By: Nancy Austin

Nancy Austin — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 20:44:42 +0000

Thank you for sharing your journey story with humble honesty. Two comments you have made seem to me worth reflecting on further as you face a different future in July 2019. First, was something about how you are content to have forgone completing a PhD because you learned what you needed to enroute, and the whole big baggage of expectations around a completed degree derailed you or dis-empowered you. This really resonated with me and I totally get it. And yet, in reading your expectations about going forward after a year of account-taking if not mourning, it struck me that you were in some way thinking of your future with the same anxiety producing albatross expectation of someone preparing for oral exams. Would it help you to think through your thesis experience now and how that might be an example of what doesn’t work for you? Is it the vast time frame? The amount of solitary work with an unclear audience for an uncertain outcome? As a coach I find it often helpful to find parallel experiences from our past to remember what didn’t work, so we won’t go there again. Although often we are all slow learners and do.
Your second and in my mind related comment was about ironing. You asked the Twitter universe if anyone enjoyed ironing as you did? Clothes neatly away in the cupboard. I hear that as a love of humble domestic ritual. The way small tasks build purpose into a life. Isn’t this information about yourself to gently respect as you ponder the rest of your life? Small gestures add up and I’d be curious hear more about your seeming drive to state your whole future goals right now as you pass this recent emotional milestone. How is this a helpful strategy for you at this point, or maybe ever?
Ironing might be a better metaphor for small goals attended to for the time being. Ambition is obviously important too, but not if it leads to wrinkles. Your writing and aesthetic is filled with thoughtful imagery and metaphors. Please don’t stop being playfully adventurous and experiment as you discover what raw material comes out with the wash.
I loved your Get Well cards to America mini-art project and the haunting poetry. Please keep the confidence to navigate and document, for better or worse. Many smile and listen, small victories as we each inch along in our own way through life, discovering who we are.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 20:29:45 +0000

Love it. It did touch my heart. Is honest and delicate. I don’t have words after what you wrote but just something to say: life is beautiful be yourself be driven thrive and live on. You have all my respect

Comments on: Ambitiousness, laziness

By: Nancy Austin

By: Frank