Rolling out fresh pasta as a medium to just BE

I’ve been in a bit of an entrepreneurial funk lately.

I haven’t felt like doing anything business-related. And, so I haven’t.

I haven’t posted anything of value to either FB or Instagram.

I haven’t emailed my list (mind you, these are people who’ve asked to hear from me).

I haven’t been signing clients.

Many say that the solution is to STOP waiting until I feel like doing the things I know I need to do to attract clients, build a business, etc.

They say things like: “Fuck your feelings!”

“Just do what needs to be done.”

“Stop treating your business like a hobby!”

And I maybe spent all of 30 seconds contemplating the things I’m supposed to be doing…and how I’m a failure for not doing them.

But – thankfully! – I quickly rebounded and did something that for me was quite monumental.

I rolled out fresh fettuccine like an Italian grandma.

Let me explain.

You see, I’ve devoted the past 20+ years of my life trying (and mostly failing) to figure out my place in the world.

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount money I didn’t have in pursuit of the answer to this and related existential questions.

This pursuit led me to go to graduate school (twice!) and yoga teacher training (500+ hours!) and life coach school (BEST investment ever!) and a marketing mastermind and B-School and a publicity course and a list-building course and and and…

And now, I’m working full time at an amazing nonprofit, coaching in the evenings and on weekends, and focusing on my professional development during every other waking moment.

Guess what? I’m kinda exhausted.

I’m exhausted because I’ve been so utterly focused on striving to both fulfill my dharma and survive in our crazy capitalist society, and somewhere along the way I’d stopped embracing some of life’s simple pleasures. Like rolling out fresh pasta.

The antithesis of striving is BEing, and I am so ready to BE just a little bit more and to strive just a little bit less.

So the other day, I gifted myself permission to just BE, and rolling out fresh pasta was my medium.

The thing is that making pasta requires absolute presence. And for a novice like yours truly, it can be downright challenging.

Rather than get frustrated with the eggy doughy dry bits and runaway egg whites and dough that didn’t want to come together and not being gifted a third hand at birth (one to feed the pasta into the roller, one to turn the crank, and one to catch the pasta as it comes out), I chose to enjoy the process.

So, where am I going with all this?

I. DON’T. REALLY. KNOW.

But for whatever reason, I felt a pull to share this post. Maybe someone out there – you?! – needed to read it. Maybe you needed a reminder that sometimes it’s more important to BE than it is to strive.

That is all.

Kristi