Today marks my first anniversary of self-employment.
This past week, thanks to renewal emails from GoDaddy and Squarespace, I realized that a second anniversary is also upon me.
At the tail end of May 2014, I launched a quiet, little website that would come to consist of interviews with eight different women about their thoughts on meaningful work. I remember the exact moment when the idea for the site occurred to me: It was a weekday morning and I was in the shower (where good ideas seem to hide among the bottles of shampoo), readying myself for another day as an administrative assistant in an academic office at a university. Without any warning, a concept materialized; questions bubbled to the surface, and I had to repeat them to myself over and over again so that I wouldn't lose them down the drain. When I could barely hold any more, I hopped out from under the water, still soapy, and began dripping my thoughts into a notebook, gripped by an enthusiasm I hadn't felt since I'd written my last short story five years prior. The details of this particular day matter less than this one point: After going through the motions for days and weeks (and months) on end, hoping some opportunity, chance, or change would find me—I'd discovered and then invested in a source of curiosity for myself.
By March 2015, that website went quiet. I'd connected with my own coach and landed on a path to discover my own kind of meaningful work, and I was a little less obsessed with learning how to live with a sense of purpose...because I was well on my way to doing it.
So, when I was prompted last week to renew the URL and web hosting service associated with those eight interviews, I realized just how far my curiosity has gotten me—and how much of my current life I owe to being willing to ask questions and engage in conversation.
In the coming weeks, I'll be re-releasing those eight interviews—with updates (!), as my interviewees have work and life evolution to report—and then releasing brand new ones that will chart my curiosities as they grow and change. I want to model for you the wondering mind that I so often talk and write about; I want to share with you what my curiosity looks like in action, how I go about cultivating it through conversation, and what I do when I'm at a loss as to where I should look next. The series is called Wholly Curious, and it will live right here, on the Weekly Findings website.
To end with a question (because questions really are best): What would you like to become more curious about? Hit 'reply' and share with me.
'Til soon,
Helen
Notes from the week of May 22
DISCOVERED
+ other people have street etiquette standards, too
ADMIRED
+ Maggie May Ethridge's "Night Run"
ATE, DRANK
+ cinnamon cream honey from Asher, OK, added to my tea
READ & NODDED MY HEAD
EXPERIENCED
+ a shorter haircut
COLLECTED
+ Sappo Hill oatmeal soap (SO creamy, & smells delicious)
+ flamingo washi tape
+ a few crackerjack greeting cards for loved ones