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What I am Thinking about my 40th Birthday!

November 10, 2022 By Erica Deuel 4 Comments

my 40th birthdayRecently, I was asked if turning 40 was harder or easier than turning 30. This made me pause and wonder more what I was thinking about my 40th birthday, and I am excited to put those thoughts into words with all of you.  Life is a journey and as Peter Pan says, “to live will be an awfully big adventure.” How cool I’ve now been adventuring for 40 years.

This past weekend I turned the big 4-0. We celebrated in the most low key, family way.

I don’t like surprises or having lots of eyes on me, and I just wanted to intentionally enjoy my family. The older I get, the more I want the simple things in life. It’s been the work of the last few months to get to a more sustainable, enjoyable place. The ability and gift to sit in a chair and not be wondering of what you should be doing or what needs to be done, but can rest peacefully is the hard work of coming out of an intense season.

On this birthday, I just got to play, be agenda free, and be in the moment. That was the best gift of all. To me, it showed that I had grown.

What I am thinking about my 40th birthday

handmade birthday cardsOne of the biggest lies and fears I had when closing the studio was how it felt like I was going backwards. At the time, I was being asked, messaged, and emailed regularly about how to open an art studio. I processed and responded to these requests the best I could, but I always was thinking “whoa, I’m not sure. I’m still trying”.

Inwardly, I was also processing how to shut it all down. How do you quit and go back to your roots when the world pushes forward movement, position, and sees only the good?

How I Celebrated My 40th Birthday

On my day, I threw on my Halloween costume and went outside with my family. I was present all day just being with them mentally and physically. It’s in these moments that I am continually reminded I have done the RIGHT hard work.

My head and my heart were at the same place.

This is my 40th birthdayI’m Feeling Free on This 40th Birthday

Matt has told me several times that when he’s asked how I am doing now he responds with ‘she’s the healthiest I have ever seen her’. Wow.

We’ve now been married for over 18 years. We see each other every day and go to bed together every night. For the man, who knows me most, to say that means a lot. I’ve done some hardwork to reconnect with Erica. The Erica before all the expectations and responsibilities; and as a result, it’s made me more free.

I feel more alive.

I feel more light-hearted.

I feel more playful.

I feel more energized.

I feel more confident.

I feel more available.

I feel more content.

I feel more hopeful.

Life is a journey, and I am so thankful for every road and turn that has led me to this beautiful life that I have renewed eyes to soak in the small moments and everyday gorgeous, simplicities.

To celebrate my day, I wanted to adventure with my family. We tried to do a ropes course, but as northern Indiana would have it- most were closed already for the season. We opted to do an escape room, dinner out, and a Target run to celebrate my birthday on Saturday. While we were gone, a huge tree fell in our yard. Luckily, nothing was really hurt except the door to our fence.

We woke the next day, on my actual birthday, and had a relaxed morning of donuts and the sweetest gifts-including my fresh Target haul all wrapped up (still in the Target bag :)). We then went into the yard and climbed the tree, cut the tree, burned the tree and were literally outside all day as a family.

In Moving Forwards, I am Largely Connecting with My Roots

My day was a dream day. As a kid, I always would choose to go camping or do a hike to celebrate my birthday. Being in nature is one of my happy places. I was back doing that sort of thing with my family to celebrate.

There’s something so so satisfying about burning wood. I love it. Can you relate??

I could sit at a fire and feed it things all day long, and I got to do just that. Being outside, off devices and playful with my crew made for an amazing day.

I rescued some wood slices to use in projects and Matt made them our plates, as we cooked over the fire. It was so fun, un-rushed, and relaxing.

The gift and simplicity of a fun day to remember is what my heart longs for now.

Simple Gifts on my birthdayIn conclusion, turning 40 was much easier than turning 30. My 30’s were all about growing the life I now get to live. I grew kids, we fostered other kids, we moved hundreds of miles, we began a new business venture,  and it was a very busy, exciting (while also exhausting) life. There was constant change.

I learned in this bridge from 39 to 40 how far I can extend myself, before I don’t feel like me. I am coming back into me, and I am here for it. I think my 40’s are going to be some of the best.

Feeling more like me is one of the best gifts.

There’s Hope in Living

If you are still in the hard years, giving your all and coming up drained, don’t give up.

