Ok. I have a problem. A big problem that I’d love to share with you all, and both hear your insights and ask for your support.
I have been working with women quite a lot recently. I have been creating small, intimate retreats dedicated to the transition of peri-menopause, menopause and beyond.
I love it because it's an absolute honour to facilitate a group of wise women. There is so much wisdom in the room, and my role is more of a maestro, who simply guides the group of very talented and skilled musicians into creating something wonderful together.
So the work itself is beautiful, and through it, I get to meet the most amazing women.
But, and there is a BUT…many women who are keen to do this work are not financially stable. Unfortunately, this is one of the very visible and sad by-products of our current capitalist model. Many of the women who come to my work are single parents, and I, in all honesty, don’t know how their bodies can manage so much continuous stress. They are pretty amazing women!
The sadness for me is in “saying no” to some women who want and should (because if they want they should) come to these retreats or online experiences, but have no financial capacity to do so.
Sadly, I am not yet in a position where I can work for free, so this leaves me in a…
PICKLE!
I have been lucky to have never had to say a “full no” to anyone who has wanted to work with me. I have created partial scholarships, experimented with barter (which is unfortunately not sustainable), and occasionally had sponsors.
I am now in this situation once more. Every time I put out a new retreat, there are usually one or two people who would love to come but can’t. So I decided to put this out there to my wider online community and see if you can enlighten me with your wisdom.
In an ideal world, I’d love to work under an entirely different financial model at some point, but I don’t quite know what that'd look like. In the meantime, any support and ideas would be greatly appreciated.
On another note…
We are deep in Winter here in Australia, and I am feeling this hibernation energy quite strongly. Once the Earth's cycle brings more light and movement in early Spring, I’d love to start involving this community in my book-writing process.
I've been posting on Substack quite irregularly lately. The reason for that is that I have been dedicating my time mostly to my book and also working with people (coaching or group work).
I also hit a wall with my articles. I now feel this need to move deeper into the work, to be more granular, more nuanced, and the articles were not “doing it”. So, the only way I found to deepen my work was through writing a book.
I wasn’t sure how to reconcile these seemingly very different worlds. The world of book writing and the world of popping frequent articles, but a friend suggested that I start sharing my writing on Substack. Even (especially) the unfinished parts and the parts that may never make the light of day once I edit the book.
So…here goes another question. Would you be interested in collaborating on this writing project?
Exploring the various ways in which we can live in harmony with the cyclical rhythm of life itself is my happy place, and I’d love to create more opportunities for collaborations. Feel free to reach out!
With love,
Adriana