Leonie Dawson's Blog, page 47

Day 3: What Now?

Panda bears,

The euphoria of Day 1 & 2 are ebbing away. Now the tyre really hits the gravel.

What now? What should I tell you about now?

Maybe this:

My lover has been sick this week, leaving me to do most of the parenting & keeping us alive tasks. It’s at times like this I realise just how much our load is shared, and how shit I am at most daily household activities.

Case in point: my kids have had a gold star run of never being late to school this whole year. This is all due to Chris’ military timing and precision. Me? I am late the very first day I have to do school run by myself. I careen around like a sloppy badger with poor executive functioning.

Also: after dropping them off at school today, I suddenly realised I hadn’t packed any lunchboxes for them. I never have to think about this! Chris takes care of all of this! Fuck! What do I do? I question Chris when I get home. Luckily, he’d felt well long enough last night to cook pasta for their lunches, and it appears my 10 year old did indeed pack her and her little sister’s lunch this morning. Thank FUCK someone has their shit together, because it’s clearly NOT ME.

I know a lot of women struggle with having to bear most of the mental load of parenting & housework. And I definitely feel like I do a lot of organising schedules, filling out forms & tidying shit… but as soon as Chris isn’t Chris-ing, it’s prettttttty easy to see where the holes are.

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I’ve been decluttering extensively, inspired by:

My mental overwhelm
The bushfires.

Getting evacuated from a bushfire last year was really eye-opening for me on a few different fronts.

Firstly: we would have been able to live indefinitely on the handful of clothes we evacuated with. We had three sets of clothes each, and it was easy as shit to manage them. We rotated them and rinsed them and we didn’t need anything more. It made me think about what clothes I’d take if I was travelling, and how I could live that lifestyle longer term.

Secondly: my husband joked when we got evacuated that he didn’t mind if we lost anything to the fires, he’d been overwhelmed and meaning to declutter anyway. And I totally felt the same way. It felt good to be free of our stuff momentarily.

Thirdly: we were very lucky to be able to stay in a friend’s house & a cousin’s holiday rental. And we were amazed at how little clutter they had, and how their houses functioned so much better than ours.

So it’s been a slow process, but it’s definitely making a difference. Anything we do let go of goes to our local charity shop who are thrilled to get donations.

I’ve been researching about decluttering to keep me motivated as well. I’ve been resisting decluttering because I’m a maximalist creative clutterbug, but it’s finally time for me.

I like The Minimal Mom‘s philosophy:

The more stuff you have, the more things you have to manage. All of it is inventory that you are going to have to organise, pick up and keep tidy forever!

I also resisted reading Marie Kondo’s book, but a few weeks ago I read the MANGA GRAPHIC NOVEL version of her book and it was excellent. Goddaaaaaamn I love me a graphic novel!

I don’t think I’ll ever be a real minimalist, but if I can get shit to manageable that will be bonza. Have a house that is a little more pile-free, ya know?

I’ve also been researching having more of a “capsule wardrobe” – about 5 outfits I wear out and about on a daily basis (and some sloppy home clothes too). It helps me think about a time when we will get to travel again, and what I’d wear when walking down the streets of Florence, ya know?

Minimal Mom’s video about her wardrobe was useful, as was Young House Love’s blog post about Sherry’s minimal wardrobe.

I’ve been going through my clothes to work out what I want to wear on a daily basis, and what needs to be let go of. I’ve still got t-shirts I’ve been wearing for 15 years that are falling apart, and I wear a lot of my husband’s hand-me-downs as well. I just don’t tend to give muuuuch of a fuck about clothes! Still – I want to get it to a point where it feels effortless to manage my clothes… and to wear stuff I love wearing everyday. It feels like a more sustainable, environmentally-conscious model rather than having heaps of clothes.

At this stage, my uniform looks like comfy printed t-shirts with colourful, soft hippy pants. We will see how it evolves!

