My 9th Freedom-versary

9 years ago today, I slung my last Starbucks latte and began my quest for freedom.

The freedom to do what I want, when I want, where I want.

Fittingly, I find myself having spiralled back to the beginning, but with a wealth of knowledge and experience to inform, guide, and support the journey ahead.

While I held the holy trinity for seasons here and there, more frequently, I juggled two while dropping one… But crucially, I think I’ve figured out the root cause:

I said yes to opportunities, started businesses, and brought ideas to life with too much whimsy, charging ahead without pausing to ask whether they fit the life I wanted… Or what that life even looked like in detail.

I got by on enthusiasm and grit, which are extinguishable resources.

All I wanted to do was create, and so I did. But without bringing structure to my creative chaos, I easily lost myself in the thrill of a new idea or opportunity.

When my enthusiasm and grit faded, so did the ideas, the projects, the opportunities. 

How could they not? 

Enthusiasm and determination were the fuel of my economy, and the fuel was gone.

Now, as I chip away at establishing a more sustainable energy source, my creative juices are starting to flow again. Once stagnant energy is softening into motion. 

And building blocks are falling into place, bonking me on the head like bricks carelessly tossed off a balcony that I happen to be walking by at just the right time.

Lemme tell you about one of them:

Two weeks ago, I rediscovered André Chaperon (someone I learned about email sequences and automations from back in 2018). André has since evolved to teaching a concept called Tiny Worlds, which is worldbuilding-applied-to-business.

(Worldbuilding being the process authors go through in creating a fictional world.)

Suddenly, the structure I’d felt was missing but couldn’t describe fell into place...

Which triggered a deluge of creative energy. 

I’ve spent the past two weeks or so awash in the kind of single-minded, laser-focused creative binge that I’ve long romanticized, and always wanted to experience. 

If I’m not eating, sleeping, or moving my body, I’m writing, designing, editing, and iterating over and over and over again.

This is what I imagine book writing energy to be like (which I’m kinda-sorta-not-really doing, as you’ll soon see), and I’m having a blast. 

Never ever before have I experienced such a flood of creative flow, and I’d like to show you what I’ve been building. So this week, I have a few extra Whimsies for you.

Tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to the realm I’m building. 

Thursday’s, Friday’s, and Saturday’s Whimsie will each be an introduction to the first three “tiny worlds” within this realm.

And that’s all the hint you get for now.

See you tomorrow.

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander