11 Comments
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Kaitlin Senter's avatar

This hits me deep in the soul. As a homeschooling mom of 3 most of my work is unpaid, meaning I feel an even deeper need to prove my worth. But would never say that to my children? To my husband? To a friend? No! They are worthy by simply existing. So am I.

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Lisa's avatar

God I love Substack. This just popped up on my feed and it's so spot on to what I'm feeling and doing my best to practice. Progress over perfection <3

Even your header illustration is spookily similar to the one I showed my therapist yesterday (though mine was a brain-like ball of yarn with threads going off to various incomplete things of varying severity, lol)

I have 2 sketchbooks full of phrases and doodles from the past year of health stuff, some more private, some that I'd love to share with others in my position. One of my ideas has been to turn them into stickers, having made them in a corporate setting in the past, but I've felt too overwhelmed and (tbh) scared to start...from scratch. For myself. So daunting.

And then I find you, out here doin' it! You look SO brave and far along, to me. In case that perspective helps you talk down your inner gremlin in the future :-)

Is it weird to say I think we're going to be friends? Whatever, I think we're going to be friends. For now, you have a new subscriber!

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Janine Kwoh's avatar

Make those stickers! We need more honest, thoughtful, and joyful art these days.

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Lisa's avatar

Thanks lady!

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Mary A's avatar

Hi Janine

Thanks for this fantastic article, it resonated with me! I wanted to write a much longer, more thoughtful thank you comment, but I'm following your lead, so I think this short one is better than nothing!

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Kate Bratskeir's avatar

how… did you create the exact visual depiction of the thoughts in my brain? truly — every single thought bubble is currently floating around in my noggin

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Janine Kwoh's avatar

Isn’t it funny how the most specific things are the most universal?

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Gail Doggett's avatar

Another fan of little steps right here. Small kindnesses to yourself.

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Sree's avatar

i am so so glad i came across this post. i’m also guilty of this, putting an unreasonable and unrealistic amount of pressure onto myself to make everything perfect, when perfection doesn’t exist. every single thought in the illustration is what i also go through on a daily basis! thank you for making me feel seen in your writing ❤️

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Christy Moyer's avatar

I can't remember how this post found me (this tab has been open in my browser for at least three weeks, which says everything), but I really needed these words after two weeks of wanting to do everything and actually doing very little. And that's just fine. ✨

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Bug Tourmaline's avatar

ugh doing something (without focusing on doing EVERYTHING) is so hard for me. thanks for the reminder!!!

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