Other things of note:

I’ve been meaning to share this with you for a while, but this video clip by Zoe Boekbinder is beautiful.
Tony Hseih, former Zappo’s CEO, died in a fire a few days ago at the age of 46. My heart feels tender about it. I loved his incredible business book Delivering Happiness, and thought he seemed a wise, quirky, kind-hearted visionary.

Righto!

We did this! Day 3! HIGH FIVE MYSELF!

Tomorrow is the last day of school, and is jam-packed with performances & driving. No idea how/if I’ll manage writing then.

Either way: ONWARDS!

Again: if you want to get emails of my daily writings, just plop your namesies & email addresskies in here:

Now… time to get some work done before school pickup!

Big love,

Leonie

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Leonie Dawson International Donates $7,000 To Australian Wildlife Conservancy

Panda bears,

Delighted to share that because of our Black Friday sale, we’ve been able to donate over $7,000 to Australian Wildlife Conservancy to help them purchase more habitat for wildlife in Maleny, Queensland. They are currently raising money for this project here. The land is habitat to the endangered Mary River turtle, the vulnerable Queensland Lungfish and the Platypus.

After reading “Wilding” by Isabella Tree, going through the Australian bushfire crisis & being evacuated from our home, I decided I needed to funnel most of my philanthropic work towards the fight against the climate crisis. I deeply believe AWC’s work is vitally important to that fight.

That takes our total donations this year to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to $25,000. I remember when I could barely afford to donate $100 to worthwhile causes… and now being able to donate each year more than I used to earn is a huge honour and a driving force for me.

To this, and even more abundance funnelled to the right places…

All my love,

Leonie

 

 

The post Leonie Dawson International Donates $7,000 To Australian Wildlife Conservancy appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Press Publish Every Day: The Day After

Dearests,

Leonie at 8:14pm last night was relaxed, slopping about on the couch like some kind of Renaissance beauty. She wasn’t thinking of much beside what trash she would read that night as a bedtime story to herself. Little did she know what would come next.

Leonie at 8:15pm last night has a flash of inspiration and decides then and there that she/they must WRITE again. Every day this month!

She/they proceeds to do just that. (Also: I’m experimenting with my pronouns. Can you tell? Humour me in this experiment as you humour me in ALL my experiments – writing, gender identity, business & more!)

8:30pm Leonie finishes their blog post triumphantly and wonders: But where should I share this to? Who will read this? Maybe I should just tell people I’m doing this? And maybe give them the option to get daily emails? And if like 10 people want it that’s cool, it’s like writing letters to a tight knit group of penpals! While I’m at it… maybe I should email my entire mailing list and see if they want it too?

8:31pm Leonie creates form, adds it into blog post, sends to social media and mailing list and trundles off to bed, high fiving themselves as they go. H O O R A Y!

6:30am Leonie today: wakes up, sees 600 people have signed up for something and then suddenly remembers what 8:31pm Leonie thought was a good idea last night.

HO HO HO HO HO.

They blink rapidly, shakes their head, begins to laugh, and congratulates themselves on being the magnificent untameable imaginative unicorn they are, susceptible to wild bursts of inspiration. Forever overcommitting themselves to projects, and then usually pulling them off with great aplomb anyhows.

So here we are once more. On another one of those Glorious Leonie Experiments, where nobody knows quite what will happen, least of all me. I can only assure you it will be a grand adventure of one kind or another. Lessons will be learned, creations will be made, connections will be strengthened.

I voice mailed my assistant this morning just to let her know that Leonie has had Yet Another Idea, and inform her what that will mean for her.

I must say, I approach these conversations with a slight amount of trepidation. In the past, I’ve had staff members who get shitty when I don’t plan out with them in advance what I’m going to do and when, and how it will affect their work plans. I get that it would probably be annoying for a lot of personality types to work for me. So even though I’ve never had anything but rad excitement & support from my current assistant, I still find it slightly tricky anyway.

