Back in the day, when things were... Simple.

Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of my arrival in Los Angeles.  I was truly BASKING in the sunshine, turning around and around (like a big ol' nerd), looking at the palm trees, and just happy to be alive and moving in the direction of my heart.

A lot has changed.  I still bask on occasion, but mostly I think about my "to dos" and figure out strategies to move myself forward.  I no longer feel that I have to prove to others that I can "make it" - heck, I'm doing that.  I DO feel that I have to continue to prove to MYSELF that I can elevate my career.  And that comes with a lot of self-pressuring that I've tried to allay with yoga and the aforementioned occasional "basking."  And yet I frequently find myself overwhelmed.  Not unhappy, just tired and frazzled.

In the spirit of manifesting more of what I want in my life and less (or NONE) of what I don't want, I've been taking a look at my day-to-day activities and deciding what needs to go.  Challenging assumptions of things "somebody said actors HAVE to do in order to succeed," and molding my career to be more "me-shaped" instead of shaping myself to fit what "somebody said."

The first of a short list of things that need to be tweaked in order  to go from "time-waster" to "useful tool" is social media.  Whenever I don't want to do something, I wander over to Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest under the guise of "seeing how other people are doing."  An hour later I'm giggling at a sneezing panda video, or drooling over a snowman cookie somebody so creatively made.  Mildly entertaining, to be sure, but there are much better ways that I can utilize my time.

So I've converted my FB profile into a public page, and am in the process of uploading pertinent info ONLY.  I have already curtailed my Twitter usage and the verdict is still out on Pinterest, but I have an idea. In general, I need to move in the direction of more "informational tool" less "social hour."

I also have tooooo many websites!  Last year I thought diversification was a good idea.  I have 3 different websites, an etsy store, a blog that is trying to do too much (this one), 2 facebook groups, 3 twitter accounts, and I have been trying to figure out how to create an online gallery for my oil paintings.  No wonder I always feel like I'm not doing something I should be doing!!  I am going to carefully merge all of these entities back into one much less-schizoid "Nicole J. Butler."  It will save me money on hosting too.

Yesterday, I took some time and re-read the first few entries of my first blog over at Blogspot.  I know we tend to romanticize the past, but it really was a simpler time, web-presence wise.  The good news is that I created this mess, and I can remedy it.  So, if you stay tuned, you will see some changes.  And I do hope you stay tuned.

XO

--Nicole