How We Get Through This, Part One

(Free Stuff For Paid Subscribers)

This time of year is hard. This time of politics is hard. This time of living in the world is hard.

Experience tells me that some of the things that have helped me get through hard things before will help me get through hard things again. Writing. Learning. Reading. Music.

I’d like to invite you to come do them with me.

This winter and spring I’m offering a handful of different online offerings, all of which center around the fact that creation and art and getting more deeply invested in being the author of your own life are part of how we build resilience and freedom.

Some of these offerings come with a price tag because teaching is part of how I make my living — that course list will be available later this week.

The offerings below have no tuition attached. They’re a gift to my lovely community of paid subscribers here at Reasons Not To Quit.

Signup links are at the bottom of the post, behind the paywall.

Image: Sol Cotti for NPR.

Sing With Me

Singing is more than a little magical. I know this both because I’m a former professional singer and because I’ve spent a lot of years as a former professional singer who really struggles with figuring out what to do about singing.

So what the hell, let’s sing together and see what happens.

I don’t care what you sound like.

(Truly. I don’t. We may all sound like geese. That’s ok too.)

We’ll vocalize and breathe together, make some hilarious noises and maybe some pretty ones. We’ll sing a song or two. It’s an experiment.

Medical research has proven that singing lowers cortisol (the so-called “stress hormone”), releases endorphins and oxytocin, and reduces chronic pain. It stimulates the vagus nerve, which influences breathing, digestion, and heart rate, reduces anxiety, and helps you cope with stress. What’s not to like?

You don’t have to have a beautiful voice, you don’t have to be a trained singer, and you don’t have to know how to read music or anything about music for this. All you have to do is show up and be willing to vocalize at one, two, or all three of these dates and times.

Friday, November 29 at 7 pm Eastern
Friday, December 13 at 7 pm Eastern
Friday, December 27 at 7 pm Eastern

I’m asking people to register so I can send the Zoom link without spamming those who aren’t interested. Paid Subscribers: SCROLL DOWN for the signup link.

Not a paid subscriber? Become one!

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Start As You Intend To Continue

On the first of the month, we’ll meet to do exactly what it says on the tin: start as you intend to continue.

Bring your plans, hopes, dreams, aspirations, desires, yearnings, to-do lists, schemes, blueprints, and madcap shenanigans. In a few sentences, we’ll each put the things we want to see in the world out there before we go see what we can do about them.

There’ll be a reading potluck, so if you’d like, bring a short text you enjoy — no more than a paragraph or a short poem — to read aloud.

We might write (or something else) together for a few minutes, too. We’ll see how it goes.

Start the month with a bunch of smart, funny, thoughtful people who don’t just do things and create momentum, they share it.

It happens on the 1st of the month from 8:30-9:30 pm Eastern, via Zoom. The first 6 dates are below.

Sunday, December 1, at 8:30 pm
Wednesday, January 1, at 8:30 pm
Saturday, February 1, at 8:30 pm
Saturday, March 1, at 8:30 pm
Tuesday, April 1, at 8:30 pm
Thursday, May 1, at 8:30 pm

I’m asking people to sign up below so I can send the Zoom link without spamming those who aren’t interested. PAID SUBSCRIBERS: Scroll down for the signup link.

Not a paid subscriber? Become one!