Making. Not riding.

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	Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Waves Making. Not riding. Carrie Monroe O’Keefe Jan 3   READ IN APP   I closed out 2024 in a good place. We’re nearly done building our house, within the month we’ll close out our construction loan and move back to a traditional mortgage. The stress of the build, and dealing with vendors, and the bank, and acting as a general contractor - all of that is almost over. I have a job that I love and I’m good at and I work with truly wonderful humans. My girls are happy and thriving. I have a supportive and awesome family, my husband is lovely, my friends are the best, and I figured out (at a young age of 48 years old) how to properly manage my health in a way that actually works for my brain. I am happy and comfortable. When I started thinking about what I wanted 2025 to look like, something became clear. While it’s imperative to take the time and space to revel in comfort, to allow ourselves to coast, to simply be - there is also a time to turn the page, roll up our sleeves, and show ourselves and the world what we’re truly capable of. It’s not that I haven’t worked hard, or faced challenges, or done my best in the past couple of years. Because I’ve worked real hard, and we have faced serious challenges, and I really did do my best work. But for the past couple of years as we’ve recovered from more than a decade of raising our kids in an incredibly difficult blended family situation, we’ve allowed ourselves to decompress and, to a certain extent, coast. Yes, we built a house, and did much of the work ourselves. And that stretched us in ways I wouldn’t have thought possible. And yes, we’ve gotten healthier and that didn’t come from sitting in front of the TV eating bon bons. And sure, I self-published a book last year but it wasn’t new content. We were constantly moving, we were hustling, we were literally framing walls, we were working the jobs we love and are great at…buuuuttttt… As December came upon us, I started thinking that what I wanted to focus on in 2025 was growth. Financial, creative, professional, relationship - growth. I decided it was time to get out of the comfort zone I’ve been hanging out in and put myself out there. Try new things. Write the next book. Transition to a new blogging platform (cough…cough). Move on in my health journey to focus on strength. All things I know I’m capable of but haven’t really attempted seriously. ‘Growth,’ I thought, that was going to be my 2025 theme. Then I did a Peloton Outdoor class the other day and heard this Kid Cudi song*. The refrain is “I ain’t riding no waves, too busy making my own waves, baby.” And I thought ‘yeesssss. THIS is how I want to roll into and through 2025!!!’ Growth, yes, but riding waves is exactly what I’ve been doing since our youngest daughter graduated from high school in 2023. I have been riding the waves and basking in the sun. And while it’s been great, and refreshing, and lovely, it also hasn’t yielded the kinds of gains I’d like to see. New books don’t write themselves, blogs don’t magically appear in new places without effort, doubling my salary can’t happen just by being good at my job, I can’t look forward to lifelong health without building some muscle. My big dreams and goals are not generated from staying comfortable or coasting. I know I needed the past 1.5 years to reset my brain and body, but the reset has happened, and now it’s time to make my own waves, baby. LFG. *Listen at your own risk - I cannot get this out of my brain. Thanks for reading Mamacadabra! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribed Leave a comment Share Order your copy of “Mamacadabra” now! Amazon Barnes & Noble   Like Comment Restack   © 2025 Carrie Monroe O’Keefe 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe