Celebrating 3 years, and re-defining Flux
I don't look back on my blogs often, for fear that I will cringe and instinctively begin editing or deleting entire posts. When I used to journal I would tear pages out or throw away entire years of work because it was just so awful to have to look back at the thought processes of my younger self. We truly are our own worst critics. Having an online blog holds me somewhat accountable to not erase my history, and also serves as a measurement of how my writing is evolving (hopefully). Today, I just realized wow, the blog is three years old! Let's celebrate!
First, Barbara Morris, thank you. You're probably in sunny Austin, TX living your dream as an executive coach, totally unaware of the fact that your initials are stamped on many moments of my life including a couple promotions, the MBA, and this blog. Your suggestion of using writing as an outlet to define my "brand" seemed an odd suggestion considering our relationship was intended to help me navigate those early days during my transition away from being a "one woman show".
I told Barbara I wanted nothing more, in the entire world, than to "live an extraordinary life". She encouraged me to formalize some definitions and principles for what this life looked like, both to clarify it in my own mind and to allow me the opportunity to share it.
With three years behind us, I think it's high time to revisit the definition of Flux. It seems no one has a fucking clue what I'm talking about when I refer to this word as a lifestyle philosophy, so I guess that means I am doing a terrible job at branding. I certainly haven't seen "Flux" trending on twitter, etc. Well, guess what people, I chose the word for a very specific reason! I'll explain it one more time and then I expect everyone to use it profusely. I'm even ok with you putting your own spin on it and making it your own (within reason).
Start here: When you hear the word "balance" does it mean a very different thing to you than how it is conveyed in mainstream discussion?
This is foundational in the Flux lifestyle. Mainstream "balance" is difference from Balance (with a capital "B") as it relates to living by the principles of Flux. Moderation, bred from exceptional judgement and restraint is the true meaning of Balance to the people for who this post is meant for. Here is the 2018 update on the principles of Flux:
I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing select parts of my life on the blog. It has been therapy for me, and has never felt like a chore. I'm slightly behind on my goal to provide 2 posts a month this year, but I want you to know why. I've "turned inward" for about three or four months now. I have written tons of content but really nothing that I'm brave enough to share. Reading the work of accomplished authors and just really sitting to reflect on my life principles and where I'm at has resulted in the most clearly defined list of goals that I've had in probably five years. Did I tell you about how I lost my way with goal setting for about two years? It was terrible; I was so unhappy not being able to refer to a roadmap. After this period of intensive reflection and rest, I ended up being able to spout off 6 pages of plans, formatted as:
Life Manifesto
10-year
5-year
1-year
Activities that ground me
Bucket-list
Habits
Values
Reflecting on the blog highlights some difficult choices I need to make. First of all, this blog has really nothing to do with being a "Millennial Manager".
I fucking loathe all conversation about Millennials, (or any conversations on generational stereotypes, for that matter). I should share some funny stories about the boardroom conversations I've been party to where the topic devolved into idle chit chat about the annoying entitlement of Millennials, unbeknownst to the speaker that they were lumping me into that criticism by virtue of my age. As disturbing as it was to sit through (how easy it was to tar and feather an entire swath of people), the conversation had the unexpected effect of making me feel more included in the club (old boys club, to be exact) than excluded because clearly they didn’t see me as being an annoying, entitled Millennial, or else they wouldn't have said it in front of me with such confidence that I would be in obvious agreement of what was being said. Further to the issue with the name of the blog, I feel like a total fraud pretending to be a voice for a generation (Millennials), or even a subset (Managers) of a generation.
The name needs to change. I'm going to migrate the content to a new (more suitable) URL but I'm pretty busy at the moment.
It's been suggested to me that I begin vlogging. If I can barely re-read my old posts imagine the awkwardness I would feel speaking to a camera as though it were an audience (shout out to my 12 fans who support the blog! Haha. Thank you!). As entertaining as it might be to watch me fumble through figuring out where to look (producing something similar to what happens when you hold a friendly dog's head between your hands and try and get them to look at you but they instinctively won't) and all the editing and re-recording to remove weird facial expressions or habitual hand-talking (I'm not even Italian, where do I get this from?), we will just park that idea for now.
As always, feedback welcome.