She replied back in the most perfect of ways:

Oh I know you’re doing that! I got the email when you sent it out to the mailing list! I signed straight the fuck up because that sounded so fun! It sounds like you probably don’t need me to do anything as you’ll be doing all the writing, but if I can support you in anyway on the backend, I’m here for you! Fuck yeah let’s do this!

It was a real joy and relief, I tell you.

I guess that’s the only hiring advice I can ever give you, as an entrepreneur. Find people who fit your work style, and are happy to ride with the gifts & challenges of that. I tried for a few years to work differently than who I was and how I like to create, but it sucked the life and joy out of me. I much prefer doing it this way. And I’m glad I’ve got someone in my corner who is delighted to facilitate that.

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At the moment, I’m going through the diagnostic assessment process to clarify whether I am Asperger’s, have a different neuro divergent diagnosis or not. I think I’m worried that the results are going to come back as: LOLZ NAH SORRY LEONIE YOU ARE ACTUALLY NEURO TYPICAL. YOU’RE A TOTAL NORM! Could you even imagine???

For those playing at home: I went through Unique U Psychology. They specialise in womxn with ASD – as we tend to have our own set of symptoms that differ from blokes. It took about six months or so for me to get an appointment to get it done. Other places I tried had a much longer waiting list – or just weren’t taking new clients at all. Unique U is based in Melbourne, Australia but do telehealth assessments (which is what I did).

The diagnostic process has been useful, but it’s definitely intense in two ways: Firstly, it is currently making me hyperaware of my behaviours and processes and wonder what is just Leonie being Leonie and what is because of a neuro divergence. For example – when I filled out some of the questionnaires, I noted that I seem to have quite a high self esteem and confidence levels, and then started worrying whether I was a bit over the top with it and headed into narcissist territory. So that’s a bit of psychological analysis fun for my week… I think I’ll be relieved to get the results back! Ha!

Secondly, I’ve had to go through this deep dive into my childhood. And despite the fact I’ve pretty much always been a happy soul, being who I am, and doing the things I love… a certain kind of grief and pain came up when I recognised some of the pains in my life. As a kid, I had fuck all social skills. I didn’t have school friends until I was 10 or 11 – I preferred the company of books and animals. I just didn’t understand how humans worked, or how they knew how to talk to each other. I feel like they had a chip installed that I didn’t get. RUH ROH LEONIE MISSED THE SOCIAL SKILLS ROBOT CHIP!

I’ve learned how to do it over the years through careful observation and mimicking, but it comes at an energetic cost. I still inwardly wince when people call me “crazy” or “weird” – it still happens on a regular basis. I know that I’m glorious and magnificent and I don’t want to change who I am. I don’t want to be “normal” – I just wish people didn’t feel the need to remind me that I’m different so often. Besides – “crazy” is ableist language. (Re-reading that list just now, I realise I need to retire my use of “bonkerdoodles” – its basis of “bonkers” is also ableist. Alwayyyyys learning!)

Anyways, I’ll let you know the results once I have my review next week!

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It’s a few hours later now. I’m sitting by the river, waiting for school pickup time. It’s one of those salty, hot days that is only improved by perching oneself under a tree by the river.

I am not alone in this endeavour.

Speckles, Bob, Florence & Mo are having a veritable FEAST beside me. They are great company. Ugh, their mate Todd has arrived though. I can’t stand Todd. He’s wearing a MAGA hat under all those feathers.

Hopefully his pigeon mates will win him around to the glory of science and humanity and equality and compassion. We can only hope.

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I guess that’s all I really wanted to say today.

Me, some pigeons, some neuro divergence and the aftermath of Leonie’s Decisions Last Night.

I’m glad she did it though.

My head is getting clearer already. My fingers are floating over the keyboard. I can feel my mind unfurling again.

I’m SO glad we’re doing this.

I see you all as a kind of secret pen pal club.

I’m excited for what’s next.

And want to encourage you: whatever your wild fangly ideas are… follow them.

This way, magic lives.

