like Matthew McConaughey but different

I could listen to Matthew's voice all damn day in search of my green lights.

On a recent road trip to Atlanta, my husband, Mike, and I listened to the audio version of Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights, narrated by Matthew himself. I might not have listened to the audio book had Matthew not been the one telling the story.

I could listen to Matthew’s voice all damn day! He’s got the perfect amount of southern drawl, and his way of weaving a story into a point well-made was the perfect pep talk for taking a hard look at my career—while still seeking adventure—during a time when I needed said pep talk.

You see… according to Matthew, he believes that “a green light is being kind to our future self. It’s things in our life that affirm our way, they say ‘go, proceed, more, please carry on.’ While yellow and red lights make us slow down in life—they can be crisis, hardship, intervention, interruption.”

While the pandemic and adult children moving home (more on that subject some other time) definitely fell into the yellow, or even red light area, listening to Matthew showed me that I’ve experienced plenty of green lights in my life. I just need to open my eyes to more of them.

And somewhere between listening to Matthew’s stories of taking an Airstream around parts of the US while meeting people, and getting arrested while playing the bongo drums naked, I began craving my next adventure. And that adventure is coming. I’ll keep my clothes on, though. Probably. You’ll have to subscribe to find out.

I currently have a lot of irons in the fire. (See above where I said my adult children were living at home.) Professionally speaking, though, I split my time between three major categories: I have a novel career, that I am so proud of and enjoy immensely; I cohost a true crime podcast with one of my best friends (you can simply listen to one episode and see how much fun my podcast partner and I have); And I have a day job, which is the least rewarding of the three major endeavors but is a nice income stream while taking so much of my time. All three serve their purpose in my life, and all three take a ton of time and energy.

Lately, though, the novel career has received the least amount of attention. And I’m afraid I might lose my writing voice if I’m not careful.

That’s where this newsletter comes in. I plan to put words down on this platform as often as time allows me in hopes that I might explore topics that interest me (and hopefully you) and find my voice. Again.

And despite being busy with the above mentioned things, I’m yearning for more adventure. Mike and I both are, and we have a plan to satiate our shared desire to see more of the word (more of that coming, as well).

In a way I’m searching for my Greenlights.