Was there ever any doubt?

promote. The goal is purely to try to live something tough that I think we all need to learn to do. It’s me putting my money where my mouth is. So it’s OK if nobody clicks through or likes or shares. That’s not the point today. The point is trying open.substack.com/pub/thething... 🦋

It themselves — or are supporting loved ones in the journey — feel less alone and uncertain. So I’m gonna close with a link to my most recent episode as part of my recommitment to being seen trying. Feel free to ignore this part of my post; the goal here was not to latch on to a moment to self- 11/

I’ve realized its partly because I don’t think it’s very impressive. I don’t have lots of followers and my writing and voice work is imperfect, but it is very much me trying to represent my experience as openly and genuinely as possible so that people who are going through or have gone through 10/

to be seen trying back. I’ve always hated self-promotion for a variety of reasons. When I launched my breast cancer blog & podcast & store last October, I did almost no marketing and I’ve done very little promotion since. I don’t even post about it on socials each week. 9/

And I think we have to practice it in our everyday lives too. I’ve long held the mentality behind “be seen trying,” though I never phrased it that elegantly. I’ve gotten away from it lately. Personal and health issues have made me cautious where I didn’t used to be and I want the willingness 8/

being seen trying, that we all learn to see the value in the work and the effort. Trying is its own form of success and can be inherently valuable. It’s how we change the course we’re on. Lots of people trying over and over and over. Publicly, collaboratively, persistently. 7/

including the success being made up of whole cloth – is a huge contributing factor to where we are as a country and everything that’s gone wrong…and it’s the biggest potential barrier standing in the way of making things right. I think it’s critically important that we all learn to embrace 6/

lie or buy their way into people’s positive opinions. It’s where all the posturing and whack-a-doodle made up stories come from. It’s where the rage and the lack of empathy and the desperate need to believe they’re the very, very best originates. The mentality behind success at any cost – 5/

and it’s never been useful, valuable, or productive – for the people or the organization. It’s also highly characteristic of the people currently in charge of this country – elected and otherwise. It’s all about image with those guys. It’s why they have to frame losses as wins, are willing to 4/

the end result - and only then if it’s a great result. That’s such a problem mentality. One that ruins the joy of the journey of trying and learning. One that makes people hide in shame & disguises the work that goes into getting the result you want. I’ve seen it 100 times in my corporate career 3/

message. But the phrase “be seen trying” really stuck with me. It’s such a valuable thing – and so contrary to the way we’re taught to think. We’re acculturated to believe we’re only supposed to be seen succeeding, to be seen winning, to be seen triumphing. That’s where we put all the emphasis: 2/