[s3mv]SusanFalconeInterview3-20-12.m4v,640,360,false,false[/s3mv]
Listen or download audio only: Susan Falcone Interview mp3 (38:20)
I’ve written before about the fact that the Universe is quite the Trickster. Yessiree. Yesterday was yet another example.
Some background: Susan Falcone is the inspiration behind my decision to make Self-Compassion the first of my 3 words for 2012. Plus I just have a humongous girl-crush on her, so I interviewed her back in March, as part of my ongoing (if sporadic) Inspiring Subscriber series. Thanks to my Self-Compassionate slow-down, it’s taken weeks to get the interview edited, which I find rather ironic.
But fine. Susan of all people would get this. As we discuss about 25 minutes into the interview, slowing down in order to treat yourself as well as you deserve to be treated means that things (ahem) slow down. I get that. Blog posts don’t always get up as quickly as I want. New courses and ebooks don’t always get birthed and out into the world as quickly as I want.
That kinda sucks, but on the other hand, my quality of life is waaaaaaay better. So overall, I’m good with it.
Sometimes, though, the Universe likes to drive the lesson home with a little more oomph, just to see if I’m really paying attention.
This is where we come back to yesterday.
Truthfully, it all started on Tuesday, which is when I’d originally intended to get Susan’s interview edited and loaded, scheduled for posting on Wednesday.
Except that all sorts of other things got in the way. And even though I’ve eased up a bit on my 11pm “in bed with lights out” rule from the Great Bedtime Experiment, when the choice is between self-care and staying up late to get stuff done that really doesn’t have to get done right now, I choose self-care. (We talk about this in the interview, too, btw.)
Which means that blog posts do not get posted on a rigid schedule in these parts.
Then Wednesday AND Thursday turned into one long string of meetings and phone conferences, and suddenly it was Thursday early evening, and I was finally finishing up those edits.
And I was actually fine with that. The interview would go up on Thursday night, and I’d still get to have Date Night with my sweetie, and all would be well with the world.
Except that that was the very moment that Trickster Universe chose to crash my iMac and wipe out 90 minutes worth of carefully crafted subtitle additions to the video interview.
Yep.
So. I had a choice. I could rant and rave (which, I’ll grant you, I did do a teensy weensy bit of), and spend the bulk of what was going to be Date Night scrambling to recreate all those carefully crafted subtitles, export the video, write the accompanying post, and get the damn thing published while it was still Thursday, goddammit …
Or I could say “To Hell with it — the subtitles are so not important in the scheme of things, and getting the damn thing published while it’s still Thursday is so not important in the scheme of things, so let’s go have Date Night, sweetie, and I’ll deal with it tomorrow!”
With a hat-tip and very broad wink to Trickster Universe, for ever-so-ironically using my interview with Susan about this very topic to hand me this decision, I chose the latter.
Well, in truth, my sweetie (aka Miracle Boyfriend — or MB for short) spent a good half hour working his technical magic trying to find a way to somehow salvage the lost data (which he’s still gung ho to figure out, being much more of an enthusiast for these kinds of challenges than I am [which is one reason why he’s Miracle Boyfriend]), and then I said “Come on, let’s go get some dinner.”
And truly, all was well with the world.
It helped that Trickster Universe ever so conveniently provided me with the above story fodder at the same time it foiled my original plans. Neat, huh?
Trickster Universe has a sense of humor, but sometimes seems to have a heart, too.
Anyway, check out the interview. It was great fun, and all that time I spent on the (now lost) edits reminded me of what a freakin’ great conversation Susan and I had!
We discussed such things as the power of identity as a Certain Type of Creative, and how being tied to that identity can actually quash your creativity. And the difficulties — and gifts — of facing physical challenges.
And we talked a lot about self-compassion.
Have a watch. Or listen to the mp3 audio. Then let me know what you think.
Oh, and be sure to visit Susan over at Powering Possible, too. She rocks.
Tell me, where have you learned to bring more self-compassion to your life?
PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!
Hey! Hello! Announcing a Free Thing!
If you liked this interview, did you know you can actually participate in these kinds of discussions with me live? Every single month?
Just click here to sign up for my free monthly video Hangouts. I chat with a different inspiring guest every month, invite Hang-Outers to “show-and-tell” what’s going on in their own creative lives, share my own creative process, and even play my ukulele.
It’s fun! And it’s free. The next one is on May 2, and it features fellow Passion Pluralite (or as she likes to call us, Multipotentialites) Emilie Wapnick, of Puttylike. You can participate via text chat, audio and/or webcam, or just lurk. And yes, if you’re on the list I’ll send a link to the recording, too. Join us!
I really really appreciate the difficulty Susan had in moving toward taking better care of herself. Plus, TMI parts usually make the story more real for me 🙂 I have been more than disappointed at the mean (and flagellating) advice I give myself whereas the advice I’d give a friend in the same situation would be way in the other direction – supportive. For hard issues, I now videotape myself advising a friend about how to handle the issue and then I play the video back and listen to it. A silly trick, I thought at the start. But it works. It strikes me as so weird why this is so hard for some of us, many of us? Are we too afraid to be seen as arrogant? I do know I didn’t see this behavior modeled for me when I was growing up. I think it was something I learned to never ever do or else … or else what? just pondering … and interesting to hear her particular story with the same issue. Thanks to you both for this interview!
So glad you liked this interview, Laura! And what a brilliant idea to videotape yourself advising a friend–that is GOLDEN!