Pre-P.S. You’re reading day five of my 32 days of insights, inspiration, and instigation. (Very informal title). Get the full scoop here. ✨
Insight
The banging in my house was emblematic of the banging in my head.
“[theoretically] it’ll be done by Thursday,” he said.
That’s how I hear all sentences now, with theoretically attached.
Whenever someone says something will be done by a certain day, I add, “theoretically.”
This particular time I was being told our kitchen installation would be complete by Thursday…theoretically.
It’s the quickest path to inner peace at the moment because, as anyone who has ever remodeled or built out a kitchen knows, it’s never done when you think it’s going to be done.
Adding “theoretically” prevents you from wanting to rip your hair out because it strips away any air of certainty.
Needing certainty brings more suffering to our lives than having to sit through a watch party of The Room.
When you add “theoretically,” it dissolves the certainty, and then we’re free to ask more questions to get to the level of clarity we need.
Which is exactly what I did next when I asked the guy, “I don’t see the countertops here. When do they get installed?”
He pulled out his phone to use Google Translate.
Reading his response, I wanted to laugh. (The kind of laugh that only comes when the only thing there is to do is laugh).
“The countertop man will come after the kitchen is installed and measure for the countertops.”
See? It’s a good thing I had already added the word theoretically because I wasn’t expecting the answer to be, “Oh, don’t worry, they will be installed on Thursday, too.” (Even if I was hoping for it).
“How long does that typically take?” I asked in broken Spanish before resorting to typing it out for translation.
“Cinco o seis días.”
I could understand those four Spanish words perfectly.
And before I could get frustrated at the fact that we’ve already eaten out twice a day for 16 days because we were originally told we’d have a kitchen by last week, I added “theoretically” to his comment in my mind.
“Five or six days, theoretically.”
So that means 5 or 6 more days until I can eat at home again.
Theoretically.
Expect more food stories.
Inspiration
As a recovering academic, I’ve spent entirely too many waking hours diving into theories. Today’s inspiration is part inspo and part PSA because people love mistaking theory for truth, and it can really gum things up.
Theory is not truth.
It is a plausible explanation for an event.
A theory comes to be considered “truth” by way of a bunch of academics trying to disprove it, failing, and eventually agreeing that it’s scientifically acceptable.
Theories are for testing, and we test theories with experiments.
This is one of my favorite ways to view life—as a grand experiment.
My friend Reese Spykerman (a brilliant designer of not only her life but conversion strategies) actually texted me those words when I sent her a message about doing this series, “I love it!” she said, “It’s like a grand experiment.”
Viewing life this way allows me to say, “I’m just going to [insert thing I’m about to do] and see what happens.”
Instigation
What would you do this week if you knew it was all just an experiment?
Hit reply and let me know.
I’ve loved reading the responses I’ve been getting to this series so far.
Invitation
In the spirit of “I’m just going to experiment and see what happens,” today’s invitation is this:
I’m going to give a free 30-minute coaching session to the first three people who send me a screenshot of sharing this email in some way.
My coaching sessions are kind of like my writing style, we go deep quickly, and no topic is off-limits. In just under an hour, we’ll identify an unconscious pattern getting in your way and pinpoint how to pivot it.
Be one of the first three people to send me a screenshot of sharing this email in some way, and one of those spots will be yours.
With so much love,
Alyssa, xx
P.S. Did you miss yesterday’s email? Read it here.
P.P.S. Curious about my coaching style? Ask me about it here.