What if I could be committed AND flexible?

Sawubona, fam!

Sometimes combing digital archives surfaces a gem that pokes me right in the feels. Last week I real-ized it’s been over half a decade since I began writing on the web with a cadence. The cadence has shifted, as have the platforms. I can’t link to that first letter, it’s gone, stored only on email servers!

Revue hosted, then twitter bought them, then Elon bought twitter. That “view online” link from five years ago now points to a Thai gambling website. Perhaps Derek Sivers was right. We should all screw the cloud, host our own servers, and write our own code. But, part of me likes the ephemerality and forced letting go via platform changes.

I wonder, how best might I relate to these transitions?

Keep writing. It takes eight years to be an overnight success. I still have three left, and that math is weird anyway. Just keep swimming, my gut says. 🏊

Each time I swim, it’s never the same body of water. Nor the same body. Yet at times things feel familiar. That old familiarity returned.

In that first edition of this newsletter, I coined the phrase “Personal Relationship Management,” juxtaposing the sales parlance, “Customer Relationship Management,” or CRM. My PRM has taken many forms. At present my professional life has alchemized my personal relationships with the Wisdom Workshop.

Off the cuff I told Sean, the organization’s founder/friend/facilitator/professor/boss/collaborator/all-of-the-things, “if we’re not aspiring to create the best educational experience on the internet, I don’t wanna work here.” It struck a chord. One of our classmates in the last group said, the most personal IS the most universal.

That stayed with me. Personal is universal. The aspiration I blurted out on the phone was real. Raw. Earnest. If we aren’t going to be the best we can be, what’s the point? I am not half-assing this. Half-assing means being an ass-hole, and no-body needs another. The creator blessed us with one and that is plenty.

That earnestness created momentum. What began as a seven week safe-to-fail-probe has shifted into a significant part of my life’s work. Something that has been following me around that I’ve been avoiding.

For a long time, people told me to be a teacher, therapist, or coach.

But traditional education, mainstream education, didn’t feel right. I viewed education through a too-rigid lens. I associated commitment with rigidity. However, thanks to Sean, I’m learning that being committed and being flexible can co-exist.

I’m flexing with the idea that education is an invitation into a new way of being.

What if I already am an educator? What if I’m becoming a better one? What if being flexible with my id-entity, dropping the ego, helps me to realize that I have been educating? Inviting self and others into new ways of being.

How do I describe what this way of educating is?

It’s not a MOOC- not massive, nor open, not really a course. The teacher is a student. We don’t let everyone in. It’s small on purpose. With purpose. The testimonials are bonkers. People have enrolled in the same course five times! A single life has many transitions, after all. Lord knows how many I’ve gone through. This educational experience I’m stoked to co-create, participate, and invite you into involves a ‘proprietary process of becoming.’ Life is an infinite game.

In this container I’ve encountered people compassionate enough to be dispassionate. Serious about play. Playful enough to pray.

Or in the words of Jimmy V,

I usually do each of those when we gather.

I don’t know why. I embrace that mystery.

If you’re in a transition phase, new job, new relationship with self, the world, others, in a new place, calling in a new way of being, or are totally cool with where you’re at, curious about self-authoring, writing and living a good life for yourself,

​Please consider this invitation. We have a few spots left. I’ll be in the 2pm EST section if you want to hold space together. If you’d prefer separately, we have a few seats left at 9pm. If that piques your interest, feel free to sign up. If you need to know more to make that decision, reply here. I’m happy to navigate that threshold together.

​

Peace,
Drew

PS- thanks to Sean for the editing help, trimming the cheesecake.

PPS- the Bible has been popping up a lot for me recently. Shoutout to other Sean, Melvin, and Carl for the recommendations and gifts.

PPPS- Zach and I are back hosting in-person events, this time co-liberating with Samara Healing Center and Ancestral Knowledge. Deets if you’re curious.​