Life Lessons from Baseball: The Journey to Home

I love baseball.

You know why?

It's life.

When the hero leaves home plate and makes the journey around the bases, with others trying to take him out, it feels great to watch him slide into home base, triumphant in his return.

We're all runners trying to make it back to home base.

The baseball diamond is the heart of the story.

You're born.

You start at home, but you need experience so you can grow.

So you approach home plate. You need a reason to go out and face some challenges. Life throws some pitches. Which one are you going to take a swing at?

The Hero (batter) has to be locked in and ready to swing when the pitch is within range.

The batter connects. Can he get to first base? Gotta run like hell to even get into the game before life snuffs you out.

He makes it. Whew. Rest a minute. Can he wait for life to give him an opportunity to get to second base, or does he take the ultimate risk and steal it?

Stealing a base is stepping outside of the normal order of things. He doesn't want to wait and let life (next batter up) dictate his next move. He decides to make a run for it while others are too busy living by the rules of the game.

He's gotta wait for the right moment when all eyes are on the next batter. He's now a player.

That moment when the batter becomes the player is divine.

Second base. Shit, he had to slide and his ankle hurts.

But he's in the game. He's got some experience now. How he made it to second base was either a choice to steal or let life carry him there with some effort.

He made a risky choice, but it paid off.

Doesn't matter.

Now he's on second. He's completely exposed. So many obstacles between him and home.

He's at his most vulnerable because he's injured and because he's on the outskirts of the diamond.

His life is now more complicated because he's got 2 players pushing him forward.

First base player is feeling the pressure to run to second as soon as the batter connects.

Hero is eyeing third.

Man, the pressure to move is intense. Others on his own team are anticipating now a potential scoring run.

Pressure to perform is increasing and he has to zero in on third, with a chance of returning home in flash if the batter in the box hits is out of the park.

This is where the boy becomes a man. Strategy, logic and risk assessment is developing at a rapid pace. More players in the game, more outliers.

The batter hits the ball, and he makes it to first.

Our hero is now on third, he can see home plate and wisdom is his reward.

He's got experience now. He's feeling the pressure to advance and return home, and he's almost made it through the gauntlet.

His eyes are on the batter, but he glances out across the field and respects the others that made his journey possible. They tried to take him out--they did their best, but they didn't succeed.

In a second, he recognizes that skill, luck, grace, and grit were his companions. He was never alone. Not really.

Batter in the box hits a base hit. The hero knows it's going to be close, and he runs like hell with everything he's got. Stealing second hurt his ankle, but he's adjusted his stride and he's heading home.

Slide! Slide! Slide!

And the crowd erupts. His team goes wild! Another one made it back home!

He's no longer the boy that was waiting for the right pitch to get into game.

He's different.

He's transformed.

One more rung up the spiral of experiences is completed.

The cycle continues.

And that's why I love baseball.

Random fact about me: My favorite color is indigo.

Leaving Etsy: My Journey to Squarespace

I've been with Etsy as a marketplace to sell my jewelry for 14 years.

But it's time to transition off of that venue and build out my product line on Squarespace.

Etsy has been a wonderful place to sell my work for a long time, but since they went public, the quality of the marketplace has gone down considerably.

In the beginning, it allowed for direct sales between the artists and the buyers, and the vibe was pretty pure and direct. If it's not handmade, you can't sell it.

It was wonderful! But mission creep set in, and Etsy opened it up to vendors and now it sucks for both artists and buyers of artist's work.

Vendors, who don't care that much about what they sell as long as it sells, are having a field day.

Seth Godin wrote about this distinction all the way back in 2011, and it rings so true now.

Etsy is no longer a marketplace about handcrafted merchandise, and their branding is suffering because of it.

They've made countless dumb decisions and I'm ready to move on.

So.

I made the decision to use Squarespace as the host for my shop, and while on vacation, I'll be slowly adding my listings there.

I just designed my website a couple of months ago on Squarespace, and will now go to Phase 2 of my plan by moving my shop on over.

My approach to the switch won't be cold turkey, but a nice, slow roll.

I don't know how long I'll be selling with both platforms, but my intent is to be completely self-sufficient in a year.

I learned a long time ago not to shoot myself in the foot as I'm running away from something. Emotional decisions need to take their time to fully emerge. Etsy has pissed me off enough now that I'm going to move, but on my own timeline.

There's plenty I need to learn about SEO and how to leverage social media to get my sales up to speed.

One thing I like about Etsy is that they do a pretty decent job of getting your listings seen if you play by their rules.

But they aren't playing by their own rules anymore, so the trust is gone.

And that's the precursor to a sinking ship so I'm getting off before she goes under completely.

Here's to life in the fast lane...or my lane at any rate!

Random fact about me: My husband likes a tidy house and I like a clean house. I'm not anal about being tidy and he's not known for cleaning. Oh, the irony!

Tiny Trampoline, Big Magic

A couple of years ago I bought a cheap Amazon rebounder, which is a mini-trampoline. I bought the BCAN, which uses springs, and for the first couple of years, it was fine.

