Britt Skrabanek

When Life Feels Like a Circus

We’re at the halfway point of 2020…congratulations. If you’re reading this right now, you likely need an escape from the circus that is 2020.

I’m not going to rehash the excitement from the first half of the year, or speculate about which inconceivable acts we’ll see next. Instead, I’d like us to share an intermission together—to stretch our legs and get some air.

I’m going to talk about a different circus that changed my life, positively and permanently. Perhaps you’ll relate to it in some small way, and it will help you figure out how to execute your balancing act.

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Love Your Enthusiasm with Victoria Dougherty

For all of your writers out there, I have quite the treat for you. Victoria Dougherty is on Love Your Enthusiasm today. You may know Victoria through her blog or through her books—either way, you’ll know one thing…she is a beautiful badass.

Victoria and I first met each other like I’ve met many of you…commenting on each other’s random blog posts over the years. Looks like we go WAY back, somewhere around 2012.

The cool thing about this particular podcast episode is that we are two writers having a conversation. I have many things I am enthusiastic about in my life, but writing has such a special place in my heart. When I talk to someone else with that same love, it shows.

Victoria and I had our interview on Monday, June 1, the morning after the first weekend of protests and riots in the U.S. Both of us were sleep-deprived and a little loopy. So we made a pact at the beginning of the call. We agreed to lean on each other’s enthusiasm to lift each other up.

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Love Your Enthusiasm with Kim Johnson

Another week is here and another episode of Love Your Enthusiasm is here. My city has started to open back up and the sun shines against the backdrop of a bright blue sky.

This is how I continue. This is what I can do to contribute to the world…this podcast.

But before I get to this week’s podcast, I’d like to share this beautiful recommendation from a former yoga student of mine that used to take my corporate wellness classes many years ago. Laura had just binged on the first three episodes and had this to say:

Hearing from people around the world as I sit hunkered down working from home in my apartment in Chicago, I found something I could relate to in each episode. I learned new nuggets of information and wisdom I can take with me as I work to find my own inspiration and enthusiasm during these difficult times.

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The Love Your Enthusiasm Podcast is Here

I had a long internal debate about launching my podcast, Love Your Enthusiasm, after everything that transpired this past week. It’s hard to be enthusiastic when you can’t make sense of your world…when you can’t unsee social media images and videos and you feel like you can’t help anyone or solve anything.

Every night I see my curfew phone alert while double-checking my alarm. I read my book in bed while helicopters hover over my apartment building. Sirens scream across the city and inside my dreams.

When I woke up this morning, yet again I wondered if my city would still be here. Yet, the world continues waking up. The sun is brilliant and the skies are blindingly blue. The wind chimes and the birds send sweet harmonies to anyone who will listen.

We keep on keeping on, don’t we? When everything seems impossible, we take a rocket to space. We hug each other when we don’t think we have any love left to give.

While tossing and turning in bed, I thought about something Jessica Korteman said in Episode 01 of Love Your Enthusiasm.

Stay present and keep coming back to why you’re doing whatever it is that inspires you.

My why for this podcast is to bring more positivity into a world that always needs it. So, I am officially launching Love Your Enthusiasm in the midst of a global pandemic, after a week of riots and protests across my country. Because this is something that I can do.

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Love is About Us and Nothing Else

Mr. H and I quietly celebrated our 15-year wedding anniversary this past week. It was the quietest celebration we’ve ever had. No romantic getaway, no dinner date. It was just us. In our apartment where we work and sleep.

There is one thing this year has taught many of us…introspection.

Whether you wanted to be introspective or not, turning inward was something you ended up doing during the quarantine. That introspection brought many realizations you might not have been prepared to face. That introspection made your life flash before your eyes, but in slow motion. That introspection made you stop and notice the birds for a change.

FOMO was eliminated. There was no longer a need to fear that you were missing out on anything, because nothing was going on. Social media posts changed from fashionable ensembles to sweat pants, from exotic destinations to messy living rooms, from being seen to being seen by no one.

Home life got real. Married couples grappled with an issue they never thought would be an issue…spending too much time together.

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