's so much seriousness in the self-development realm, but I realized that creating art and shaking my ass is more healing than highlighting the heck out of self-development books.
love this! one thing that has rly worked for me as a former self help obsessed girlie is writing more than i read, bcs when the epiphanies come from within me and are present in my journal as opposed to this book/podcast/video i’ve put on a pedestal, i’m a lot more likely to make change bcs i’m already attuned to the feeling.
Very glad I found your page, and this piece. It reminds me of this Instagram reel I came across (blasphemy!) but in a sea of garbage it's the only one that's stuck with me. A woman says "you don't need more advice, you don't need more information, you just need more courage!" Those 10 seconds hit me like a ton of bricks and it was ironically the nugget I needed.
I _feel_ this. I’ve been thinking a lot about life “inputs” and “output”, it’s a balance of both but ultimately the inputs (consuming content, absorbing ideas) will only reach maximum value if they’re converted into meaningful outputs. In other words — and this is one of the things I’ve been repeating that has forced me to finally hit send on my first Substack — just “do the damn thing”.
how'd you get into my journals?! really, though, I feel the same way. we can only learn so much before we have to let go & let our ventures teach us the skills we need
So true, Erin. We can consume all the things but until we practice doing the things, nothing changes. I wrote on this topic recently as well. We’re on the same wavelength!
Oooh I needed this! I was called out in the best way 😂 always thinking the next book, course, etc will make me feel ready, more inspired, more clear on the next step but really it’s time to just start, ready or not.
Hi Erin! I loved this article so much that I actually wanted to ask if you wanted to do something collaboratively. I'm getting project off the ground that addresses the EXACT issue you beautifully worded here.
It's intended to help people learn and understand that they can consume all the self-help in the world but until they actualize it in a self-agentic way, through the process of creativity, it just sits in the psyche inert.
Starting with 6 foundational Project-Based learning projects, I help people overcome trauma not by telling them what to do but by modeling how to build their own creatively sustainable and personalized system of healing using resources available to them.
I'm writing about it on my blog and sharing on Instagram at the Rivensong Initiative...but I want to build a community. If you're interested, please let me know ❤️ thank you for this amazing piece!!
Oh I love this! As someone who also took to self development I found myself going down a rabbit hole of “fixing myself”. When the true work came from actually living my life. It was a breath of fresh air when that realization hit.
I love your honesty and conversational style writing. It feels like talking to a very dear friend with no judgements, it’s fantastic. So glad I found your page
Thanks Marco! That’s high praise!
OMG YES I LOVE THIS!!! There's so much seriousness in the self-development realm, but I realized that creating art and shaking my ass is more healing than highlighting the heck out of self-development books.
every sentence was perfect. thank you for this
love this! one thing that has rly worked for me as a former self help obsessed girlie is writing more than i read, bcs when the epiphanies come from within me and are present in my journal as opposed to this book/podcast/video i’ve put on a pedestal, i’m a lot more likely to make change bcs i’m already attuned to the feeling.
Very glad I found your page, and this piece. It reminds me of this Instagram reel I came across (blasphemy!) but in a sea of garbage it's the only one that's stuck with me. A woman says "you don't need more advice, you don't need more information, you just need more courage!" Those 10 seconds hit me like a ton of bricks and it was ironically the nugget I needed.
in a similar vein, this reminds me of “you don’t need more tools, you need more action” and brother was i called out
I _feel_ this. I’ve been thinking a lot about life “inputs” and “output”, it’s a balance of both but ultimately the inputs (consuming content, absorbing ideas) will only reach maximum value if they’re converted into meaningful outputs. In other words — and this is one of the things I’ve been repeating that has forced me to finally hit send on my first Substack — just “do the damn thing”.
how'd you get into my journals?! really, though, I feel the same way. we can only learn so much before we have to let go & let our ventures teach us the skills we need
This is so incredibly well written and deeply resonated with me!
Great article! It's true that the only way to achieve the things we want is by actually doing it.
So true, Erin. We can consume all the things but until we practice doing the things, nothing changes. I wrote on this topic recently as well. We’re on the same wavelength!
https://open.substack.com/pub/becomingskookum/p/ditching-self-improvement?r=41qqj&utm_medium=ios
Oooh I needed this! I was called out in the best way 😂 always thinking the next book, course, etc will make me feel ready, more inspired, more clear on the next step but really it’s time to just start, ready or not.
Girl same… for YEARS. That’s why I know 😅
deeply resonate with this, the courage to make the initial changes are always more impactful than curating the perfect plan
Hi Erin! I loved this article so much that I actually wanted to ask if you wanted to do something collaboratively. I'm getting project off the ground that addresses the EXACT issue you beautifully worded here.
It's intended to help people learn and understand that they can consume all the self-help in the world but until they actualize it in a self-agentic way, through the process of creativity, it just sits in the psyche inert.
Starting with 6 foundational Project-Based learning projects, I help people overcome trauma not by telling them what to do but by modeling how to build their own creatively sustainable and personalized system of healing using resources available to them.
I'm writing about it on my blog and sharing on Instagram at the Rivensong Initiative...but I want to build a community. If you're interested, please let me know ❤️ thank you for this amazing piece!!
Love this!