Hi First name / there,

 

Thanks for trusting me with access to your inbox. I'm always glad to spend some time reflecting with you in this letter with 3 simple questions to consider before moving ahead into February.

 

But first, I would love to hear your voice. 

 

Have you started something (a habit, hobby, or spiritual practice) but you're still not sure about? It could be a habit, product, goal, or decision.

 

Click the button below and follow the instructions to record your answer to the question using the template provided: What’s something you’re trying that you’re still not sure about?

 

You can use this template in your response by the end of day Monday, February 3.

 

Hi I’m [YOUR NAME] from [CITY, STATE or CITY, COUNTRY] and I’ve been trying out [THE THING] but I’m not sure if it’s working for me because [WHY!?].

 

If you want feedback from me about the thing, be sure to ask a specific question at the end of your message. And keep them to one minute or less please and thank you.

 

Now for our monthly questions! Looking forward is necessary for living and planning and being a person. But if we never look back, we may lose a sense of life as it is now which is the only life we've got.

 

As is our practice, I'll answer these here and I hope they will provide some ideas for your own end-of-the month reflection as well.

Our twins turned 21 at the beginning of the month and it was a lovely weekend of celebration. Are they the cutest or are they the cutest? (Only one right answer.)

There's something about being a parent of adult children that is actually the best. Yes, it's true what they say about “bigger kids, bigger problems” but also? Their problems are mostly theirs now. And we get to come alongside with love and support and offer what we can. But celebrating their birthday this month was a true moment of happiness and I'm so grateful. 

Nearly every day I've been taking two photos, one above and one below. Sometimes I share them on Instagram, most times I don't.

I'm keeping a little file on my phone with each day's image with the date. It takes less than 3 minutes every day, but it's been a simple little practice for me to pause, to be where I am, to notice what's around me. 

 

To take this one step further, when I do share these little daily collages it's on The Soul Minimalist private Instagram account, along with a Question of the Day. I've been asking our little community there a question everyday for the second half of January. Sometimes I invite them to share their answers in a question box, other times I answer the question myself. This has also been a small move in the direction of hope for me, a reminder that part of being present to the needs of the day beings with being aware of what's going on within us. Questions are good excavators. 

In these colder months I haven't been walking as much and I can tell a difference. Even my walking pad in my office has sat empty for most of January. Over the past few days I've started using it consistently again and this is my plan for February: reading and journaling happens in my morning chair but podcast drafting, email sending, and other kinds of writing will be on the walking pad / desk. So far so good. (She says on February 1).

Here are the books I finished (or nearly finished) in December/January. It was a big reading month! To see a complete list of all the books mentioned in these end of month letters, check out my Amazon Storefront here.

What an incredible book. As the lone fiction book in my stack so far this year, it may be the first one I've read by Kristin Hannah which seems like it cannot be true since she's written so many for so long. But here we are. I listened to this one and was riveted the entire time. 

Jessica Simpson narrated her own story and I'm glad she did. From her days auditioning for The Mickey Mouse Club to her marriage to (and eventual divorce from) Nick Lachey, she vulnerably shares about her life, family, and disappointments. I didn't know a lot about how she got her start or her eventual struggle with alcohol. It ends on a hopeful note and was a great read.

I always prefer when an author reads their own story but in this case, I think Michelle Williams was a fantastic choice to read Britney's memoir. Since I read them so close together it was hard not to compare Britney and Jessica which, to be fair, is exactly what people have been doing with them since they started in the public eye. While she did share a lot about her life and struggles, I felt like there was a lot missing from her story, both in the timeline and in the content. I don't blame her for that as this woman has been through it. More, I had the sense that she wasn't ready to write this book. It felt too soon.

It's been on my shelf for years but I always forget about until the summer and then I didn't want to read it until the winter starts. It was a good read but not a great read. If I had read it when it first released I may have loved it more, but I probably built it up in my mind too much and that left some room for disappointment.

This one was recommended by Laura Tremaine for anyone interested in the history of reality TV. It did not disappoint (although sometimes I felt like I needed to cleanse my pallet after reading about some of the sleazy tactics of reality producers and contestants over the years). It's a fascinating and impressively thorough history of the genre and it goes back way further than I thought! I very much enjoyed this one.

I read about half of this book in grad school but I've decided this year to go back to the beginning and read it all again. I have a deep appreciation for Dallas' teaching about Jesus and the Kingdom of God and wanted a refresher of it all this year. It's a dense book so I set a goal to read one page every day. So far so good! 

An excellent book for anyone who has trouble answering the question: What do you want? She offers great frameworks and practices to help the reader get in touch with desire. I had a conversation with Tracey on The Next Right Thing that you can listen to here.

I'm about half-way through this one and it has the potential to be a game changer for knowledge workers. It's reminiscent of Paul Graham's work around Maker's vs. Managers, a great reminder of the importance of working at a human pace and how doing less could be key in getting more (and better) done.

How to Walk into a Room (Hardcover) is 50% off right now.

 

4/13: Crosspointe Church with Jeff Chu in Cary, NC - I'm joining Jeff Chu on his book tour and will be hosting a conversation about his new book, Good Soil. I can't wait for this one!

 

4/23: REACH Women's Conference in Winston-Salem, NC - I'll be the morning keynote at this conference designed to elevate the collective voice and influence of women in the workplace.

 

What to learn more about what we're doing over at Substack? This new introduction is free for all to read: Welcome to The Soul Minimalist. I hope to see you there!

Thanks for being the kind of person who values soul space and authentic connection. As always, when you hit reply to these emails, your message lands directly in my inbox. While I may not always be able to reply, I read every one of them.

Emily