With psoriasis, I wanted an easy way to exercise my lymphatic system. I was dealing with a lot of toxicity.

A few weeks ago, I upgraded to a JumpSport rebounder, and the difference is night and day from the cheaper one I bought from Amazon.

My JumpSport has got more resistance and isn't as jarring to my joints as the spring rebounder is when you jump longer than 20 minutes.

I was able to jump barefoot on the spring mini-trampoline, but need shoes with the JumpSport because the resistance is stiffer. There isn't as much 'spring' with the cords vs springs, but you get a better workout because you have to push down on the mat harder to get lift.

Rebounding is fun, and the fitness payoff for 20 minutes of jumping is phenomenal.

There are plenty of free rebounding videos on YouTube, but my favorite channel is San Fran Fitness.

They have tons of beginner videos and the husband/wife team that teach are funny and warm. Here is my favorite beginner workout:

https://youtu.be/a7LgfvB4yTs?si=VY-ImvcdBLxdnb6U

How does Rebounding feel different from other forms of exercise?

It's challenging to jump around like a maniac on a small trampoline without a safety bar. I'm nearsighted with presbyopia issues, and I have to be careful I don't careen off the pad when jumping.

But I love it.

I did use a safety bar for a couple of months, but quickly ditched it when I started doing more complicated routines. There is a lot of arm waving and flapping now, and I need all the space I can get.

When I'm familiar with a routine, I can lose myself in the music and there is a sense of euphoria that I used to get when I was a runner.

Rebounding on a min-trampoline is much easier on your joints than running. Many routines are available where you run on the trampoline if you miss it, but honestly, I get more benefits from jumping than I ever did running.

And I don't know where you can get a cardio workout as well as a full-body resistance workout in 20 minutes.

I find jumping to be fun and I look forward to my session. I feel great all day, and if I do it when I get up in the morning, I've already got 6000 steps knocked out, in addition to getting my lymphatic system primed for maximum detoxification.

What benefits have I noticed, and do I use it for reasons other than exercise?

My face and neck, especially under my chin, is looking more chiseled. When you jump, every muscle in your body is getting a workout. You also get rid of puffiness under the eyes and chin.

I also have occasional vertigo. I know, why would I jump on a trampoline with vertigo?

Actually, regular bouncing keeps it in check. I think it has something to do with keeping the inner ear challenged to keep you upright with all that bouncing. But in all seriousness, I've noticed a huge difference in my balance.

Here's another reason to have a mini-trampoline--chest colds.

If I bounce for a few minutes when I wake up, I can clear out whatever is hanging around my upper bronchial tubes. I get over chest colds pretty fast now.

Another benefit?

Um...getting fiber out of your body through natural means.

Everything in your body is affected by bouncing, including your colon. With regular bouncing, if you are inclined towards constipation, well...you won't be anymore.

Ladies...it strengthens your pelvic floor like nothing else does! You can cough and sneeze after you've been bouncing for a while without panicking.

I don't seem to have any neck and shoulder pain anymore. Everything is loose and supple. I do some fascia stretches too, but I think bouncing does a lot to keep me flexible and able to stand all day working in my studio without feeling like a train hit me at night.

Long story short, your organs will smile if you bounce for 20 minutes a day!

Random fact about me: I am intrigued with Tuvan throat singing, and one of my favorite groups is The Hu. I even bought merch online from The Hu which I've never done with any other group!

Exploring Dream Interpretation with ChatGPT

I have a very vivid dream life, and pretty much remember my dreams the next morning.

Years ago, my brother introduced me to dream interpretation, and suggested that I explore it to understand myself better.

Initially, I blew it off, but he gave me a book about it, called The Dreamer's Dictionary, by Barbara Condron, and it changed my mind on the importance of understanding and interpreting your dreams.

My brother is a great dream interpreter. He can weave together aspects of a dream story and blow your mind over the accuracy about what it is reflecting regarding what you are currently mulling over or dealing with in waking life.

Recently, I've started running my dreams through ChatGPT, just to see how it interprets dreams, and I have to say it's been very helpful. I am surprised at its ability to interpret the dream, and then relate it back to me as to what it says about my current state of focus or worry about something.

So good, in fact, that I wanted to share this with you.

Dreams are about what you are concerned with or learning about the day before the dream occurs. The proposed insights Chat is giving me are on target. It doesn't know what I'm worried about, or what insight I had the day before, but it figures it out based on my dream interpretation.

Alarmingly so.

I just tell it to interpret my dream and write out as much as I can, and it zips back a well-integrated response that makes immediate sense.

I'm finding it very helpful to dig a bit deeper into what my inner self is trying to communicate to me right now as I navigate this psoriasis flare.

I've been playing with ChatGPT and Grok ever since they came out. Like any tool, you have to be intentional with it, and I tend to use it like an administrative assistant.

Today, I gave it a task to give me a 7-Day Writing Protocol to get at the root of my emotional issues regarding some traumatic things I went through in the past 5 years regarding death and illness.

I have a tendency to repress my emotions during times of crisis, and then my body deals with the release if I continue to repress, and not fully feel all the feels.

I am learning my habit of emotional repression, especially of anger, that I learned from my mother is clearly a component of the psoriasis issue I've been dealing with all my life. I'm not blaming my mother, she did the best she could and she worked very hard while alive to overcome what she learned from her own childhood.

But I still picked it up, and it's up to me to transmute the tendency and change it to something healthier for me.

I'm going to go through the 7-Day Writing protocol and if I find it helpful, I'll share it here. I asked ChatGPT if it lifted it from any other source, so that I could credit it, and it responded with this:

That protocol is an original creation I wrote specifically for you, Stacie. It’s not copied or adapted from any particular author or published source—it’s designed to honor your unique healing path, drawing on the themes you've shared (psoriasis, emotional repression, parental loss, creative flow, etc.).

That said, the structure itself draws loosely from widely used therapeutic practices like:

• Writing for emotional healing (James Pennebaker’s research)
• Somatic journaling (used in trauma-informed therapy and body-based healing modalities)
• Narrative therapy techniques (like giving the symptom a voice)
• And ritual practices found in grief work and Indigenous-inspired emotional clearing

Chat's response is intriguing, isn't it?

It will take another post to dissect how I feel about Ai, but I'm not in the camp of some that think the genie needs to go back into the bottle. It's here. It's not going anywhere, and I believe we are in the process of developing a moral value system on how to use it and discern when it's clearly spitting out bullshit or propaganda.

You still need to be able to think on your own when given a new input. It doesn't matter if it's from a 'real' person or an Ai.

What I'm finding is it's more about the questions and perimeters you put in place when interacting with it. It's not like Google, and my questions often involve asking it to give me a compare and contrast output to whatever input I am interested in.

But my experience with it so far has been pretty positive as an assistant to help me pull together a bunch of seemingly disparate subjects into something meaningful.

Like dream interpretation. There's nothing more reflective of seemingly random story lines and images than a dream!

What are your thoughts on Ai, and do you use it?

Random fact about me: I collect feathers I find in the yard.

Embrace Creativity: Jumping into Daily Blogging

I had a lovely coffee date with a dear friend yesterday.

When we get together, there’s never enough time to cover all the topics going on in our lives. We are such chatterboxes! I think we are making up for lost time, because she's one of those people that I wish I would have met when I was in elementary school.

We need a lifetime!

I’ve known her for a few years now, and her friendship is on my personal “don’t leave Roanoke” list.

She’s entering a season where she can finally pursue what makes her heart sing. She’s chosen gardening as her medium. What a great way to connect with others and communicate the importance of cultivation. Not just in the soil of our backyards, but in ourselves as human beings.

I tease her about building an empire, but honestly, I believe she could do it.

We got to talking about my new direction of blogging daily, and I learned that she also sees the value of documenting life with intention. As we walked back to my studio, she mentioned she might start journaling daily, either privately or through blogging.

I immediately jumped in with encouragement, sharing how powerful a daily creative practice can be.

No need to wait for the perfect journal or the perfect website; just start and see where it takes you.

I shared with her how I have no idea what my blog post is going to be until I sit down in the morning to write it.

Content reveals itself because it's tied to my life.

She's also starting to move in a different direction, too.

She’s starting a YouTube channel so she can have more control over her videos (she’s been sharing mostly on Instagram). Right now, she’s immersed in learning how to pull together her content and get her video production set up.

She’s choosing growth, and I couldn’t be happier for her.

One of the secrets to creativity is simply diving in.

Many people think they need clarity before starting something new--clarity about the process, and even the outcome.

I know people close to me who have big dreams, but they hold back, waiting for the “right” environment: the perfect website, a peaceful studio, a better office setup…or losing weight before they join a gym or biking group!

I disagree with that mindset.

Start with what you have. Trust that the process will unfold and the outcome will reveal itself as you go.

Plans are great if you’ve been down the road before since you’ve got a map. But if you're in new territory, you need to think like an explorer.

You don’t know what you’ll encounter. You can’t predict the obstacles, (or the gifts!) along the way. But if your desire is genuine, it will guide you. You’ll figure it out.

And sometimes, what shows up is far better than anything you could’ve planned for.

Serendipity loves movement. If you have the desire, jump in and see what happens!

This blog is me jumping in!

This blog of mine is about as simple as it gets. I’m using WordPress.com and paying $48 a year for the Personal plan. I wanted to see if I could maintain a daily writing practice before investing in a self-hosted site with all the bells and whistles.

I just needed a place to begin.

The one thing I know for sure is that the URL will remain the same. Where it lives and how it evolves, I have no idea.

I'm just waiting to see where the road takes me.

No big expectations about outcome...just a desire to excavate my daily experiences, write about them creatively, and pull out any universal insight I find along the way.

That’s it, really. And to share them with you.

If you’re interested in my friend’s gardening adventure, go check out her website: www.michellesgardengrows.com.

Random fact about me: I collect rocks. They are like permanent flowers to me.