Well, hello! I hope that you and yours had a lovely Thanksgiving and are doing as well as possible during this very strange and stressful time, and that you are making the most of whatever circumstance you find yourself. 

It’s been quite a while since I wrote one of these updates – the last one was at the beginning of the global shutdown.  Although it has been almost seven months to the day, it feels like years have passed due to all that has transpired and how we are now living in a very different world. 

I wanted to reach out to check in and, especially at this time of year, say thank you for your continued support and most of all, your patience.  Because as the old Yiddish saying goes, “Man plans, God laughs.”

So today's update is that I, like everyone else, got a bit derailed and detoured by all the events of 2020 and thus have not been able to make as much headway with The Smoothie Principle as I had planned.  Since my last missive to you in April, I have technically spent only a few hours here and there on it; I did do a little research on some publishers, organized and dumped some thoughts, and did get a couple of pages fleshed out a bit more.  The thing is, I have indeed been writing, just not The Smoothie Principle… There were several new PGGs published as well as some other projects that popped up which may get out into the world at some point – and p.s. I finally did some remote talks and interviews via Zoom, as well as upped my Instagram and YouTube game, which, although not part of any writing project, were big hurdles to get over! 

The main progress I’ve made regarding The Smoothie Principle is that the events of 2020 precipitated some extreme personal healing and transformation work, both revealing and helping me remove much of what has been blocking me from moving forward, not just with writing the book, but in many areas of my life.   I know that these newfound understandings and adjustments will not only be infused in the thoughts I share with you through my words, but will in fact make my writing process better – i.e. less procrastination and fear, more discipline and confidence!

So, I just wanted to keep you in the loop with this journey – as the topic is on personal growth, it is only fitting that my journey in publishing be part of exactly that! 😊  

Click here for previous updates, but if you need your memory jogged:  February 2019 was the crowdfunding campaign; I then worked on a more robust proposal over the spring and summer for Publishizer who would be acting as my literary agent to pitch to traditional publishers. It wasn’t until the late fall that I found out due to personnel changes they were no longer offering that service, with no takers on the few that they had pitched up until that point, so I was on my own again. It took a minute for me lick my wounds and realized it would be easier to just write the book and then figure out the publishing part, which was the plan for 2020 – and here we are.  However, like I explained in my last update, I trust that the timing is exactly as it should be.

Since you have been so patient, I wanted to at least provide an excerpt from the proposal (written pre-COVID) that I think might be relevant for you at this time.  It’s from Chapter 1, Serve Yourself First:

In the 21st century, as our world goes through profound transformations – whether via climate change, various government structures that are being rewritten and revolutionized, or our economy changing so drastically on many levels due to exponential technological advances – it can be extremely unsettling if you don’t have a clearly defined career path. Or maybe you had that path, but automation has essentially eliminated it. This is why it is more important than ever for you to create a sense of inner stability and security in order to navigate the vast amount of external changes that have taken place and will continue to occur more and more rapidly in the foreseeable future.

Depending on where you are in your career, you may not know exactly what job, company, role or industry would ultimately be best for you or might be the next stop, and because whole sectors and companies are dying and others are being born so rapidly, it’s quite possible the most perfect job for you doesn’t even exist yet! Think about all the companies and types of jobs that didn’t even exist three, five or ten years ago. But you do need to know what you should be doing right now. The mini-crisis that led to my smoothie “chapter” occurred when I reached a bump in the road on my path, and because the Universe works in mysterious ways, that bump actually turned out to be a course-correction and realignment disguised as a temporary fix in the evolution of who I was and of the work that I am supposed to be doing in this world.

[NOTE: I will expand on how coaching wasn’t even a “thing” back then, how I got to work for The Muse, my intern's experience with social media employment etc. Will expand on themes and use additional examples from my life and my clients throughout. Also will offer and explain other thoughts and tips and tools on how to help you better listen to yourself]

So back to my bar graph. I had already gone through the exercises of reflecting, exploring, uncovering and then actually doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing with my life at that time, which was the founding of The Women’s Mosaic. But you must accept that this is a journey – it can have many twists and turns, and you have to make adjustments as you go along the way. Personal growth is not a silver bullet or a one-way or A-to-B-to-C path; it is constantly adjusting and growing, adjusting again and growing some more. You need to respond to and confront different issues and problems as they come up, and you must move in a different direction if that’s what the Universe is pushing you to do. It’s an organic process – process being the key word – it’s never a one-and-done kind of deal – ‘cause if we weren’t learning, healing and growing, we would not be truly living and evolving into our highest and best selves. 

Again, thank you so very much your patience as I sort myself out and re-calibrate for an exciting and creative 2021. Know that I will keep you posted along the way, but please feel free reach out with any questions at any time!

All my best for a Joyful and Abundant Holiday season! <3

Kristina

P.S. If you haven’t already seen my new(ish) coaching website, you can check that out here and share with anyone who could benefit - I'm offering 20% off any of my services between now and 12/20/20 (but can be used through 1/31/21  :)