Who Knew Cleaning The Toilet Would Lead To This!

This morning while cleaning the toilet (let’s face it, most of our insightful  thoughts come while we are doing the most mundane things) I was thinking about three different things that have been on a rinse and repeat cycle in my head for some time now and I’d like to share them with you.  Maybe you’ve been pondering one or two of them yourself but the last thought is something I’d like your help with today, if you might!

One is about taking more care of my physical and nutritional health.

I’ve become a little rounder the last few years and I’m not liking it.  Before you go all “Pffft, you are only a little thing, you have nothing to worry about” while you secretly roll your eyes. I hear you.  I really do.  But with heart disease and diabetes ripe in the family history I’ve already been doing some things to address this and understand that I need to do more.

I have a few ideas floating around in the think tank in regards to this one.  I’ve decided to touch more on this one next week.  I hope you’ll join me and share your thoughts.

Another thought is about taking more care of my emotional and mental health.

A big chunk of this one would be covered by taking more care of my physical and nutritional health, I’m fully aware of that. And I can tell you with all certainty that “self-care” looks a whole lot different in the life of a Carer.

I also have a few ideas on how to improve on all this as well that I’ve also decided to talk about in a future post otherwise your bum would become very numb while reading this long winded post (like mine did writing it) so I’ll leave these first two thoughts to swim on in the think tank until next week. 

This third thought has been spinning on repeat the most.

This has been buzzing around like a persistent mosquito at bedtime and every time I attempt to swat it away (because plate is kinda full) it comes back with vengeance. So I decided to give it some air time and see where it goes.

*clears throat*

I’ve been thinking about starting a newsletter!  “Is that all? Thought it was something major?” I heard one of you say.  Well it’s a bit major for me because it’s a newsletter with a difference.

In what way is it different?

There’s a platform that allows you to subscribe to a newsletter for free delivered straight to your inbox and it also offers a paid subscriber option as well for as little as $5.00 a month.

So what do you get with the free version?

With the free newsletter subscription I’m thinking you would receive an email newsletter from me once a month containing additional life snippets and included links to anything I’ve written here on the blog at Sandra Kelly What Lies Within so you never miss a post. There would also be links to other writers that have touched me in some way with their words.

How is the paid subscription to the newsletter different?

With the five dollar a month subscription you’d get access to a more intimate connection with the going’s on in my head straight to your email inbox once a week. Deeper and different life snippets that I’d only share with invested paid subscribers.

One idea is this:

An additional ‘ask me anything’ question and answer letter bi-weekly where you can ask me questions about anything I’ve written that may have struck a chord with you or anything about my life that you’ve always wondered. This would be content only shared with paid subscribers and not on a public viewing platform. (Please note, this would not be a counselling service.  I’d be happy to dig deeper into my own experiences if it can be of any value for you).

Access to newsletter archives and the website.

What have I discovered in fleshing out this idea so far?

I’ve clarified that these thoughts actually mean that I’m craving something different – something new – something that feeds my soul in a unique way to all other things in my life. A deeper connection.

I feel stuck with my current writing outlet so maybe I need to shake things up a little.

I suffer greatly from imposter syndrome. The usual “Why would anyone want to read what you have to say? What makes you think you’re a writer?”  Despite one of my lovely readers leaving this beautiful comment on a post recently “This story made me feel like I was wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of cocoa xxx” I still doubt myself (thanks Edie, you made my day).

The pure fact that readers would be willing to share their email address via a subscription signup for me to appear in their inbox space, paid subscription or not, would be considered an absolute privilege by me. I truly would feel like I was being of value with my writing. 

Any paid subscriptions would help support my earl grey tea consumption while I bash away at the keyboard and I would solemnly promise not to whine too much in my letters about how much I bloody hate cooking… because that struggle would be very real  *rolls eyes at the thought of it almost being witching hour.

I understand that to make this daydream a reality there would be many hard questions I’d have to ask myself. There would be much shuffling of things on said plate. Two big questions being:

What would I need to be doing differently in order for this to happen?

What would a day in my life need to look like to achieve it amidst my caring roles and also maintain some semblance of ‘Sandra sanity’ while following my daydreams?

I’m not good at asking myself big questions.  This will take some doing. But the damn thought won’t go away.

Maybe further thoughts on the way forward will come to me next time I’m mundanely cleaning the toilet!

So, over to you… 

Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading until the end.  It’s been a long one.

Please, hit me with your thoughts? Be brutally honest!

Is this something you’d be interested in? 

If so any suggestions of something you’d like to see included? 

Should I do this?

Am I mad? ( I know two people who will say yes without hesitation, ha ha, that’s okay – I’ll still love them too bits)

Do you have a short snappy title and subtitle for me if I go ahead with the newsletter? Maybe “Don’t miss the memo” ?  Nah, hit me with something better. 

Thanks in advance! 

Sandra 🙂 Xx

Photo credit: Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash