You’ll find all the 3.0 Nudges + some archives on the new website. Older posts will remain here, and we encourage you to explore them for inspiration as you create your own list of Nudges.
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Starting Sunday, June 19th, 52Nudges can be found at
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Archives will stay here. Feel free to browse through old posts for inspiration.
I’m always on the lookout for ways to practice Radical Self-Care, so was pleased to stumble upon this article from Real Simple. Check out “8 Simple Ways to Practice Self-Care Every Day” and see if there’s something in here you can do for yourself today or add to your bowl for a future Nudge.
I’ve missed you! I’ve missed nudging!
This Sunday I will resume drawing Nudges, and I hope you’ll join me. Watch your inbox around noon PDT for my pick, and do it with me or choose one of your own.
The plan is to get back on track with weekly Nudges here, then continue our adventures on the beautiful NEW 52Nudges website — coming soon!
Aren’t new beginnings exciting?! Thank you for being part of this with me.
Dearest Nudger,
Today, for the first time in five weeks, I’m wearing real pants. Not slightly-too-big and gentle-on-my-abdomen sweatpants—which have been my wardrobe since March 30—but actual zipped-up, buttoned-up jeans. This is a huge win for me.
In case you missed my post from a month ago, a ruptured appendix, surgery, infections, and complications (there was a return to the ER on the 10th) inspired me to take The Great Pause of 2022. Well, “inspired” is not the word. When multiple doctors tell you “You are very lucky to be alive. Really: You are very, very lucky to be alive,” you have no choice but to clear your schedule and devote all of your time and energy to healing and Radical Self-Care.
A most appropriate—and appreciated—gift from a friend.
It’s been hard—at times painful, discouraging, challenging, frustrating, depressing. Recovery is slow, yet it progresses. (See “wearing real pants” above.) I’ve been getting out for short walks to begin regaining strength, answering the calls to rest when needed, and easing back in to the office with some client work.
Next week I’ll do a little more. I trust one day I will wake up and realize I am fully myself again—or my new self. And I’m counting on Nudges to help me as I reconsider, reimagine, and reinvent my future.
The 52Nudges team has continued to work behind the scenes to get the new website in shape, so we’ve got that to look forward to. Also, we’ve got some Guest Nudgers lined up to share their journeys. I’m excited to experience all of this and more. I hope to resume drawings of Nudges in the next couple of weeks.
Today my overall emotion is gratitude. I appreciate the support Thor and I have received in the form of calls, cards, comments, prayers, and acts of kindness. I am so lucky to be a part of this loving community, and I appreciate everyone who has helped me get through this Great Pause. I’m grateful to still be here—with most of my original parts! 😉
I’ll see you back here soon. Be gentle with yourself. xoKath
So…my appendix ruptured. I am now home, having spent several days in hospital being treated for the resulting infections. I’m fine. I’ll be fine.
I’m also clearing my schedule.
For a few moments, I considered running past Nudges or doing some cute little TLC Nudges, but that’s not what I need. Radical Self-Care (and reality) demands that right now I put me first in every way.
I’ll be back. I’m not sure when, maybe in a few weeks. In the meantime, you might continue to do Nudges from your own list, review some oldies and re-challenge yourself, or take time to consider and do what you really need for you right now.
It’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, and I’m feeling grateful to be alive. xoKath
Dawn, as seen from my hospital room.
P.S. Some of you will want to reach out, and I appreciate this. Instead of having to open and respond to lots of messages, something I don’t have the energy for, I ask that you send your good wishes to me in your thoughts and prayers and save the emails and texts for later.
When I set the “rules” for Nudges, I was very intentional. Must be something that can be done within one week. Must cost just $20 or less. Must make me uncomfortable.
That last one. Sometimes I hate that last one.
Case in point: For some time now I have been working on upgrading the 52Nudges website. Things were fine, but they could be so much better. Making things better takes time, money, learning, and working way outside my quite comfortable areas of expertise, so it took my being nudged by some good people—among them Lyndsey Woods, Pilar Dowell, Erin Bayer—to take the painful next steps. There have been days when I have wanted to chuck the whole project into the trash bin and move on to projects that were easier and more fun.
And then I remind myself that facing and moving through the uncomfortableness to a better life is the whole point of 52Nudges. By challenging myself and taking risks, I am growing. This is good!
So I trudge onward, knowing I will still run into obstacles that make me bang my forehead on my desk, curse the day I decided be a solo creative-entrepreneur, and cry into my coffee. I will make mistakes and screw things up, till I figure out how to fix them. I will remind myself to ask for help. I will feel so dang good when it’s done.
I don’t yet have a launch date to announce, but here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming:
I look forward to sharing the new and improved 52Nudges website with you, and I hope it—and all of this journey—inspires you to keep nudging yourself to experience a full and beautiful life.
52Nudges has a new logo!
Thanks to Pilar at Pilar Dowell Graphic Design for her fab work on this. (Seriously, the hardest part was picking just one from all of the gorgeous options.) Thanks to the review team members who provided feedback, and to Nudgers who weighed in with their preferences.
More good stuff coming!
I’ve already forgotten the book or article that introduced “Radical Decency” to me, but the message stuck. As we head into this holiday weekend, I am going to make an extra effort to reach out to someone. Maybe it’s someone I know who is grieving a recent loss or who will be especially lonely. Maybe it’s someone with whom I have a challenging relationship, a relationship that needs mending. After I wrap up the traditional calls to family members and close friends, I’m going to nudge myself to make one more, even if all I get to do is leave a message that says “I’m thinking of you.” I hope you’ll do the same.
I wish you a Merry Everything and Happy Always! xoKathleen
nudge: something that pushes me out of my comfort zone, an experience that helps me live my best life, a task that can be completed in one week
Well, two out of three! 😉
This week I completed my biggest nudge ever when I uploaded my book to Amazon. Years in the making (because I had to live my story before I could tell it), The Mother of All Dilemmas tells how I explored the possibility of becoming a single mother and how I came to fully embrace the truth that all women have value—even childless me!
“Well-articulated…with painstaking honesty and emotional generosity.”
—Jody Day, psychotherapist, author of Living the “Life Unexpected: 12 Weeks to Your Plan B for a Meaningful and Fulfilling Future Without Children”, and founder of Gateway Women
As a reader of the 52Nudges blog, you know some of my story. I hope you’ll pick up the book to learn more and be inspired to live your own truths. Maybe one day I’ll have the privilege of reading your story.
The Mother of All Dilemmas is available for preorder on Kindle here. Paperback will be available July 22.