The other day, I woke up to a ton of spam like e-mails in both my personal and photography inbox.
“How to take your mini sessions to $10k a month”
“Watch our free learning video where you can take your photography business to the millions”
“You’re doing your marketing wrong; here’s how we can help!”
“New Remote Virtual Assistant jobs on Linkedin”
“Is your resume getting you in front of the right companies?”
“Rejoin NOOM and get your life on track”
and, on and on and on it went.
I sat there, in my peaceful “just wake up” phase, and started to feel the anxiousness creep in. “Ugh, why am I sitting here when I have to get my day started.” I went to write my “to-do list to myself” like I do every morning when I paused and thought to myself “Could it be the inundation of my inbox that makes me anxious?”
And, the only thing I wrote on my to-do list was “unsubscribe”
I got to work that morning, logged into both e-mails, and started unsubscribing from everything that started making me feel “anxious” or like “I’m not doing enough.”
Your 10k a month formula for mini sessions? To be honest, I know the formula- you’re not the only one hawking it, Jan. "::scroll down, unsubscribe::
Hey Linkedin, I don’t want to be a virtual assistant? :: scroll down, unsubscribe::
I don’t want another 9-5, Expeteer, and your 3x a day e-mails are making my soul uncomfortable. ::scroll down, unsubscribe::
With each "yes” to the “are you sure you want to unsubscribe?” I felt a sense of relief. The bombastic pressure from subject lines becoming less and less.
I think this is what happens when you’re feeling lost or pressured to get out of a situation. You start going down this rabbit hole of applications, and ads on social media, and sign up for each one thinking “this is it, this is the solution.” not realizing that what you’re really setting yourself up for is a continuation of the spiral. It’s not a bad trait to want to learn: but, we need to be intentional with it.
In the last month, as I’ve cleansed my body of the overload of sugar and carbs, I’ve realized that this month has also been about cleansing my intake and curating my world to what inspires me, not to what makes me anxious. And, the moment I accepted that, I found myself setting boundaries everywhere. After an exhaustive conversation with my dad about how disappointing my 9-5 has become, I said the next morning “Dad, I love you. And, I appreciate that you care. But, I can no longer engage in those conversations. I understand where you’re coming from, I respect what you want for me, but I want something bigger. And, in order for me to do that, I need to focus on expanding. When we talk about how things we can’t change, it retracts my expanders. I will do my job well, but I need to come home and focus on myself. At 5, I’m no longer talking about the 8 hours I spent elsewhere. I want to work on the things that fulfill me.”
Hours later, I took the plunge and joined two communities: To be Magnetic, focusing on neural manifestation, and Sustenance, focusing on writing/creating. That same week, I said no to a photography job because the client was not my ideal client. A few days later, I styled and shot my first “Love Yourself Session” and floated on that high for days now: truly looking forward to Sunday’s session. I realized I want to teach and have been exploring Kajabi and outlining a course. I’ve outlined my website redesign, sat with my pricing, and realized I underestimate myself and it’s reflected in my pricing. I wrote goals, and outlined exactly what I’m expanding to. And in the last ten days, I have not spoken about or to anyone from my 9-5 after 5PM.
For the first time in months, I’ve been truly rooted in the soil of my life. The more I said “no” or “I don’t want to discuss that.”, the more soul-fulfilling opportunities presented themselves. I realized in unsubscribing to all those e-mails, that what I was really doing was unsubscribing to the ego-driven mentality I had around my life. I was unsubscribing to society’s definition of success. Yes, I want to make 10k a month, hell- I want to make more. But, receiving 3 emails a day from someone I don’t relate to or feel connected to isn’t going to get me there. I don’t want a quick, fast-track surface-level solution. I want to tend to my garden and grow organically. It’s the only path to sustainability.
This week, I want you to look at your e-mails and see what you can unsubscribe to.. just, maybe don’t unsubscribe to this little newsletter. I’m like, not annoying at all :)
I want you to take a moment and applaud yourself for being where you are currently in your life. We often overlook the journey that led us here and we only seek what’s next. I want you to take a deep breath and release what’s bringing you down or holding you back. I want you to look into the mirror and be proud of the reflection back. I want you to recognize what you’ve accomplished proudly, and say “if I can do that, I can do the next thing.”
We don’t have a with Salt this week, friends. The work this month has been all about the Soul and I don’t want to be inauthentic. But, if you wouldn’t mind- I do need a favor.
If I do not post on instagram, @salt_withsoul, by Saturday, I need you to message me. I have been hiding in perfectionism by not sharing my words and I need to just do it… and, I need a nudge from all of you to do so. It’s like a virtual trust fall to sharing my work again.