17 Comments
Oct 8, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

I love your list of things you want to learn now and it's such a good variety from the cartwheeling to the public speaking ☺️

I hated school too, and couldn't wait for it to end. I then, for some reason, started college, but quit after a few months. I enjoy learning but I enjoy learning the things I want to learn as opposed to the things that are forced upon you in school! I did a writing course this year and I would like to do more of them. I'm enjoying my yoga at the minute and learning more advanced postures so I definitely want to continue with this. I feel like I need to add more things to my list and you have totally inspired me to do this ☺️💫

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Ha we sound very similar! I went to college and learned more about myself and life, most of the classes were secondary. There were a couple that left a mark though and I ended up going into those fields for work. The writing courses I took in the last 2 years have been so inspiring. I’m actually going to my first yoga retreat in tulum mx next week! I look forward to what that will stir up in me!

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Oct 9, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Haha! I'm glad college was a success for you in some ways and I like how you can recognise it teaching you more about yourself and life.

Ohh a yoga retreat will be fab! I look forward to hearing all about it 🥰

I also remembered that I'm on a quest to learn Spanish! So that's another one for the learning list 😂☺️

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Oct 8, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

I love learning too! And I too wish I'd been this curious and interested in learning when I went to college. I just wanted to get it over with, get my degree, and go work for a living. That seemed very exciting to me, which is hilarious to think about now. As you know, I just returned to Tae Kwon Do after a 40 year hiatus and it's so incredibly humbling, challenging, and also fun. I also take tap classes, a mixed style dance class, yoga, a writer's workshop, and I'm in a meditation group too. Since I left my stressful corporate job, I've been trying to fill my time with stuff that enriches my life or brings me joy. I want to take a calligraphy class and last time I tried to find one, they were all booked. A writer's retreat is definitely on my bucket list too, ideally in some fabulous foreign location. Dare to dream!

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I have been meaning to ask you - I want to know more about this family book you wrote! Is this something you’re doing for work? That really fascinates me! Putting together a family story book sounds wonderful and those who read it will cherish it!

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Hi! I was hired to put together that family history book for a private client and it was such an odyssey, but very rewarding in the end. I spotted an ad for the gig via Study Hall—a great resource for freelance writers. I got hired in March 2020, right when the pandemic started. It ended up being SO much work and entailed sorting through 13 boxes of personal effect, detective work to track down people who knew my client's father, interviewing 25 people, and writing an interesting narrative. I turned in a draft one year later and my client kept coming back asking me to interview more people. I finished the last interview just a few months ago! Next to Tae Kwon do, that was the hardest thing I've done in ages. There were days I sat on the floor of my office, surrounded by piles of dusty relics that belonged to a dead man, and felt so overwhelmed, I nearly cried. The fact that it's an actual book now blows my mind. The nice thing is, I just got another gig (a hopefully much easier gig), working with the woman who designed the book for my client. It's lovely that one project led to another. Happy to chat more about the project any time.

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Oct 8, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Hello Stephanie. If I could go back, I would study more psychologically and maybe creative writing. The human mind fascinates me.

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Yes! The good thing is there are so many books on both topics. I wonder if there’s mini courses you can take on psychology. Creative writing workshops are in abundance, maybe a little retreat if it’s affordable!

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Oct 8, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Yes there are books however there is something special about studying with others; being in a group of high vibing minds exploring a topic of mutual interest. It is a building of one idea expanding into multiple views and interesting angle’s creating a broader perspective than I can get alone. It’s the power that built pyramids. 😉

Thank you for the reminder; I plan to attend a local writers’ workshop this fall. 🥰

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I agree! I used to do yoga at home on a video by myself and my friend told me that I should consider going to class. You can more by learning and practicing with others, sharing energy and breath! Your comment made me think of that.

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Oct 8, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Thank you for that reminder as well. I used to go to a group yoga class once per week with follow up at home on an almost daily basis. It was always good to have group energy and also the attention of the instructor to correct poses in the most gentle and kind manner. I will search for a once weekly that I can join. Covid changed so many things about availability... my most beloved instructor had to go on to other adventures in another city. :(

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Oh no I am bummed when I lose a good instructor for anything!

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I love this all!! I also really resonate with saying ‘I wont every study again’ and then reaching my late twenties and suddenly understanding that if it was a subject I enjoyed, and delivered in a way that kept my attention, then I was actually really hungry to learn!!!!

You can totally work through this list!!! Xx

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Oct 7, 2023Liked by Stephanie Jucar Cooley

Omg I also want to go to cosmetology school. I actually looked into it seriously during the recession but realized it was VERY EXPENSIVE.

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I did too while I was at DLC! I considered going while working there, like head straight to school after work but then I think I would have died from the overload plus I think our old bosses would not support the vision of me doing something else while working there! I wonder if there's some sort of specialty route... like I don't want to actually be a stylist for a job but I'd love to know some basic techniques... I'd love to learn and master cutting people's hair who want to have low maintenance style. Also gray hair style and maintenance!

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Loved this, Stephanie! You are so driven and curious! I think that I am learning what I want to right now: developing my writing craft by learning from others on Substack, deepening my yoga practice, working on my Fair Isle knitting and becoming more knowledgeable about the microbiome and personalised nutrition.

BUT! I live curiously, too. These are the places I am currently putting my energies and that will shift with time. I don't picture.goung back to school as such, but have booked myself on a week-long writers' retreat for fiction which will really push me out of my comfort zone! I'll report back...

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Lindsay, I love everything you want to learn more of! You make a good point about learning from others on Substack. Now that I'm thinking about it, this might have been another place that contributed to my curiosity. Connecting with other writers who have fascinating perspective and talent has driven me to learn more about the craft of writing.

A week long writers retreat is very much on my radar right now. I missed one I really wanted to go to because it was the same time we moved in my nephew to college but I'm on the lookout for another one in 2024! Another substack writer Ali Vingiano does a yoga and writing retreat. I'm waiting to see if she is doing another one next year! BTW, I am inspired by you going to a retreat out of your genre! I never write fiction and that's always been something I am curious to do... what will it unlock from within if I actively pursue it?! I look forward to hearing more about your experience.

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