Reaching for what's next
Answering my most asked question and how you can help me along the way
I am officially paralyzed in the “what’s next” phase of my career. My over-a-year-long book tour has come to a close, and the people are asking what they can expect from me next. The most validating and terrifying question a creative can be asked.
Most of my life has been in this balance of what’s expected and what I’ve wanted. Getting stuck in the expected is easy when you find a formula that works for keeping busy and bringing external validation — even though we shouldn’t want that external validation, right? Whether my former corporate career or current poetry career, I get stuck in this mode for longer than my body or brain has energy for.
Once I’m in it, I can’t see past my work that everyone has grown used to. Because I’ve grown used to it too. I can duplicate this tour over and over again if I wanted to. I can milk this book year after year because there are always more stages, conferences, classrooms, and communities to visit. (To be clear, I intend on keeping that going, just not at the rate I have over the last 15-months.)
Then, how do I get myself out of this comfort zone and keep moving upwards? Well, there’s one step I’ve always taken to get unstuck, whether I was aware of it or not: Reaching.
“That’s how you get unstuck … you reach.” — Cheryl Strayed (Tiny Beautiful Things)
This means, I needed to consult the list of goals I wrote for myself last summer. Gratefully, I got to check off several dream stages I wanted to perform on! That was a confidence boost. There are nine other goals on this list that I can start working towards. They’re all reaches. However, they’re feasible because I’ve been stretching and strengthening the muscles I need in order to reach those goals.
So, what’s next? More poetry, more writing, more reaching.
I’m not ready to share the exact details, but I will say that you can expect my stages to get bigger, my projects to expand and explore deeper, and my skills to keep honing in. This work must continue. The world needs it. I need it. So let’s keep going and keep reaching.
How can you help? There’s the obvious financial ways: paid subscriptions to my Substack, buy my books, pay to bring me in to your organization/community.
However, one of the most powerful ways you can help is the free, simple word of mouth. Connect me with people in your community who could use my workshops, talks, or performances. Connect me with retreats or organizations that would benefit from my mental health and “poetry as a coping tool” approach. Share my posts or poems with your network. Tell the people what has drawn you to me, and help more people find me.
My work is about helping as many people as possible find their own coping tool, understand themselves better, and find their voices to share their stories (if they so choose).
That’s what’s next: Growing this life-changing work that I am so honored to continue sharing with the world.
The poem I want to share with this post is loosely related. It’s my June Poetry Potluck poem and was inspired by an Austin, Texas, jazz club called The Elephant Room and the value of art spaces that I get to enjoy and create.
OUR ELEPHANT ROOMS "With any luck, this watering hole of a different sort won't be extinct any time soon." -- The Elephant Room menu (Austin, TX) A triptych of musicians fill this basement with pride and jazz and I am reminded of each art space I've escaped to Rooms where catastrophe and capitulation are left at the cover charge Where candle warmth flickers as empty tables fill with folks who trade gloom for astral eyes and tonal puzzles Where monachopsis is muted caterwauls become hums and we forgive ourselves for everything we didn't accomplish that day Rooms where kismet barks up every tree if it means being seen by everyone who tries to turn us into contractions Where survival is intrinsic to art's existence Rooms where souls are convinced to live a little longer Where depression and anxiety are decoupled Where everyone gets to breathe a little easier May art spaces like these continue to create for our lives May art spaces like these continue to leave remnants of who we are May art spaces like these continue evading extinction
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