Calling All Overthinkers!

 What if I say _____ and my friends, my family, my boss judge it harshly? I'll end up alone, unloved, fired, and generally much worse off than if I had just kept my mouth shut.

What if I try as hard as I can to hide my weaknesses and it's still not good enough? 

Sound familiar? Omg me too! If you're reading this and the rabbithole of anxiety and negative self-talk sounds familiar, believe me when I tell you that you're not alone.

You are so freaking far from being alone in analyzing every possible negative outcome that if all of us overthinkers linked hands our chain would stretch to the moon and back at least 8 times, but we can't literally do that because we'd all get covid and also someone would accidentally let go (just for a second) to scratch an itch and then the rest of the chain would slowly float away and be lost in space and the survivor's guilt would cripple the rest of us and can you imagine how terrible that would be?!

How's that for a run-on sentence 🤣

Yeah I'm totally the indirect/oversharing

and always overthinking type 🤣

You might tell me: STOP. 

Just stop. Ha! 

If only I could flip a switch, and turn off that constantly overthinking part of myself,  and just live and breathe and work and play and exist! Actually... if that magic switch did exist, it would probably come with such a high price tag that I'd overthink even the decision to use it and lay there, a quivering puddle of anxiety and stress, or worse, an overmedicated underachieving zombie.

My friend Anke explains the experience so well with her flamenco guitar story (link below). So many of us let that analytical, anxious, perfectionist piece bully our hearts, our instincts, our passions.

Over the past few years I've been learning and practicing and struggling to dam the river of worries, to stand up to that bully within, and to show the world my authentic self. 

Thanks for reading this far.

 I hope that you'll join me when I stand up and kick fear in the face - hiyah!

Before we go, 

how bout a show?

 Read this in slow mo

Or fast as you can!

 Time to rhyme 

and play with slime 

then wash off the grime 

try to make a dime

 drink a margarita with lime pretend to be a mime

Oh look at the time

Bye bye 👋 

Sending peace, love, and hope your way and let's chat about anything on any day oops now im stuck in this rhyming loop go find a gif of a friendly ...

boop!

Click here for a short and very much worth the watch video by the  amazing Anke, who actually inspired this post 

Xoxo Mama Gali

P.S. Shout out to Debbie Aka Authentic Deb for always inspiring authenticity and teaching by example that badass unicorn mojo.

The Comparison Curse

 What You Have

The truth behind my smile

Always wanting 

Never satisfied 

Second best

Last place

I feel unworthy, unsure, uncomfortable...

I WANT WHAT YOU HAVE

•  I want what you have! 

My false confidence feels like a shoddy knock off of the "real" thing.

• I want what you have!

You seem to breeze through life with ease, while I struggle to even get out of bed.

• I want what you have!

Such an extraordinary gift: with words, with kids, with cookies.

• I want what you have!

A giving heart, always caring and kind.

• I want what you have!

Boundless energy, instead of being always tired.

Have you ever noticed that we're always comparing, always coveting the facade of others, without ever questioning, the flipside of the coin. Well here's my flipside, and it's not so shiny.

You say that you want what I have, well, be careful what you wish for, because I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety. 

When I breeze through life, I feel untethered, longing to feel the ground beneath my feet. My gifts for words, for baking, for kids, leave me drained when I can't manage to turn them off at bedtime. That giving heart that you love and appreciate, that comes from an ache in my soul, from wishing and yearning that others would reach out to me too. That boundless energy, yeah... that's called mania, and that can be just as dangerous as the crippling depression that's sure to follow.

So when you wish for what I have, be careful... you just might get it, and trust me, it's no picnic.

Maybe, after seeing the ordinary human behind that curtain of magic and mystery, you will still want what I have... I'd gladly trade if I could. Or maybe you'll think twice about yourself, and give yourself the credit that others give you, because believe it or not, we want what YOU have too.

Xoxo 

Mama Gali

What's calling you?

A job is great

it pays the bills

careers achieve our goals

But a calling

fans the flame within

fills the hole

inside our souls

This is going to be a short post (relatively) because it's really a teaser to inspire new viewers to check out some other places, previous posts, my poetry book (!), a few really incredible fb groups, etc. (Links to all at the end.) This post is about the voices that call us, like the voice that calls Elsa in Frozen II, like the voice that talks to Lizzie McGuire in that old Disney tv show, like the gut feeling that whispers do this or do that or sometimes... don't.  

We are all called to think and say and do all kinds of things. Not everyone knows their "true calling", but maybe you've heard that little nudge in your heart, and maybe following its advice will take you one step closer. 

Above is an excerpt from a poem called "Calling" and there's plenty more where that came from.

When nature calls, in whatever way that manifests, heed the call. 

Take it from someone who shat their pants literally and figuratively, don't wait.

I challenge you to try

Xoxo 

Mama Gali

Book link - (it would mean the world if you'd leave an amazon review, any length, any feedback, thanks in advance)

Previous blog post - take an extra minute, it's worth reading.

We Tell Stories - This is a Facebook group that is ... incredible. It's helped me with confidence, courage, and connection. So many beautiful souls in this group.