Near the beginning of 2021 I had a conversation with a friend about this idea I had to create a website with inspiring content for people. I’d thought about it for several years but my perfectionist streak always held be back. My friend helped me see that in a year one of three things would be true about that potential website.

1. I brought it to life and it’s adding joy and meaning to my life and others. I’m growing and learning as I do it.

2. I tried it and found I really didn’t like it. It didn’t work for me or it became a negative thing so I shut it down.

3. I will still be thinking about the perfect way to do it or if I should do it at all.

I realized then that options 1 and 2 were both good outcomes, but option 3 would be a failure.

That led to a new discipline of writing in the evenings a few times a week, and a partnership with a couple different people who are more skilled in website creation than I am. It led to the creation of a 14-part summary of my spiritual journey starting in high school right up to today. And at the beginning of May, AMoreBeautifulStory.com was brought to life.

I didn’t know what would happen and I was particularly concerned about receiving negative comments and criticism about the content I was sharing. I knew that I’ve never been good at letting negative critiques just “slide off my back”. But I also felt certain there was an audience out there among my friends (and theirs) for the ideas I wanted to share. I hoped that once I got the process started, my audience might grow to include others I’d never met.

So what has happened this year? I have a few raving fans and a few dozen people who interact with my writings either through an email subscription or following the Facebook page for the site. Although I haven’t seen my audience grow exponentially (no New York Times bestsellers are in the works just yet) I have been encouraged by the development of a couple new friendships with people outside of the area where I live. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at the lack of criticism that I’ve received from my friends and family as I’ve told my story and shared ideas that I know are “outside the box” of their spiritual experience and comfort zone.

I’m actually feeling proud of myself for bringing this site to life and I’m motivated to keep on writing and developing ways to share ideas to a growing audience in 2022. 

So to all of you who are reading this - thank you for being part of this journey. Stay tuned for more opportunities in 2022 to interact in a more personal way through book groups locally in Oak Harbor and on the internet. 

And if there is something that is in your heart to create in 2022, I hope you’ll take the steps necessary to bring it to life so that you won’t just be thinking about it still a year from now.

Gratefully,

Don