Hey there,
Did you miss me? C’mon, don't be shy, you can tell me.
Aww, buttercakes…
Phew, I have had quite the week.
I have so many ideas in my head and journal, so many that I’m conflicted about what to write to you.
A lot has been happening with the world too. Kids are getting back to school and in the space of 4 months, we have baked bread, done hour-long IG lives, zoom parties, and Netflix watch parties.
We even became plant mommies and daddies. I wonder what's next? Staycation?
But really, I understand that these are just coping mechanisms for us to stay sane in the midst of this madness.
On the topic of staying sane
I still haven't figured out this work-life balance thing. Maybe this happens when you don't have a life and you are holed up at home every day of the week. Phew, I do not recommend this.
I had to work on a new project this week and I was so choked with getting this task done that I forgot to live a little. I didn't dance around the house or catch up on my favorite show - important life choices btw.
So I did the next best thing, I lost control of my life, got overwhelmed, and cried about it. And in the middle of this, I had to pause and ask myself why. At that moment, I realized that this is normal and learning is just an ugly process for anyone.
Learning isn't all glitz and glamour - as much as we like to think that
I am a big fan of learning something new but the process is ugly, hard, and overwhelming. If it was easy anyone would do it right?
For me, it began with talking to myself and getting angry that I couldn’t get it right, getting overwhelmed, crying, and deciding to give up. But as soon as I made the decision to continue going at it and finally got the hang of it. I paused and asked myself, now was that so hard?
Yes, it was Martha, shut up😑
This is how the learning process happens;
Denial: You will doubt yourself and your capability to learn this.
Anger: You will get angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed.
Sadness: You will get sad, beat yourself up about it and cry ugly tears (if you are like me). At this stage you would want to call it quits.
Acceptance: When you decide to keep learning and accept the reality that you wouldn't get this thing at first try. Then iterate, iterate, and iterate until you get better.
This is how I went from making bad eggs to eggs “everyone” is talking about. It seems minuscule but this is how you learn anything.
Coolest Internet things
I am renewing my love for podcasts - yeah like it's a subscription. Anyway, I loved this episode of the Paul Minors Podcast on "the too busy bicycle"
Here’s my favorite TikTok atm. Tell Her, Big Daddy.
Someone on twitter who works in one of my fave companies (Pay stack) shared his best marketing articles. If you are into this sort of thing, you will love this.
What's an important lesson I learned this week?
Not a new Internet writer but you get my point
Write for yourself first. Don't be caught up with writing short form letters so people will read. Long form? Short form? Tweets? people don't read. Our attention span is low and we are bombarded with content everyday. So if you made it to the end of this email, I'm sending you virtual hugs :)
With love, Martha.