Hold space for your dreams. This month, manifest.
Shortly after I returned to corporate life following my first maternity leave, I was miserable. I had complications toward the end of my pregnancy which required a near-month hospital stay, and then no-commute orders which left me at home working remotely before that was an acceptable way to work [ah, the before times]. So when I came back after nearly 8 months, I felt out of the loop, lost, and frankly over it. I still loved my team and my boss, but the work wasn’t worth it for me anymore. I was applying to new jobs, thinking I just needed more of a challenge. When my “dream” next-step job didn’t materialize, I had a former colleague ask me if I would be interested in another. It was the first time I was honest with myself, and really questioned what it was I wanted to do with my work life.
“I think I might want to go freelance, and maybe write a book” was my response. It felt a bit scary rolling off my tongue – like a secret my all-corporate background was suddenly confessing. But something akin to magic happened after that. My former colleague introduced me to Melissa Blum, who a few months earlier had also left corporate life to chase a crazy dream. First, she convinced me I could absolutely quit my job, which I did. And then we teamed up on a client of hers, and the rest of our working relationship is history now.
As for that “maybe write a book” part… well Melissa was allllll about me doing that, too. I initially thought I’d take my parenting-website running days and turn them into a self-help guide of sorts; either “I ran a parenting website for 6 years before I had kids. This is what I learned” [turns out it’s pretty simple: be the person you want your kids to be] or “How to raise boys in the post-#metoo era.” That was more complicated. I started researching, and went so far as to talk to experts I would want to incorporate into the book, only to find one of them was writing essentially that exact book. My bubble burst on that idea. But since then, in addition to my writings here, and my freelance writing, I’ve been playing around in the fiction writing world. So far it’s mostly been for fun and to keep my writing skills sharp, but who knows – maybe someday I will write a book. It just might not be the ones I had in my head back then.
It’s been nearly 3 years since I walked out of 30 Rock for the last time. It hasn’t been all rosy, but it’s been more than I could have even imagined at the time. Simply stating my secret desire to try striking out on my own was the first step in making my new dreams reality.
I want you to join me this month with this one intention – manifest. What’s that thing that’s deep inside you that you haven’t shared? Is it tucked away in your brain, filed away for “someday I’ll…” Is it folded up under your ribs, near your heart, afraid to come out? Do you want to quit your job? Your relationship? Do you want to start a family or your own business? Do you want to run a marathon or confess your love? Whatever you’ve been holding close, do yourself a favor – let it bubble up from your chest. Let it move down from your “someday” and let it sneak out your mouth. Say the crazy thing you’ve been holding close. Let it out into the world. Tell your friend, your lover, your family, the universe, yourself. Put it out into the world, and see what comes back.
On the M.T. Deco side, we’re fully immersed in manifesting this month. Founder Melissa will share her perspective on how the micro decisions you make every day determine your destiny, and if your big dream is to sell some merch, we’ll have an in-depth look at why drip is the new drop (and if you have no idea what that means, don’t worry, we’ll walk you through that, too!). Our Power of Influence series continues with a look at what makes Vox contributor Rebecca Jennings so fascinating (we’re huge fans of her 2020 article “Shut up, I’m Manifesting”).
As always, our contributors are fully onboard and ready to support your manifestations this month. Resident DJ Lissie Jacobson is curating the perfect playlist for all of your manifesting needs. Megan Collins of The Manicured Shelf has the book you simply MUST read this month. And we’ll also hear from Cultique Co-Founder, cultural analyst extraordinaire and MTD mentor Linda Ong on how she’s manifested her career. [You are NOT going to want to miss her wisdom!]
I hope you join us this month in holding space for your dreams. It can be scary and intimidating to be honest with yourself and with the world. But you’re not alone. Here, I’ll go first: I’m going to write a book. I’m a few chapters into something that has been a quiet dream in my heart for years. It might not go anywhere, but I’m going to put it out into the universe anyway. I’m going to do the work to see it through and then who knows, maybe I’ve got more dreams to realize. Won’t you join me? It’s going to be a wild ride, people might think you’re crazy, but me, I won’t. I’ll honor your dreams. And encourage you to manifest them into reality. I’ll be right here, cheering you on.