Hold That Thought…

This week I've been thinking about the real and sometimes insufferable conditions we do our work in. Here are three things on that theme to turn mental energy into meaningful action:

1. In 2010, I bumped into Matthew Modine on the street and he said something that has taken me 15 years to unpack. See what sense I'm making of it in Great Work Doesn't Wait For Good Weather​
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2. “But one need not wait for inspiration and for the stars to align perfectly. We are much less dependent on the cooperation of the universe than we think. This is because every step on the way to success is generally small enough for us to manage all on our own.” On Self-Sabotage by Iskra Fileva​
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3. “As artists, we can turn trauma into good art, but of course we will succeed and fail on artistic terms, not on the terms of trauma itself.” — If Everyone Has Trauma, Everyone Has Trauma by Freddie deBoer, one of the more controversial authors I follow; someone I often disagree with but who nonetheless always makes me think and very often pressure-tests my perspective on most things.

That was a lot. This week's underthinking link is very silly: How far can you scroll today?

(This isn't working for me in Firefox, but I scrolled about 54m in Chrome just fine; ymmv.)

Extra thoughts…

I've been thinking about art and suffering most of the week so far and the place I'm landing on today with it all is this (quoting Freddie again):

“…there is nothing more ordinary, more quintessentially human, than to suffer.”

Meaning, what if all our suffering is…ok?

Not needless suffering, or performative suffering, or suffering at the hands of others of course. But the kind that comes from our prolonged discomfort and our “work” here, whatever that means.

That's what resilience is for, right?

If you want to explore that with me — in any capacity — let's talk! It'll be like putting in another rep for resilience, but with laughter.

Lastly, I'd love to know, what of this resonates? What do you disagree with and why? Hit reply and share your thoughts!
Kim

PS. In an effort to lead a more ethically conscious business and reach more of the people I want to work with across any income category, I'm overhauling my pricing and developing a more equitable, democratized pricing model (inspired by this). It's a bit of a wild thing to do and I'd love feedback. If this interests you for any reason, hit reply and I'll share the current table and tiers.

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For any task, project, or job, there are three ways you can go…

• DIY – where you gather the stuff you need and do the work yourself
• Do it with you – where you find a collaborator and do the work together
• Do it for you – where you hire an expert to do the work for you

I've set up my own work so that I offer all three approaches…whether you want to work alone, together, or just sit back and see it get done, I can help.
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And if you're not sure what you want, or whether we might be a good fit, you should definitely pop on a call with me.

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• ​More new articles on Medium! I also curate many useful lists​
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Hope you enjoy these things as much as I do creating and sharing them!

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Hello! My name is Kim Witten and I’ve spent nearly five decades overthinking absolutely everything. This has led me to various places and I've had (what I used to think was) a fairly messy career path. Here's how I made sense of it all​

Staney Brae, Dunrossness, Shetland ZE2 9JG

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