The Introduction Sets the Stage for What's to Come
... a behind the scenes look into my book (Part 2).
(The Audio file is me reading the Introduction of my book “A Better Life”. Listen to this first if you have time.)
I REALLY love this introduction. I wish I had never had someone write the foreword and let THESE WORDS set the tone for the book.
I still remember finding that “special” sticker so clearly on my walk home from a college class. I’d love to find it again. I’m positive I didn’t throw it away - I just need to take some time to go find it in my basement memory boxes. It would be nice to have it sitting out around the house as a reminder that there is more to come.
It’s funny reading this from such an uncertain season of life. Better Life Bags is over and I’m not exactly sure what will be the next thing for me. Our family needs a second income. I want it to be a combination of this Substack, the podcast I keep talking about launching, and Instagram influencing. I’ve also decided to add in real estate this fall after these three items get into routine (and I hopefully have more childcare). But it seems like so many hurdles and road blocks have come my way since I officially closed Better Life Bags.
Are hurdles and road blocks the opposite of stickers? Or not the opposite, but also signs from God that I’m going the wrong direction? Like if stickers are signs from God that I’m on the right path, then hurdles are signs I’m on the wrong?
I mentioned this to Neil the other day and he made a poignant observation. Most people see roadblocks and hurdles in their way as spiritual attacks from the enemy trying to stop what we are doing. Why do I see them as God telling me I’m going the wrong way and not the enemy trying to get in the way?
I don’t have an answer to that. I just think that in my life up until this point, things have been fairly easy. But right now, it feels like I’m pushing a dream uphill in mud. I have 11 hours of childcare a week and lately even that has been taken from me because of sick kids. I got the sickest I’ve ever been in my life in March. It took me down for 3 weeks and my voice was completely gone for four weeks. I really thought I’d never speak normally again - and a voice is pretty crucial for a podcaster. I wondered if this was God telling me that I shouldn’t podcast? That he has something different for me.
Is it that my life has been easy so far, or is it that I forget the hardship and the pain from previous adventures and seasons - just like we forget how terribly painful labor is and choose to have more kids? Surely this season of hard is not the first one I’ve experienced. So why do I have such a hard time remembering other seasons of hard?
I wrote,
It can be tempting to think I’m paving my own path in this life. That’s the message preached on motivational Instagram accounts, after all. They say my destination and my goals are up to me to achieve by my own effort. But the truth is that God has gone before me with a street paver to clear the way, and while the cement is drying and I’m figuring out my next step, he plants reminders that he’s there. That he is close. That he has a plan and that his plan is good. That he sees me and my dreams and wants to help me achieve them in a way that is life-giving and manageable and full of peace.
I’m wondering where that street paver is now, honestly. I have to believe that it’s ahead of me and I’m currently waiting for some cement to dry before I can take the next step. This wait time and these hurdles are part of my next story. They are slowing me down for a reason that I can’t see yet, but have to believe has a purpose.
I’ve had many moments of wondering if I made a mistake by shutting BLB down. At the time that I made the decision, I felt like I didn’t have the energy to re-invent it again. But as I’ve walked a few steps down starting this next new thing, I’m realizing that EVERYTHING takes energy and consistency and effort. But there is no turning back at this point. What’s done is done.
For me right now, the answer is in the last paragraph of the intro.
Maybe you heard that if you hustled hard enough, you would make it to the top. So you tried, but you’re so tired. Maybe someone told you that God is not in a hurry. But you are, and you’re anxious to make more money and gain more success. Maybe someone told you that you are in charge of your future. But you’ve been steering your life the way you want it to go, and it’s not working. Maybe you need to hear there is a better way. When you give up the try-hard feelings and the striving toward a finish line that seems to keep moving, you have time to feel the soft breeze and enjoy the journey. When you stay even when it is hard, you grow deep roots of stability. And when you go slow enough to notice the gifts, you end up way ahead.
So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to try to take the advice I wrote 7 years ago and stop worrying about the finish line that feels so far away and so fuzzy. And I’m just going to focus on this day at my feet. I’m going to do the things I know to do today without worrying about the results. I’m not going to chase the easy way out. I’m going to stay and keep plugging away. And I’m going to go slow and trust that finances (and childcare) will work themselves out.
I’m going to look for the stickers again.
Wanna join me?
We are embarking on a journey through the book I wrote in 2018-2019 and revisiting the words from a new season of life to see what has held up and what I no longer believe in. I’m going to read each chapter out loud to my paid subscribers via an audio file that should play like a podcast.
I will always try to make the free section of my Substack posts valuable - and that will be true throughout this series. You don’t need to listen to or have re
ad the book to get value from the free section. Today’s audio file is free for everyone so you can see what it’s like, but if you want to listen to the rest of my book as I go through each chapter, I’d be so grateful if you subscribed for $5/month or $40/year.