I've always maintained one should never take on two major projects at the same time. (I even proclaimed such in one of my books.) So, of course, I'm totally ignoring my own advice and have taken on two big things. As my good friend and author, Doc Nell Rodgers likes to say, "Sometimes I need to read my own damn book." 

Nonetheless, I also believe it's important to follow your intuition, and I didn't always do that.

Project one has been to select, tag, and pack some of our massive 20th Century collection of antiques.

About a year ago we learned that, due to the sale of the company, my husband was being forced into retirement. Not working after forty-four years has been a massive change, one he has taken to slowly. However, we had always planned that selling off our collection would be part of our retirement plan, the shift just came three years sooner than we thought. (I'd tried warning him that my intuition said differently, but like men with driving directions, he didn't listen.)

With over 3500 items in our collection, we guesstimate it may take us three years to part with all but our most favorite items. So at the moment, I spend my days wrapping, tagging, and packing while living among stacks and stacks of storage tubs waiting for delivery. It's not pretty, but someday (I hope) I'll have a beautiful house once again.

There are some days when all this work makes us silly tired. So tired that the other day, I lost my shirt. Literally. I mean, I couldn't find it anywhere. I remembered going up to bed the night before. As usual, I laid my clothes on the bench at the foot of the bed. When I got up the next morning, no shirt. I spent most of the day looking for it. I looked on the bench, on the floor under the bench, under the bed, in the laundry (even though the laundry is downstairs, and I knew I hadn't been down there). I sifted through my closet. . . maybe I had been so tired I hung it up on autopilot. (Not there.) I wanted to wear it again that day, but I had no choice but to select another.

After having gotten into bed that night, I began to think through my day. Some bad storms blew through during the weekend. The power continued to go off and on for several days after. The day I'd lost my shirt, the power had been off long enough that I needed a heavy hoodie to keep warm. Suddenly I got that intuitive “hit.” Bingo! 

I jumped out of bed to check my intuitive hunch. When I took my hoodie off the night before, I'd hung it in the closet. My missing shirt had apparently come off with it and became trapped inside the hoodie. Only by taking the hoodie off the hanger and shaking it, did I find my missing shirt. I never even realized it had stuck inside the hoodie. (How tired is that?!)

Yet, as all this packing is going on, I decided to re-brand my book. (As if my life isn't crazy enough as it is!) With nearly 400 pages to review and edit, it's a time-consuming task.

It had been clear for quite some time that readers were confused as to the real purpose of the book, and it was time to fix that once and for all.

I revised "Transformational Healing" in 2017 while undergoing chemo for breast cancer. At the time, my intuition told me the book needed some changes, but I thought I would just clean up a few things and let the book ride out its life in that state. I planned to move forward from there with new books.

Then, a couple of years later, while attending a book marketing program, I decided to take those minor changes a step further and re-titled the book to "Stop Getting Sick – Start Living Well." I thought the subtitle "Live Your Best Life by Listening to Your Body" would make the subject matter clear. Maybe it did for a few, but it had a negative side effect in that Amazon (the largest bookseller in the world) began shutting down my ads. Since I'm not a medical doctor, I'm not allowed to proclaim any cures — and even though I wasn't, and proved I wasn't —it was becoming more and more evident that a larger change needed to happen.

Here's the ironic thing, had I listened to my intuition when I first wrote the book, I wouldn't be changing it now. Back then, I told my designer I wanted a weather vane on the cover. "Why?" she asked. "Because this book helps people find direction," I said. But she didn't get it. She convinced me to change the title and use the emerging butterfly indicating transformation. The cover turned out gorgeous. Everyone loved it. Unfortunately, it attracted the wrong audience. The message I wanted to convey became lost.

Oh, the truth is, I had much to learn, and honestly, this journey of years has been a joy ride. I've met so many great people, both mentors and readers, and I've grown so much as a writer and a teacher. While I might have never decided to go forward had I known how long it would take, I wouldn't trade a moment of it now.

So, while I am amid the turmoil of a newly retired spouse and a home turned upside down with stacks of tubs, I am using every bit of downtime I have to revise and re-brand to "Hatch - A Change Your Life Guide." (I hope that message is clear.)

I don’t know about you, but especially now, I am finding many people are looking for a better life, one that is more joyful and fulfilling than the one they have now. (Maybe you are seeing these kinds of people in your life too.) Young, old, and in the middle, are seeking hope and help. I'd like to think my methods, when put into action, could help many to finally hatch a life worth loving. Maybe that’s vain. I don’t know. I just know that the inner push to do this has never let up and so, I will keep working to put my books and ideas out there. After all, these methods worked for me—that must count for something. Right?

While packing and selling is taking precedence, I hope to release my new version come May. Along with it, I plan to offer a video training course and a group gathering place where I can offer myself live for Q&A and Office Hours. (Would you want to attend?)

The moral of this story is, while I don't recommend doing two major things at once, when your intuition tells you it's the right thing to do—do it. So many times we allow loved ones, friends, and others to talk us out of doing what we know we should. Don't listen to them. Listen to your soul calling and follow the doors as they open, one door at a time.

And if that means doing more than one hard thing at a time, then do it.