Also: want  daily emails with these writings? That would be lovely and luscious! Join the crew here:

All my love,

Leonie

The post Press Publish Every Day: The Day After appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Podcast: Entrepreneur on School Run Talks Rambly Shit

Blossoms,

I’ve got a few different things I want to talk to you about today!

So buckle in and grab a cuppa while I talk about:

going through the formal process of getting an Aspergers diagnosis
decluttering
renovations!
my first Black Friday sale
donating a portion of the sales to Australian Wildlife Conservancy
the school holidays
future living plans
the books i’ve been reading and the shows i’ve been watching
gender
should I interview my assistant?
COVID19 updates

Explicit AF

Just to reiterate: this is one sweary motherfucker of a podcast. So if you listen to it around kids… they will defo learn some new vocabulary from Aunty Leonie. MWHAHAHAHA. ENJOYYYYY!

How to listen

Listen below, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)



Want to find all of my podcast episodes?

Just pop over here treasure!

You can also just sit on your couch and yell “OK Google! Play me “Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised” podcast!” and your digital servant shall administer to your needs.

Who gives a fuck about privacy when you can have a little robot assistant at your beck and call so you may never leave the couch again.

HONESTLY HOW GOOD IS LIFE.

THE END.

Big hugs,

The post Podcast: Entrepreneur on School Run Talks Rambly Shit appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Press Publish Every Day

Good humans,

I’m out of practice with writing. And sharing. And formulating thoughts into words, string them into sentences and patch them into prose.

So I’m going to get back in practice. Press publish every day this month.

(Probably not weekends though. And come Christmas time, all bets are off. I’ll have probably relaxed so hard I’ll be drifting on a li-low. But until then… EVERY (WEEK) DAY!)

Golly, what a firm promise.

So, why I’ve gotten stuck?

I think because I’ve grown up as a writer in the era of blogging.

I like this. This part where the page expands before you, and you have no idea where it will go.

I don’t need a clear plan of what to say, I can find it as I go.

And it can take as long as it likes. And I can intersperse it with pictures. And I can keep it forever.

In a word, it’s… MINE.

Attempting to write on social media feels much more complicated. It’s in their space. In their tiny windows. With their tiny limit. It’s not my place for my best work.

But then I worry: do people even READ fucking blogs any more? Is this an appropriate use of my time?

I don’t know, and I want to find out.

So I’ll begin by pressing publish again.

I remember Austin Kleon writing a couple of years ago about how he was stuck for ideas. He didn’t know what to write his next book about. And so he started blogging again. About the things that were inspiring him, notes he’d made, creative discoveries found. And soon enough, he found a common thread. The insights strung together and he found his book.

I’m not here for a book. I’m here for… me.

Because I feel like I’ve forgotten to write – this most essential creativity.

And I don’t want to be without it one moment longer.

“It feels good to reclaim my turf. It feels good to have a spot to think out loud in public where people aren’t spitting and shitting all over the place.” – Austin Kleon

“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.” – Ray Bradbury

Red hot idea alert!

I was thinking… that’s great. You’ve written something, Leonie. But now who to tell? Linking from social media doesn’t do shitttttt. But I reckon there are probably peeps… maybe you? Who’d like to hear my daily musings.

SO! BEHOLD! I can send you telepathic messages to your inbox when I’ve written.

Would that be fun? That could be fun!

Yours in mad penpal love,

The post Press Publish Every Day appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Podcast: Cave Time – Why You Need It STAT!

Possums,

New podcast episode is up! Let’s talk about Cave Time…

What it is, why you need it and how to get it.

This is a huuuugely fucking important part of my self care, as a woman and creative.

What does cave time look like for you?

Explicit AF

Just to reiterate: this is one sweary motherfucker of a podcast. So if you listen to it around kids… they will defo learn some new vocabulary from Aunty Leonie. MWHAHAHAHA. ENJOYYYYY!

How to listen

Listen below, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)



Want to find all of my podcast episodes?

