Read this when you can’t decide, but feel like you have to:

I was chatting with a friend last night. She was feeling the weight of needing to decide, needing to make a decision in so many defining areas of her life. 

She’s been almost waiting for the right idea or direction, to drop into her being in such a way that the entire path would line up, and be clear, and make sense, so that she could decide. So that she could take action.

Yet, clarity rarely comes before the action. And so I what I said to her was this:

No matter what you do, you are going to arrive at the exact destination that you are meant to – the only thing that will keep you from getting there is to do nothing at all. 

Because when we do something, anything, breadcrumbs appear in front of us to follow. Life decides for us, but in order to be guided, we have to be living. 

Inner conflict is often the heaviest burden that we carry. And a reality of infinite possibilities often shines a bright light on the conflicts that we hold deep inside—the more possibilities available to us, the more inner conflict is exposed and amplified.

And, the more we feel as if we have to make these big sweeping decisions about our lives, where we are going, and what we are doing. 

Which sometimes makes us think and feel like we can’t take a step forward without knowing where we are going, in a big way.

Yet in reality, the most efficient way forward is to take one step, followed by another. Whether we know where we are going or not is not always relevant. You can (and will) figure it out along the way. 

So what are the breadcrumbs? How do we step forward to find and follow them?

The breadcrumbs, AKA the guideposts for life, are the little things that bring you joy. And it’s your job to follow them relentlessly, even and especially when they don’t make sense.

At the end of December 2024, I was 11 weeks and 4 days pregnant. And then on January 1st, I wasn’t anymore. For many days and weeks, I was lost. I quite literally stumbled around my life. Hiding and coming out again. Traveling. Distracting. Some days bare-minimum existing. 

In February, I decided to take a pottery class and spend the month in Florida. I really liked it (pottery). I decided that I wanted to buy my own wheel, and it turned out that someone in the studio was moving back to Europe and selling theirs for a price that I couldn’t turn down. In March, I bought some clay, packed up my car and headed back to Surf City, NC, where I started throwing my own pieces in my garage. 

My fiance bought me a mini kiln and I slowly collected glazes. I shared my work for no particular reason. People started asking me to make things for them and offering to pay me. I made a Sake set for my friend McClaine and then a local art gallery asked to buy my work. I met a couple in a local coffee shop to hand over some homemade espresso cups when the owner of the shop peeped my work. He asked me to make some mugs for them. 

Suddenly, I began receiving wholesale orders and custom orders, and I began building systems to support me. 

If you had asked me 8 months ago if I would be selling pottery as a source of income, I would have probably laughed at you. And more importantly, if I had any inkling that this is where I would be, I would have talked myself out of it because pottery doesn’t make any sense in my portfolio of creativity and business. It wouldn’t have fit in my mind, and I wouldn’t have taken it seriously. 

Rather than having the big picture 8 months ago, I followed the breadcrumbs. And most days they felt truly like breadcrumbs – so fucking small and seemingly insignificant. Yet, here I am today. 

I’m sharing this because I’ve had my share of existential crises. I’ve felt the weight of needing to know, needing to decide, needing to control and organize my life and take action in the direction that I wanted to move in. 

And what I’ve found is that when I let go of whatever I think I want and need, when I let go of what I think I ought to be doing, when I let go of the how-to-reach the far-off destination or point of success I’ve imagined for myself, life actually fills it all in for me. 

And I’m willing to bet that life has your back too. 

Letting go does not mean releasing anything (not your dreams, not your desires, not wherever you are going). It means allowing what is – because what is is the most efficient path forward.

Let me know how this one landed for you. & you can find some of my pottery here.

Sending so much love,

mg

P.S. “Life decides for you” was a near direct quote from the wonderful Kening Zhu && “Letting go does not mean releasing anything” was inspired by Brianna Wiest (honestly, it’s highly likely that that is a near direct quote as well).

My foster dog (Chicken) & I at the home wheel 🐕