power of 3 :: trust, the pang, facing the unknown

The past few weeks have been a bit rough. I’m not ready to fully share, but I can say that the tide is turning and life is testing me. In this I am learning to truly trust myself and the decisions I make, in ways that I’ve never trusted before.

I live most of my life deeply through my feelings, yet I find that I sometimes ignore or second guess myself when I get that pang in my gut. The funny thing is, that my gut feelings are always right and I want to kick myself in the arse when I don’t listen to it. (Which I’m sad to say is more times then not.)

Why is it that I don’t trust myself, when in my gut and heart I know what I should be doing? The logical and rational side of my mind gets in the way. I try to reason with myself. I negotiate and sway myself into making decisions that I think are sensible and mature, or outwardly appear to be the “right’ decision, while I still have that pinging and ache on the inside. So I’m working on trusting myself and my inner feeling. Leading with my heart and believing with my soul that if the decisions feel right, then it’s the right decision for me.

It’s so hard to face the unknown, that kind of fear can be paralyzing and has stopped me in my tracks more times then I can count. A friend of mine suggested that I play “the worst case scenario” game and work backwards from there. What if that huge fear you had really did happen, then what? What would you do? Would it really be that bad? Maybe, maybe not. But whatever it is, it wouldn’t last forever. Leaving behind the known to venture into the unknown is super scary. Will it be better? Will it be worse, or even harder still? The thing is, I can’t stand still in the now just because I’m scared of what lies ahead. Life is a risk and if you aren’t willing to live it and move yourself forward what is the point of it all.

listen while you work :: My Top 10

A while back Brooke asked me "What do you listen to while working?" and recently this question came up again. So today I'm going to share with you my 10 favorite things to listen to while I work.

1. I absolutely love Pandora, it makes playlist and adds variety without me having to think about it.
2. The Manic Mommies are one of my favorite mommy podcasts. Erin & Kristin are super funny and always have me laugh out loud.
3. I also love listening to Sister Diane over at Crafty Pod.
4. And Craft Sanity has some great interviews.
5. The Illustration Geek in me, has to get my weekly dose of Escape from Illustration Island.
6. For story time it's The Moth.
7. If you dare Risk's uncensored stories always gets a chuckle or two out of me.
8. When I want to feel inspired by other creative's and get some good freelance tips I head over to Creative Independence.
9. If I need some help pluging into that creative energy The Accidental Creative is where I go.
10. And if I know I’m going to start a project and am going to be working on it 6-8hours straight, I like listening to an audio book. I have a monthly subscription to Audible.

What do you like to listen to?