There’s things you can do even now to begin a healing journey. I’ve been doing the hard work of processing my story and writing up daily habits that helped me go from overwhelm and exhaustion to a more empowered and intentional life. I can’t wait to share more, but for now…STAY IN TOUCH. In the next two weeks, I will be sharing more and have an opportunity to work with all of you. It’s more behind the scenes of my journey, but it’s really largely for helping you with yours.

My journey is not done, and wherever you are within yours, I would love to help cheer you on. We are made to do life together, with people and cheerleaders in our corner! Stay tuned and if you aren’t on my newsletter yet, jump in for this weekly goodness. This is where I will share it ALL in just a few short weeks.

Thanks for celebrating my birthday by reading this long post about where I have been, where I am now…and where we can hopefully, go together in the coming weeks. Living is an awfully, big adventure.

 

 

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30 Days of Imagination

October 7, 2022 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Happy Friday Friends!!

Whew, how was this week for you!?

Next month, I turn a big milestone. Do you know anyone else born in 1982? It’s a big year for us. As I have been on this journey to reconnect to my natural wiring, saying goodbye to false expectations, and welcoming in new habits of health, play, rest, and LIFE, I found myself processing this birthday more than the usual ones.

We all go through seasons of life where it might be more a time of hustle verse a time of slowing down and reflection. What really stands out is that we all can use a reset from time to time in the midst of those seasons. In my reset season, I sometimes still just need an extra little nudge. Hello to being human. I’m thankful for the friends that get me out on a walk and remind me of the things I ultimately am working towards.

Let’s Do a 30 Day Imagination Journey Together!

Do you need a little nudge as well? Let’s journey together. Today, I am beginning a 30 day imagination challenge, and I would love to invite you to join me. I’ve made the calendar. You can take each exercise as elaborate or simple as you want. Get your copy and share this link with a friend as well who can use this fun.

Imagining the possibilities is a form of the creative process.

Imagining is a skill you learn and practice. Show up every day with me for the next month to practice skills, stay inspired, and allow the interesting, rewarding possibilities to emerge. Being young at heart is just a lifestyle. We got this.

Let’s view it as an opportunity to realign with who we are, what we want, and what we’re doing about it. Think about it. Could you use something like this!? GAME ON! This will go until November 5 (the eve of my 40th birthday). I cant wait to see and be inspired by how you take each little prompt! I’ll be sharing my journey daily on social media.

Please tag us on Instagram and use the hashtag #spoonfulofimagination30days if you do as well, so we can journey together!

P.S. We started easy today with listening to some classical music. I haven’t done that in a long, long time but have been wanting too as my friend, Jonna, does when she works! It was so much fun! You can see more of my exercise in this YouTube clip.

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A Little Lie I Believed

September 22, 2022 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

 

Have you ever walked away from a job, relationship, neighborhood, hobby or situation and thought, “did I just lose a little of my identity?”

Closing the studio was such a process that I had wrapped up parts of me in. It was a dream that I fought hard for (and survived a world wide pandemic with) and it oozed out my passion. Using the creative process to build connection, community, joy, health, pride, amazing risk takers, and confident decision makers is so much of my heart beat. To shut a place down that did all that,  made me question if I was shutting down parts of me.

I will never forget that May 5th day, where I taught my last lesson in one of our local elementary schools. I cried all day long, as the above pictures show.

I was so proud of the work we had done, but I was also grieving the end to a beautiful season. I can’t look at that picture of me dancing, with excited artists, while I taught about Indiana and how to personalize a sign to YOU (the artist) without tearing up. It’s a lesson I raised money for, dreamed up and got to teach in our eight elementary schools for over 4 years.

Over time, I realized it’s ok that there was a lot of my identity tied up in the studio. It’s good to know who we are, what our giftings are, and what is our passion. I didn’t lose my identity. I took it with me. I’m still creative and I still want to help others create and connect. It just looks different in this new season, so I want to take my experience of blogging for 13 years, running that studio for 5, and my outlook on life and help others in ways I can this season.

Last week, I gave away my FREE art birthday party check list. After hosting hundreds of art parties in that studio or in my home, I have learned a formula that is kink free to hosting a party that honors a birthday child, creates a special memory, and has everyone leaving happy. If you didn’t get this, email me back and I will send it to you!

