I recorded this today at home, on a snowball mic and with my laptop, a professional audio book is not in my budget right now , but I still wanted to share some of it as audio as I know it lots of people like to listen as well as to read. And I enjoy voice work, I find it fun to do too.
The 'is it good enough' gremlins have been popping up in my head as I skim through it before uploading. I try not to overthink the process and go for it. But the first few pages took lots of takes and it took me ages to warm up. I was starting to get a bit bored reading the same bit out over and over but once I was in the flow - I did the last 10 pages in one take, nearly gave up when I was struggling to get the first pages down, but I broke it down and made it more manageable and took some pressure off myself. I am so glad that I didn't give up- it isn't perfect but I know that it is good enough for those that want to receive it and also remembering this is a gift out to the ethers, heart, soul and intention is what counts not production quality. I hope this gives you some encouragement if you are stalling when creating content to share online.
I know the time, effort, energy and love that goes into making content - which I think we tend to overlook when we get it all for 'free' in our newsfeeds everyday (Facebook benefiting from content creators providing it in exchange for reaching people through their platform)... We don't see the other side of the creation process in most cases from our favourite content creators... so dont see all the fiddly bits and time it takes. And as content creators we stop at the hurdles content creation can present, letting a need for perfectionism (both directions creator to receiver) that can get in our way.
I now use this content creation time proactively as a way to learn about myself - so as to always be gaining things from the time spent. Today I noticed me judging me for my voice sounding scratcher to when I was younger, and other insecurities popping up as I was going along.
We can learn a lot by observing our reaction to creating and sharing on social media (and the outside ourselves world). I find that it is a mirror to the things that are playing out in life.
One recent big understanding was around one of my core wounds... rejection ... I saw how that narrative (protection mechanism) was always thinking about who wasn't 'liking' my stuff... who wasn't 'supporting' rather than who is. This has been a game changer for me online and offline. And it is making everything feel so much more comforting and relaxing. Being grateful and seeing what and who is there, everyday different, rather than projecting forwards, backwards or into invented scenarios or being upset about what/ who is not. Not always easy. Us humans are complicated AF.
But this I was able to see this by noticing how social media was making me feel and looking underneath that to learn more. There are lots of ways social media can show you your stuff so that you can keep peeling away the layers of your inner onion.
This is the prologue, which sets you up for what's coming in the book as well as dropping a few gems for you to collect along the way. I am sharing energy and the information that comes through audio is received differently to reading words - both are valuable and can be received as transmissions so it's not even about the words per se but about what is in it for the right people to receive.
Everything is a bit multidimensional right now - what with January lasting for months and everything.
xxx happy almost imbolc and the budding seeds are starting to show here with the snowdrops flowering here in Glastonbury...