Guys, it’s here! The Live Free Creative Podcast is LIVE!!

This first episode is an important one, because after months of thinking, stewing, trying to figure out all of the logistics, I finally decided to just BEGIN. Because, NOW is the right time.

Episode 01 Show Notes

Life Lately

We are traveling for a month this summer! Our itinerary includes Salt Lake City, Utah, Hurricane, Utah, Gilbert, AZ, Marfa, TX, Austin, TX, New Orleans, LA, then back to Richmond! I have been teaching a summer workshop series of indigo dyeing classes and they are so fun!

When we return, we will be working on removing and replacing all of the siding on our fixer upper! I am SO excited to see what the house looks like in it’s new color and siding. We chose Deep Ocean siding from James Hardie and it will be so pretty.

Also, I’m trying to get back on track with exercise, and it is tricky! Our move to Richmond threw off my regular exercise routine, so I am figuring out something new to stay healthy. Exercise is like therapy and sanity, and I need to get back to it!

Why NOW Is The Right Time

NOW is the right time for THAT THING that you want to do! What is that thing for you?

Something that you have been thinking about and wanting to do, but you haven’t yet begun. Sometimes you might feel like you are letting yourself down, even though you haven’t even started. This podcast was a great example for me.

Dave mentioned years ago that starting a podcast would be a good fit for me. I love to teach, speak, host workshops, and share online. A podcast show brings a bunch of those different things together, and is one of my own favorite ways to consume information and inspiration.

Fast forward to Easter this year, and my ever supportive husband gave me a microphone in my basket. It then sat on a shelf in my room until literally the day that I sat down to record this first episode. It begs the question: “WHY DON’T WE DO THE THINGS WE WANT TO DO?”

“We will be more fulfilled, more satisfied and more happy when we do the things we want to do, rather than just responding to the things that happen to us.”

4 Reasons To Begin Right Now

1. Starting Somewhere Now is Better Than Starting Somewhere Later

I love this quite from a print by my friend Becky Simpson. Whether we start now, or we wait for the time to feel better, we are still just starting somewhere! It is unlikely that the timing will ever be perfect. Our whole life is the middle. Until the very end we are learning.

Right now you have all of the experience that you have, and in a month or a year, you will have all of the experience you have then, but that doesn’t mean you will feel any more prepared or capable than you do today. Whether you begin now or later, the understanding you gain will be similar because you learn as you do it.

“Don’t waste your time thinking about the thing you want to do when you could be experiencing it. You could be doing it. You could be living it!”

2. There is no failure. There are only lessons. 

This one can be hard to understand, because we live in a society that talks about success and failure as opposites. They are not opposites, and in fact, failure can be success.

Failure is just experiencing different things than you expected. And that can lead to added lessons, important understanding and perspective, and I call that success! The lessons you learn as you live through unmet expectations are so valuable.

I have always been a bit fearless about making things and creative projects easily without a lot of fear of failure because I grew up being taught that it was okay, I could always try again. I am not a perfectionist, and so I create craft and sewing projects without much thought of failure.

One thing I have learned is that I often enjoy the process of making far more than the actual finished product. The finished product is just a thing, but the process of making the thing is the experience that I really enjoy.

“The purpose is the process.”

If we can jump into new projects without the fear of failure, we will be even more willing to begin. All we have is gain. We don’t fail, we simply learn. When I think back on my life, most of my most important lessons have been though doing things that were hard and facing things that felt like problems.

3. The First Step Is The Hardest!

It is so much easier to do what we are already doing because it is comfortable. Sometimes breaking out of the normal routine adds some difficulty. However, once we get started, the ball is rolling and it is so much easier to continue.

Ask yourself: What is the very first step of the thing I want to do?

When I was thinking about writing a book, the very first step for me was to write a one-page outline. I allowed myself the idea that this outline was flexible. Once the ideas were out there I could manipulate them and change them and continue working on them.

“What is the thing that you want to do? Now, what is the smallest and most simple first step for you to take NOW?”

That first step opens the door to the project being real. After that first step, you aren’t just thinking about doing the thing, you are already doing it.

4. You Don’t Need Permission

We are trained from a very young age to ask permission for everything. We raise our hands to go to the bathroom, we wait to be invited to parties, we wait until someone tells us it is okay to move forwards with the things we want to do.

It is so freeing as an adult when you realize that you can do whatever you want to do! You don’t have to wait for someone to tell you it is okay. You don’t have to wait for opportunities, you create them!

“Those are your opportunities! You create them! You make them! You live this life! You get to do that, and you don’t have to wait for permission from anyone to do it!”

An example is how I am hosting a project on the blog called the Room by Room Challenge, and I invited people to participate with me. I even set up my facebook group filled with people who are working on organizing and designing one room per month this year.

I have had so many people thank me for giving them the chance to finally do the thing that they have wanted to do for years! I am so happy that I am inspiring people to do the things they wanted to do, and it is impactful to realize that they didn’t need my invitation to do it!

“I’m inviting you, right now, to jump in, make a mess, and just get started!”

Conclusion

I am so excited to see what you do now that you have a little more inspiration and motivation to do that thing that you have really wanted to do! Please comment here, or find me on Instagram at @livefreemiranda to share what you are getting started on because of the motivation from today’s podcast!

Peaks Of The Week

We use this conversation activity at dinner with our kids, where we share a pit and a peak, and on the podcast I want to do the same just sharing some of my very favorite things!

Favorite Meal: Spitz

I have eaten here 3 times in the 6 days since I arrived in Salt Lake City. The doner bowl with kebab meat is so good. Sweet potato waffle fries with greek salad, spicy sauce, taziki, crunchy chick peas, fried pita, and the spicy meat. Oooooh so good. If you are in or around Salt Lake City you need to check it out!

Favorite Adventure: Day Trip to Antelope Island

I went to Antelope Island a few times as a kid, and many more as a teenager and college student. I think it is such a beautiful, interesting place and it is so underrated! Almost no one I know from Utah ever goes! The scenery is lovely, there is wild roaming bison herd, and a great visitor’s center. I highly recommend taking your kids and making a day of it! Pack a picnic!

Book: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Such a fascinating, interesting, emotional story about a young, Aftrican American couple who is just starting out on their lives. When the husband is incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit, the dynamic is riveting. The characters are relatable and compelling, and I loved the way it gave me a lot to think about.

Product: SuperGoop Unseen 40 spf Daily Face Sunscreen

This is one of my very very favorite products ever! I need a daily sunscreen, and this one basically disappears onto your skin like powder. It is so lightweight, and makes my skin feel amazing. I literally use it every day.

Game: UNO Attack!

This is a variation on the classic UNO game. When you hit the button, you may get a pile of cards shooting straight out at you! My 9-year-old played it with cousins this trip and I could barely pull him away! I am always interested in a fun, interactive family game that will pull us away from screen and into spending more time together, and this one is a 10.

Thank you so much for listening! I’ll catch up with you next Thursday!