5 Club

Written by jamie on December 14th, 2012

I’m tired but inspired.

I just managed to get myself up early to participate in a Twitter chat. It was the next best thing to being in Nashville and participating in the event itself. Jon Acuff, the famed Quitter author and conference leader, had an idea to hold an event called 5 Club. Basically, a bunch of crazy dreamers in Nashville met at 5 a.m. to dream big. Those of us not fortunate enough to live in the Nashville area joined via the Twitter community. Not quite the same as being there, but at least I could stay in my PJs.

From what I could keep up with via tweets, this was the gist of what they talked about. They identified four things.

  1. Ridiculous goal(s)
  2. The finish line
  3. What a small win looks like
  4. The enemy

I came up with three ridiculous goals.

  1. Finish my book and put it out there.
  2. Record an LP of original songs and give proceeds to charity.
  3. Help fund music education in third world countries.

Goal number one doesn’t feel so ridiculous, as I’ve been working on it for awhile. The closer you get to the finish line, the less ridiculous a goal seems.

Goal number two is exciting to me, but is going to involve a lot of work. Practicing guitar, writing song after song until I find one worthy of recording and figuring out how to afford recording costs. One fellow tweeter gave me a great idea for a smaller finish line for this one: start off by recording ONE song and put it on my website. I think this is a great starting point.

Goal number three is so big and crazy that I have no idea where to even begin. But there it is in all it’s ridiculousness.

Getting up for the 5 Club was good. It encouraged me and also showed me that I CAN get up early. I’m even functional.

Many thanks to all the fellow 5 Club members and all their encouragement. Good luck with all your ridiculous goals!

 

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The prized reindeer ornaments

Written by jamie on December 10th, 2012

Now that I’m married, it’s been great fun to combine Drew and I’s collection of Christmas ornaments.

Like I mentioned before, we have quite an odd assortment. Nothing really matches, and that’s okay.

Drew doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to his ornaments that I do, but he has several from his childhood that I love to see next to mine. When we were decorating our first Christmas tree together, I was tickled to find that he had a handmade Rudolph ornament made from clothespins. I had made one in Kindergarden and had kept mine all these years. Appropriately enough, his is huge compared to mine. It makes me smile every year when I break them out and place them on the tree next to each other.

For whatever reason, the little handmade reindeer that I crafted when I was five has become one of my treasured ornaments. Maybe because it’s so cute or simply because I was so proud of what I made at a young age (of course, my teacher was probably the one who put the majority of it together). Whatever the reason, when I was growing up, it was always the first ornament I grabbed to put on the tree. When it came time to take it down, I always lovingly wrapped it in tissue paper and gently placed it back in storage.

So when Drew unwrapped his giant reindeer, I was elated. We nestled them next to each other on the tree, his big nosed Rudolph towering over mine. I don’t know how old he was when he made his, or if he even made it himself, but I love them snuggling next to each other on the tree. They remind me of us. 🙂

And they’re usually the first ornaments I hang each year.

 

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Ode to my Christmas tree

Written by jamie on December 4th, 2012

I love my Christmas tree. It is one of my absolute most favorite parts of the season. I could spend hours sitting by it, relishing in the smell and soaking in the reflections of the lights off various ornaments and branches. It’s just so purdy.

I have a fond connection with most of my ornaments. There’s usually a memory attached to them. It’s one of my favorite things about unpacking the box of Christmas decorations. I lovingly unwrap each one, remembering the story behind them. (I’ll share more posts and stories about specific ornaments.)

Hanging those ornaments is like a tribute to years past. Remembering Christmas as a child, filled with giddy anticipation. Christmas as a young adult, when the season took on so much more meaning. Christmas as a newly married woman, only a few years ago.

Now that I’m married, the Christmas tree is a shared space with my husband. I love our odd assembling of ornaments collected from two separate lives. Some are store bought, some are handmade. They range from Luke Skywalker to Eeyore. All with a memory.

They’re not all perfect. There’s a section of mostly wooden, hand colored ornaments. Some are colored neatly in the lines, while others are scribbled on furiously. They’re handmade by my nephews and show their growth from year to year. I display them proudly.

There’s the sloppily painted heart that I attempted for Drew and I’s first married Christmas together. I wanted to chronicle our first year together in a unique way. Unfortunately, I lacked time, painting technique and smaller paint brushes. It is what it is.

Some people like a neat, themed tree with color coordinated ornaments and bows. These trees are beautiful and I appreciate the hard work that goes into them. I prefer the mishmash of unmatched ornaments, some even hanging crooked off the branches. The hodgepodge reminds me that life is not always perfect and put together. Some moments are beautifully crafted, while others are weathered by years gone by. Some aren’t very pleasing to the eye but are priceless to the heart.

When it all comes together, it creates something beautiful. I’ll take that over organized and perfect any day.

 

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More thoughts on Quitter Conference #3

Written by jamie on September 25th, 2012

My head is still swimming with information and inspiration from this past weekend. I’m still processing, writing, and churning out ideas. Some of this is a repeat of what I posted yesterday, but I’m still fleshing out all of this. I wanted to get stuff out of my brain and on “paper.”

  • Your dream will not be perfect. It will be messy. This may be my biggest take-away from this third conference. I keep waiting for this whole thing to “click” into place. Like it should be all be neat and orderly. It should all make sense and be clean and organized. If anything, it all becomes more jumbled the more I go. And that’s okay.
  • Fear tries to hand you an apathy shield. I’m afraid I’ve grown more apathetic and “numb” toward much of life. I never thought of this as a defense mechanism. It’s fear raising it’s ugly head, and it does not help my dream.
  • Start somewhere and murder perfectionism. This was my big takeaway from the first conference I attended over a year ago and it’s still hitting me. I’ve started, but I think this applies to the middle of your dream as well. Keep going. Stop worrying about making it perfect. It will get better as you go.
  • Refuse to love your dream more than the people it impacts. I heard this and immediately wrote underneath it: Drew and my marriage is always more important. It’s important to carve out time for my dream, but it’s also incredibly important to carve out time for Drew as well. I need to show him that he’s always more important.
  • Play to the size of your heart, not the size of your crowd. As a musician, I relate to this. If I ever have a chance to perform my original songs, chances are the crowd will be slim. I need to remember the joy that singing brings me and the passion I have for music. I think of my Youtube channel and the three subscribers I have.

And now it’s time to hustle.

 

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