READY FOR SOME 1980’S FUN?
Make it stand out
Remember these? Fortune Tellers!
AKA: Cootie Catchers.
Repurposed by me now as:
“THOUGHT CATCHERS!”
Ready for some fun? We're gonna make these.
I wanna talk to you about your overwhelm. First of all it's normal. And also - we can overcome it.
What if we could overcome our overwhelm by diving into our creativity? What if this is one (excellent) way to propel us over the hurdle on those days when we don’t want to work, when we can't make up our minds, when we'd simply just rather stay in bed thank you very much.
Look most of us are juggling multiple schedules, have 1000 ideas we want to tackle and have families, friends and kids that need us every single second of every single god damned day. Did I say that out loud?
And peanut butter (this is one of the endearing terms I call my son and it just felt right here) even though we are phenomenal humans, with all the education, making all the smart choices every day, running our home lives, feeling hashtag omg yes blessed to be alive and have food to eat and yada yada yada, we STILL, occasionally, have THOSE days when we feel stretched, overwhelmed, confused, hopeless and maybe even just plain anxious about all of it. It's a lot! LORD ALMIGHTY It's a lot! Just me?
What can we do on THOSE days?
Here's an idea that people have been yelling at us for years. That's in every single self help book we've ever read and one that I will reiterate again and again until every single woman on the planet hears it:
We can DIVE INTO OUR CREATIVITY.
Can I get an AMEN!
We can take the quantum (yes I said quantum) leap from REACTING to CREATING! And I mean literally CREATING - with our hands - to make things MORE FUN!
Here's a true story for you. I recently was asked to give a presentation to a room full of coaches at a team meeting. (I'm a Success Coach for The Life Coach School - I literally work with THE BEST coaches on the planet), it took me less than a second to click that dancing penguin emoji inside our team chat on Slack and say YES! ME PLEASE!!!
After all, THIS is my jam. I speak in front of people all the time. I SING in front of people. I’m a performer. I OWN the stage. This’ll be no problem. I've got this on locke. I love teaching. Especially life coach material. Are you kidding me? This is gonna be so great.
Cut to a week later when I had scheduled it in my calendar to begin my brainstorm on what to teach. I got my coffee: Venti Americano, splash of heavy cream please. I sat down. I was ready. To dive in!
AND… crickets. Crickets in my brain. Which might as well have been the same as crickets at a sold out show where I was THE performer. Oh f*%k!! Nothing is coming. I have NO IDEA what to teach.
And then - those negative flood gates opened alllll the way up.
I am so lame.
I have zero knowledge about anything.
I have wasted my entire life.
What can I teach my co-workers that they don’t already know?
I don’t wanna do this.
I’m too busy anyway.
My kids have soccer tonight.
I have to plan the 8th grade graduation.
I have to go to the grocery.
I have to get that wedding gift for my cousin.
I have a client in an hour, I’m bartending at 6. I can’t do this today!
I wanna go back to bed.
Does this sound familiar?
But because I eat, breath and sleep this stuff. Something I highly recommend if you hadn't noticed. A sneaky little amazing question snuck into my mind through the back door and asked:
HEY POUTY MCPOUTERSON: “WHAT WOULD MAKE THIS MORE FUN?”
And that’s when it hit me. The Cootie Catcher. I gotta make a cootie catcher for this one.
Y’all remember the Cootie Catcher? Also known as a Fortune Teller?
This little game began way back in the 17th century in Europe. But it became popular in America and England in the 50’s when kids would try to catch cooties and then somewhere along the way it morphed into a “fortune teller.”
And this is what it was all about for me.
Ahhh the 1980’s. When my friends and I would write our dreams inside the flaps of one of these fortune tellers and toss in some not so favorable ones too - just for fun.
And now it’s 2023 and imma need some 80's, crafty DIY fun to get me going here.
Introducing the: Thought Catcher. Where under each flap lives a magic question to open your mind up to some OPTIONS!
Cause that's a thing you know?!
We DO HAVE OPTIONS. ALWAYS!
MY MOST FAVORITE QUESTION TO ASK MYSELF WHEN I AM STUMPED, CONFUSED, FEELING LESS THAN IS:
WHAT WOULD MAKE THIS MORE FUN?
So on that morning when I was scheduled to come up with what I would teach and I simply did not want to - I grabbed my Thought Catcher, caught my thought - which was:
“I have no idea what to create here!”
I spelled out the word F.O.X: Cause you know: What DOES the FOX say?
I use Spirit Animals for my Thought Catchers because duh!
I chose the #6. And then the #2 and there it was, that magic question:
WHAT WOULD MAKE THIS MORE FUN!? BINGO! THAT’S IT!
YOU WOULD MAKE THIS MORE FUN THOUGHT CATCHER.
YOU are what I’m going to teach!
Are you ready? We’re gonna make a Thought Catcher.
I encourage you to just get your hands moving!
TO DIVE INTO THAT CREATIVE WELLSPRING.
Because as we know - we can’t just think about it - we gotta dive into some ACTION baby!
And this ACTION is PLAYFUL and FUN!
Click THIS LINK HERE to go to my Google drive where I have dropped for you a printout and a tutorial video so you can get to PLAYING with your OPTIONS ASAP!
MAKE YOUR OWN “THOUGHT CATCHER” and USE it when you feel stuck in the muck
We can do anything when we open up our minds and dive into the wellspring of CREATIVITY!
Here's To a life lived creatively!
Peace & Love.
— Shannon
P.S. If the idea of signing up for coaching has been swirling around your noggin for a while why not let this be the season you dive in! Dive into YOU. Into all of your dreams. I will help you.To keep going. To keep growing. You HAVE got this. I believe in you. Packages & Single Session* Options Available. CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A FREE CALL.