Just pop over here treasure!

You can also just sit on your couch and yell “OK Google! Play me “Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised” podcast!” and your digital servant shall administer to your needs.

Who gives a fuck about privacy when you can have a little robot assistant at your beck and call so you may never leave the couch again.

HONESTLY HOW GOOD IS LIFE.

THE END.

Big hugs,

The post Podcast: Cave Time – Why You Need It STAT! appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Art with Lórien – An Interview with Leonie Dawson

Blossoms,

I sat down with Lórien Eck from Art with Lórien to chat all things creativity and art (and how that fits into business and staffing!)

You can watch the delightful video HERE!

Big love, 

 

 

The post Art with Lórien – An Interview with Leonie Dawson appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Podcast: How I Make Art on My iPad!

Possums,

Today I wanna talk to you about my process in changing towards doing digital art instead of traditional art!

I’m also gonna go through the tools I use as well!

This episode was requested by one of YOU!

If you have a topic you’d like me to cover, shoot an email to support@leoniedawson.com

I’m happy to talk on just about anything! Ha!

Explicit AF

Just to reiterate: this is one sweary motherfucker of a podcast. So if you listen to it around kids… they will defo learn some new vocabulary from Aunty Leonie. MWHAHAHAHA. ENJOYYYYY!

How to listen

Listen below, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)

Want to find all of my podcast episodes?

Just pop over here treasure!

You can also just sit on your couch and yell “OK Google! Play me “Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised” podcast!” and your digital servant shall administer to your needs.

Who gives a fuck about privacy when you can have a little robot assistant at your beck and call so you may never leave the couch again.

HONESTLY HOW GOOD IS LIFE.

THE END.

Big hugs,

The post Podcast: How I Make Art on My iPad! appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Business & Beyond – The Podcast

Baberinos!

Yup, you guessed it! Another FAB podcast interview to share with you!

“In this week’s episode, Niki interviews the incredibly successful Female Founder Leonie Dawson. Leonie is a multi-millionaire, creator of courses, communities, and the world-famous Life & Business Goal Getter Workbooks (which Niki has used every year for the past five years, along with thousands of other women). 

Alongside all of this Leonie manages to work around 10 hours per week AND spent years homeschooling her kids. With many of us having only just survived lockdown homeschooling for a matter of weeks alongside running our businesses, it’s safe to say this is one inspiring woman!

Have a listen and be inspired to think about how you could achieve that elusive work-life balance too.”

Time to find some biccies, make a tea and settle down into that arm chair while you listen HERE! 

Big love, 

 

 

The post Business & Beyond – The Podcast appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.

Podcast: Walking the Wise Woman Way (Reflections On An Anxious Pregnancy)

Babes,

Today I’m reading an excerpt from my book: Lessons Every Goddess Must Know.

I wanted to read you a piece of writing I wrote over 10 years ago now. I was pregnant with my first daughter, Ostara.

This chapter is called “Walking the Wise Woman Way.”

Settle back with a cuppa and have a listen.

Big love to all you mummas out there.

Explicit AF

Just to reiterate: this is one sweary motherfucker of a podcast. So if you listen to it around kids… they will defo learn some new vocabulary from Aunty Leonie. MWHAHAHAHA. ENJOYYYYY!

How to listen

Listen below, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, PocketCast (or wherever else you listen to podcasts!)



Want to find all of my podcast episodes?

Just pop over here treasure!

You can also just sit on your couch and yell “OK Google! Play me “Leonie Dawson Refuses To Be Categorised” podcast!” and your digital servant shall administer to your needs.

Who gives a fuck about privacy when you can have a little robot assistant at your beck and call so you may never leave the couch again.

HONESTLY HOW GOOD IS LIFE.

THE END.

Big hugs,

The post Podcast: Walking the Wise Woman Way (Reflections On An Anxious Pregnancy) appeared first on Leonie Dawson | Shining Life + Biz.