OUT OF (my) CONTROL
Join The Gut Feelings Group Chat!
Good morning. Sipping on some tea. It’s 6AM and I woke up early to bake my sourdough bread (that’s love). Been doing a lot of baking these past few days in prep for the holiday, and although it is utterly messy, it is oddly therapeutic at the same time.
This past weekend my power went out for almost 48 hours. It was a weird feeling. Waking up and having a dead computer, an almost dead phone, no way to charge them. Going to make my tea and not being able to heat up water. Using my red lights to no avail. Opening the fridge and quickly shutting it, remembering that’ll make everything go bad faster.
It just completely threw me out of my routine. It made me realize how much I value that routine, for better or for worse.
A few years ago if this happened to me I would’ve freaked out. I would’ve sent myself into a spiral of stress not being able to send my newsletter out in time, not being able to cook the recipes I had planned, but instead I took a deep breath. This was completely out of my control. I decided to lean in. Instead of my typical routine, I explored. I went to new places, I walked around, I spent time with my family. It ended up being the perfect day.
As I reflect on this it has made me realize how much bringing awareness to what I do and do not have control over has changed my entire life. This perspective shift has made my life truly better. I do not have control that my power went out, but I do have control over my mood and how I spend the rest of the day.
I so often used to stress over the little things, the big things, and everything in between. I still catch myself doing this, but when I take a step back from it all and separate the controllables and uncontrollables, I realize that this fit of stress is (most of the time) absolutely pointless.
When the stress is high and it seems like there are a million things on your plate: One. Foot. In. Front. Of. The. Other. We have options in life, to look at the whole picture and become overwhelmed with it all and not do anything, OR, just do one thing. Then one more. Simplify it. Sometimes overcomplicating ends up leading to no action. Control what you can control to the best of your abilities, and the rest will fall into place.
So much of life comes with obstacles that are out of our control, and the only thing we can do to make a situation better is control our perspective on it.
This may sound dumb, but one of my favorite practices is when I am in a stressful situation, laugh. Make fun of it. Make light of it. This helps me to not take life so seriously and be more grateful for what I have.
Anyways, with the Holiday around the corner, Today I’m announcing a brand new addition to my Substack publication: the Gut Feelings GROUP CHAT BABY.
This is a place where we can chat about whatever topics you want, prompts, thoughts, recipes (neeeeeeed to see all of your holiday recipes and fav foods) so so excited for this.
To join our chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app. Chats are sent via the app, not email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens. Directions are below.
Grateful for you. Thankful for you. Have a beautiful long weekend. Happy Thanksgiving <3 Xo - Ella
How to get started
Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Substack Chat is now available on both iOS and Android.
Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.
That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.
Amazing post! I found you through Instagram and now that I’m social media free, I’m happy to have a way to still see some of your content. I read everyone of your newsletters. You are inspiring, creative and just wonderfully made! Thank you for all the posts. Happy Thanksgiving ❤️ - Jaimie Leah