Do More Things...BADLY.

I met the author Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy or SARK last Saturday in Toronto.



I was excited about the meeting because I have admired her since that fateful day at Tina’s apartment eight years ago where I chanced upon her book Succulent Wild Woman.


Just the book I needed to read at just the right time in my life.

SARK had a brief workshop on making your creative dreams real , her new book. She signed books after and then had a soiree with the MMB (Marvelous Message Boards on PlanetSark, http://www.Planetsark.com) members which I am. (MMB name: "iKat")

She shared a lot of wonderfully inspiring stories and read magical poetry. SARK even belted out a few tunes. Oh, what a vibrant, joyful soul. But of all the things she shared, the one that hit home was her advice to procrastinators and perfectionist and busy people on doing. I, of course, am all of the above.

The message is this: Do more things --- badly.

To that I said: Eek!

The first part about "doing more things" is easy enough to understand. But “badly”, BADLY! It takes a while for such information to sink into a perfectionist’s brain, even a recovering one at that . At first, it just does not compute. Old recording in my brain started to play: "If you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all."

SARK is easy-going. She is gentle in her manner of giving advice. I slowly began to accept what she was saying. She was so heartfelt, crystal clear in her speaking. And best of all, she had an honesty to her that just made want to listen well.

Here's Susan's gentle message:

"You can be ~

A proud procrastinator
An imperfect perfectionist
A happy busy person

And still be an active creative dreamer."

Aha! I had a moment there. Why did I not realize this before? I would saved myself a lot of head and heartaches everytime I fell short of a goal. Of course it's okay to procrastinate. Of course it's alright to be a perfectionist. What's not right is getting frozen in place because of it. That's where the advice to "do more..." comes in. Just keep doing. Just keep moving. Just keep tweaking along the way.

And, by God, I am grateful for busy. Busy equals alive.

I, Kathreen, choose to be fully alive!


Drawing by SARK

I hereby declare myself a proud procrastinator, imperfect perfectionist and happy busy person who resolves to do more things...properly or BADLY!

Thank you, Susan, for all the good...AND BAD, that you do in the world.


Kreatively,
Kathreen