Around mid-November, I read an article about how a writer was able to make $4K a month writing on Medium. I was astonished. I had been writing for most of my life and barely made a fraction of that in months.
Of course, the article was well-written, straight to the point and its takeaways slapped me in the face like bugs on a windshield during a road trip across the prairies; I wasn’t writing enough, not even close to what the writer was talking about. …
They’re never impressed, constantly disappointed in others and sets unattainable expectations.
Nothing is good enough
I am guilty of being overly critical. It’s an unfortunate behaviour of recovering perfectionists.
I’ve been that toxic asshole who was constantly ragging on others, pointing out their weaknesses and offering “solutions” to non-existent problems.
I was always comparing…apples to oranges to bananas to kiwis.
I looked for flaws before beauty. I looked for what went wrong before what went right. I’d complain and complain and complain about how horrible people were. There wasn’t any good left in the world and there was never enough for everyone. Scarcity dominated my paradigm. …
You can be a good person and still say no
People-pleasing = low self-esteem
From always saying yes, breaking promises with ourselves, sacrificing our values to help someone out, enabling toxic behaviours, keeping silent to prevent hurting someone’s feelings even though they’ve hurt ours, being inauthentic about our true feelings to siding with the majority when we completely disagreed, people-pleasing behaviours come in all forms.
When I reflect back on my life, I’ve had my fair share of trying to get people to like me. Starting in my teen years, it was about doing anything to rise up in the ranks of the high school hierarchy. …
The highs and lows of the self-publishing book route
Can you really make money from blogging?
I started blogging in 2017. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I signed up for a Blogger account and basically dumped my thoughts onto digital paper each week, hit publish and shared it with my real friends on Facebook.
Then, I started reading blogs to find out how to convert my blog into a business. It’s funny because I find that those who blog about how to make money from blogging are the only ones who actually make money from blogging (and from teaching others how to make money from blogging).
Is this one of…
I don’t take it personally when my referrals don’t use him.
My husband made a career change about 3 years ago. He’s a Chartered Accountant by trade but real estate has been his passion for years. It was one of the reasons we fell in love as we both love Vancouver. When he took the plunge, we had a 2-year-old and were working on expanding our family.
The change affected our marriage, family dynamics, schedules and everything in between. I expected things to be different but there were some things no one told me about.
Realtors have a bad reputation because of a few bad apples
What do lawyers, used car salesmen, and realtors have in common?
Too many jokes about how…
Over 3 years of writing on Medium, it’s never too late to try.
Humble beginnings with zero expectations
I’ve been writing on Medium for over 3 years. At first, it started as just another avenue to get folks to read my stuff. I published here and there, not thinking much would happen. I rarely logged in and when I did, I would basically dump a bunch of old blog posts, schedule them out throughout the month and didn’t bother to check who’s read what. I’m a mom of 2 who works full-time so this was merely a place to express myself with zero expectations to make money from this.
Even though I really needed one.
I thought I wanted the surprise
I’ve heard the stories of women praising their husbands for surprising them with a day off, taking the kids out and giving their wives a much-deserved break. It’s like that joke about what mothers really want on Mother’s Day: a day to not be a mother, to do whatever they want without the kids.
When I hear these stories, I can sense my blood turn green as envy courses through my veins. This type of surprise sounds like what I need, want and deserve.
How come my husband hadn’t done that for me yet?
2 against 1 is a losing battle
My husband’s a realtor so that…
2. Don’t dwell on self-doubt
You’ve probably heard the wise saying,
“It’s not a rejection; it’s a redirection.”
Okay, sure but it still sucks when you get that email saying your article, proposal, or idea wasn’t accepted. Over 20 different publications have rejected my articles and yet I keep submitting them. The first time my article wasn’t accepted felt the worst but every rejection after that has stung a little less.
It takes a bit of time for me to reel from the burn before I can move forward; however, after experiencing so much rejection, that recovery time has decreased from a couple of hours…
6 years and 2 kids later, our system still works without hiring a cleaner
There are dirty dishes in the sink, building crud like plaque on teeth that haven’t been brushed for months. The bathroom floor is hairier than Austin Powers’ chest. The basket of laundry sits in the hallway, collecting more dust than a CD player.
What do you do? How do you feel? Who was supposed to do what?
Does resentment build? Is turning a blind eye part of the game?
When bickering turns into a fight
When my husband and I first started living together, cleaning was a point of contention. This was mostly because it was blurry in terms of who was supposed to do what.
…
I ask myself these tough questions
A writer’s block, burnout, and a lack of creativity are just some of the common struggles a writer experiences during the week. Pile on some rejection (from clients, publications, a mean troll), no one reading our stuff, and a fear of putting ourselves out there again, it’s no wonder writers find it tough to keep going.
However, we pick ourselves up again and again, trudging along that writer’s path, discovering moments of creativity, bursts of inspiration, stories of greatness and at times, lulls of mediocrity. We ask ourselves,
“What motivates us to want to write?”
To answer a question requires us to ask ourselves more questions
How do you define motivation?
…
Katharine Chan, MSc, BSc, PMP
Sum (心, ♡) on Sleeve | Author. Speaker. Wife. Mom of 2 | Embrace Culture. Love Yourself. Improve Relationships | sumonsleeve.com/books
