Howdy, it's Jen here from a new decade :)

Yup, I ventured into the "naughty forties" last Tuesday (9th).

Turning 40 is something I've been looking forward to for a while and now it's finally here!

Can't say I'm a fan of grey hairs though, so I'm telling myself it's an indication of 'wisdom' ;)

Just over a week before the big day, I felt the call to rewrite the longest and most personal article I've ever written called "Overcoming My Fear of Writing". (4,500 words)

I wrote that sucker 6 months ago... but I continued to resist sharing it on social media...

If you're a creative type person, you know it's important to share your work. Sharing is the last piece of the creative workflow.

While I've been encouraged by the lovely people I met in the productivity/creative community to share it... I kept resisting.

Apart from telling you about it at the time, I just let it sit on the website hoping that people won't read it.

Because the quality wasn't there. Even though I was proud of myself for "getting it all out of me".

It was 7/10 in my eyes, but that was the best I could do at the time.

I was experiencing The Taste Gap.

Here's a 2 minute video of Ira Glass's voice explaining what The Taste Gap is.

I teared up the first time I heard it last year...

It was the most inspiring and motivating video I had ever seen that spoke directly to me... To someone who pursued the creative field.

I am so glad that I am not the only person who is constantly disappointed about the gap between my taste and my skills.

The difficult part about my disappointment with my article was the fact that I wasn't sure how to tweak it.

Knowing what to edit and refine didn't come to me until recently.

It's not a complete rewrite, but it still took me forever to refine the work I did 6 months ago. I change 30% of the 2nd half of it, along with edits throughout.

After working on it over a couple days, I managed to share it on my socials on my last day as a 39 year old.

It took me 39 years to finally overcome my fear(s), so it felt right to leave it in the last decade where it belongs.

The last 5 years of my 30s was filled with a metric sh!t ton of inner work and personal growth.

Sharing the article felt like I closed a chapter and opened up space for a new chapter (new decade).

If you haven't read it yet, I hope it opens up a few doors for you.

Jen

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P.S. In the last 3 weeks, I've been experiencing big shifts in my life... Positive things showed up out of the blue.

One is my work (new job opportunity), the other is my relationship (ex-boyfriend apologising for his behaviour 3 years ago — we haven't stayed in touch since).

So... 2 biggest areas of life colliding within 2 weeks of each other is a lot to process.

The universe is at work yet again, doing its magic... sending me good things this time instead of wrecking havoc. Lol

I've been feeling extra tired and drained the past 3 weeks, and had to take naps during the day just to function.

It *almost* felt like I was back battling adrenal fatigue in 2017, wondering why I feel tired waking up in the morning everyday for a few months. That was rough...

Takes time for my body to work through all the energies life is throwing at me. I am glad I'm learning about how my body is designed more and more.

I will say more about the work situation when I know how it will change.

I will still continue to write my newsletter and articles.

P.P.S. I'm starting to work on my 2020 Annual Review since March is appropriately my "yearly reflection time" to examine the year that went by and set my intentions for 2021.

Stay tuned for that to be published next :)

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