I will let you in on a little secret as faithful followers here. I am creating an online course. It’s super exciting and a little scary, but I am convinced that I can keep helping others in the creative process and that little lie that I was losing my voice to hep others is officially dead. After sharing that free tutorial, I immediately got this message…

I can’t believe you gave all that away for FREE! You spent so many years developing that method! You are too generous

My first thought was it worked! I can use my experience to still help others. So, I’d love to invite you to journey this new path with me. I will continue to give away free content like this and behind the scenes I am learning about course creation and creating my own. I will be sharing more, but one way to stay in the loop is to join my weekly FREE newsletter. I hope I’ll see you inside there soon.

If you are believing a little lie too, I hope you can push past, work through it, and see how actually that pain point is a strength that you can use to help others too.

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The Making of a Mini Mural

August 29, 2022 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

Mister Rogers. Was he a part of your childhood?

I watched the show a little growing up, but I think Mister Rogers really became a hero for me more as I was an adult. His philosophy and perspective for children and their development is one that I just really respect.

I recently read Fred’s biography, as I was wondering what made this man into who he was.

I have been in a season of change with my own work. As we worked to close down our non-profit studio, I have been thinking through what do I want to do now!? I really still want to help people tap into their imagination, be creative, and feel empowered to bring their ideas to life. So, not much has changed in my passion. I just want to go about it differently.

You can imagine how encouraging it was to read about Fred’s life and how every 5-6 years he changed the work he was doing. Did you know that!? I’m not going to get this perfect but in a quick summary…

  • He left a growing career at NBC to work on a free children’s program in Pittsburgh.
  • He began and worked on the Children’s Corner for 6 years
  • He stopped that and went to seminary
  • He then did not get a church after seminary, but he wanted the TV to be his pulpit
  • He then moved to Canada to begin Mister Rogers in a 15 min show
  • He moved back to Pittsburgh to begin the Mister Rogers Neighborhood that we know
  • He quit that to work with adults -wanting to help them, so they can better help kids
  • He went back to Mister Rogers Neighborhood

I’m not sure how you sum up Fred Rogers work, but I tried. One theme that I took away from his life is he stayed true to two core principals.

  1. He knew who he was and what he cared about and loved.
  2. He had a passion for children development with education.

He might have changed how he went about his work, but he never stopped trying to help children imagine, learn, and walk through big emotions and situations of life. That was so encouraging to read, as I still want to do a lot of the work I used to do. It just needs to be different in this season.

Fred’s mom often said to Fred, “Look for the helpers. There are always people helping”. That phrase helped Fred through scary times and he used it to help others. As I process the world and how many people’s lives have changed drastically the last few years, I wonder how ok people really are? This concept can go lots of directions, but without talking politics, pandemic, or work force, we still know there are heroes all around us. Heroes on the front lines.

The concept of a “hero” can be a big pressure to feel or believe is impossible to reach. How do you become a hero? Maybe you don’t want to be a fire fighter, nurse, doctor, policeman, or teacher, but you can be a helper.

We can be helpers by doing simple acts like…

smiling at a stranger in the supermarket.

holding the door for an older citizen.

taking the trash out for your family.

pushing the shopping cart.

playing a game with a younger child.

making a meal for a hurting family.

sitting with someone grieving.

writing someone a card.

There are so many ways we can be helpers. In this simple ways of being helpers, we really are being heroes too. I love how Fred used easy words to say powerful concepts.

This quote stuck with me and I imagined how inspiring it could be to live on a big wall in a community. I took Fred’s whimsical, childlike heart and paired it with his mom’s powerful words and dreamed up this mural.

I had to get the idea out of my head, so I painted it on a sign and got my talented friend, Beth, to do the words. It’s our mini mural.

We can all be helpers. We all have that power. Being a hero might seem intimidating, but we can all do simple, everyday acts to show the people we interact with that they matter. Taking the time to really “see” people is what can help heal whatever we all just went through these last few years.

We are better together.

Now, don’t you see this painting on a city wall!? Where should it go??? Do you relate your life to books and back to real life again? Go out and be a helper today. I am off to make my family dinner ;).

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