First up in our series of interviews meant to inspire us to make this the Fall of Excuses is the lovely Rebecca Lerner.
1) Tell us about yourself and what dream you’re currently trying to accomplish.
I write an urban foraging blog called FirstWays, a how-to for anyone interested in learning how to eat or make folk medicine out of common wild plants. I also teach and talk about foraging in person, and I’m writing a book. My goal is to inspire and empower others to know nature wherever it is, whether it’s a vacant lot in a city or a forest. I want to offer some really good reasons to not to kill the wilderness.
The dream I’m currently trying to accomplish is writing that book I mentioned, while continuing to write my blog and expand my audience.
2) How do you manage your time to stay committed and not use that as an excuse to accomplishing your dreams?
Time management can be very challenging. What I do is try to stay busy and keep my expectations reasonable. So, for example, while two blog posts per week might sound great in theory, I know that they take time to plan, research, photograph, write, edit and lay out, so one per week is my limit if I don’t want to feel overwhelmed.
3) When you do get stuck creatively or in the pursuit of your dreams, what causes it and how do you get out of that rut?
It’s easy to get stuck creatively or to feel pressured or overwhelmed by your own expectations, and I tend to feel that way when I get stuck in work mode and forget that it’s supposed to be fun to write. I think that’s really important. You have to take great pleasure in what you do and approach it as an enjoyable activity or else you will burn out, and your creation will reflect that sense of drudgery. (If you’re not having fun, your readers aren’t, either.) I find it helps to surround yourself with inspiration – books, music, art, nature, friends — and to keep having new experiences so that you maintain your sense of wonder about the world, your positivity and your growth as a person.
4) What words of advice would you give to someone trying to accomplish their dreams and live a life without excuses?
Here you are on Earth, your one shot at this life, your one shot at being who you are in this body in this place at this time. Maybe you chose to be here, maybe it just happened this way, but either way here you are now, a spirit incarnated as a human at one of the most exciting times you could ever live. It’s the sixth great extinction event on Planet Earth, possibly the end of humanity, maybe the end of life, maybe the beginning of Utopian existence, who knows. And here you are at this very exciting very special moment in time. In your one shot at being here at this time in this body in this place, what would really excite you to do? What’s your biggest, most fulfilling dream for yourself in this life in this body at this time? What would be the most fun thing in the whole world? What do you want to be able to say you contributed? What would be a knee-slappin’ funny-bone-ticklin’ adventure for YOU to have? Some day you’ll be back in the Dreamtime or just bones under the ground, but right now you’re free and breathing and you can do absolutely anything.
You went to all the trouble of being born and growing up, so you may as well make it worthwhile. Now go off and dream as big as you possibly can, fill your heart with excitement and happiness at the thought, and then go do it. You know you have a gift to give the world. This is your chance to do it.
