Turtle's Lesson - August 1, 2019

In March 2018, Charlieswisdom.com was the victim of a vicious hacker, and the host immediately took the site offline. Due to extensive damage to the site, it was not worth the expense to salvage.

I was heartbroken and confused by the situation. Was it an indication that Charlie’s Wisdom needed to be done? It did not feel right to let it go. I enjoy writing, inspiring, sharing what I have learned about myself as I practice authenticity. Maybe others have benefited, perhaps not. I wrote for myself and if others followed or enjoyed the blog, then all the better.

There were a few options:

• Go bigger, hire someone to create a more professional site, and try to create another income?

• Build a new website by myself (a painful process for someone who does not fully embrace technology)?

• Let it go?

While contemplating, I kept writing and soul searching. It came down to my desire to keep Charlie’s Wisdom sacred, spiritually based, and peaceful. The idea of the pressure and financial commitment to maintain a professionally done site plus release a new article consistently felt stressful, and my preference is to keep stress levels low. I write when I feel inspired and do not believe in forcing the process. Building a new site on my own also felt stressful. My husband and kids chuckle at me when I get a new phone or computer because they know I will be swearing at the machine within a few short hours. Build a website!? My jaw and stomach clenched at the notion.

Through further contemplation, it occurred to me that turtle is one of my primary animal totems. Packed with an array of symbolism, the one that often comes to my mind is the lesson in Aesop’s Fable The Hare and Tortoise - slow and steady wins the race. And that’s the guidance I chose to follow and decided to create a new website on my own.

Taking my time to think, create, and tackle each challenge as it presented itself, I began with the transfer of the domain to a different host (Square Space rocks!!). Every time I felt frustration mounting, I took a break for a few days and came back to the project with fresh eyes or a new thought. It took a year to create, but I did it! I lost everything when the old site went down. Thank Spirit I had the foresight to keep my articles saved in a Word document. But I had to once more “clean up” the articles (because the final draft was not saved) as well as match pictures to the material again. Step by step, it started to come together. And presto here we are!

I am a firm believer when the time is right, all will fall into place. The final piece of inspiration came for me one month ago during a life-changing motorcycle adventure (more about this in a future article). 1800 miles later, I knew it was time to go live and continue this adventure

So here we are again! Live and ready for action – whatever that may be.

Kelly

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