It’s a vacation week so it’s an odd time to pose this question, but it’s a question the entire digital product space has been asking: Where is everyone?
Engagement rates across the board are down and everyone is asking why.
I am certain someone brilliant can help me understand why raspberries cost $37 a pint and a dinner for two is $470 when all you ordered was chicken. Inflation is real. Interest rates are 7%. Impressive people can’t find jobs. A.I. is taking over the world. And who knows what is happening with crypto, web3, blockchain, and words words words all above my paygrade.
I'm less concerned with why it is happening and more interested THAT it is happening. Still, I want to ask:
What is going on?
Where is everyone?
(Yes, it’s July 4th week in America so many are on vacation, but that’s not what I’m asking.)
I have a theory.
You're reading this because you had an idea, an inkling, an urge, a desire, a must that comes from within. A project, a dream, a wanting to create.
That is a GIFT.
A precious one that, when left unattended, will beg for your attention in ways that cause you pain until you attend to it.
To commit yourself to a project that brings you joy - and then watch yourself not follow through, time and time again - that hurts.
You said you’d paint for 10 minutes a day, and you didn't. You said you’d write 100 words a day, and you didn’t. You started your Substack and then stuff just - happened, and you didn’t.
I believe we are soul-level exhausted. Exhausted from being told to hustle harder, turn pro, and “just ship!”
Exhausted from feeling like we keep letting ourselves down.
What we are facing, I think, is an epidemic of broken hearts and undernourished souls.
What we are facing, I think, is an epidemic of broken hearts and undernourished souls.
There are 40,001 legitimate reasons not to attend to your dreams.
And only one argument for it.
We created Brainstorm Road to be a safe haven for those of us who want in our bones. Who crave in our bones. Who have something inside of us that needs to come out. That feeling transcends logic, responsibility, or rationale. Why do we need to crochet a hat? I don't freaking know.
I just know that we need to and when we don’t part of our soul withers away and dies.
And I need you alive.
and to know that that is enough.
More than enough.
You’re doing great. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve accessed the courses, read the books, and put down the pen.
The act of showing up is a choice you get to remake every single day.
Today is a new day.
You get to make a new choice.
I hope, I wish, for your sake and mine, you choose to come alive.
-Margo
PS: Brainstorm Road is a place for people who want to come back to life by working on projects that light them up. Ghosting is allowed. Pausing is allowed. Not being able to get to it this week because [reasons] is allowed.
You are allowed to take your time.
We open doors for new members July 8. If you’re subscribed to this newsletter you get early access if you click here.
SPEND 10 MINUTES A DAY ON YOUR DREAM PROJECT
Brainstorm Road’s flagship program is starting in July. It’s a community of people taking weekly action on their Dream Projects. Each week, you commit to spending 10 minutes a day on your project. On Friday, you tell us what you did. Learn more here.
We think it’s awesome you want to make stuff. Maintaining momentum is hard. Let’s do it together.
I’m around. I’m not engaging as much as I would like to. But I am creating. I am glad of the space to say I’ve met today’s requirement and so I have reached 183 bookmarks. Which is 6 months of daily creating. Laptop is dead and I have still shipped my Substack too.
We are in Election week in the UK. So insane but so very 🇬🇧
A pivot is coming too. I can feel it. Something is about to change. A creative breakthrough. The continuous chiselling of creativity is finally finding its sculpture 🩷
Last fall, when I started my latest screenplay, it was so hard to move forward. SO HARD. Everyday I fought massive internal resistance. It was hell. But I kept feeling the good kind of pressure from being on Brainstorm Road. I had committed to finishing a script, and I felt like I had to make good on it. It helped so much to have my warm, wildly supportive friends on the Road cheering me each time I got back on the wagon and did a little work. And now, it feels like a miracle that the script is finished. (Then, I had to KEEP GOING, to try to get the script to my dream actor. AGAIN, it helped so much to go to Brainstorm Road and tell everyone what I was grappling with. Again, everyone cheered my efforts!)