HBD Mom!
The #WickedWednesday newsletter is inspired by my desire to share stories focused on promoting community and creating positive change, something we all need more of nowadays.
Today is a special #wickedwednesdays edition because it's my mom's birthday. Happy birthday to my inspiration, Sharon Aks, CPA!
A lot of folks don't know this - when I was 17 I told my mom she needed to start her own business, Simply Financials Plus, and she did. Now, this was at the height of the 2007 recession, so not sure listening to a 17-year-old for career advice was the best idea, but luckily it has all worked out.
And 17 years later, her daughter started her own business with Wicked Writers. Yay intergenerational #femaleentrepreneurs! I am honored to follow in my mom's footsteps and still can't believe she listened to a teenager for career advice. I hope to be able to pay the opportunity forward as she did for me.
I've also mentioned before that my mom was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago. We are so grateful that she got the best treatment in the world at Memorial Sloan Kettering and is now cancer-free. Every birthday is certainly even more special now.
My mom has taught me, my sister and my husband a lot of life lessons, one of the most important being to embrace silliness and laughter. Life is tough and it is being with the ones we love and not taking ourselves too seriously that makes the road a little bit easier.
It's National Poetry Month!
April is #NationalPoetryMonth, so obviously we are going to highlight some amazing poets. The Academy of American Poets has created a list of 30 ways to celebrate!
One thing that stuck out to me was 2022’s most-read poem from Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem called “Kindness.” Here is an excerpt:
"...Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say It is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend."
No #WickedWednesdays Next Week
As I mentioned last week, there will be no #wickedwednesdays of April 10. I'm excited to take some time off and have a lot of fun things planned, including two bachelorettes and a trip to Disney!
While a solopreneur doesn't get paid while taking time off, this is a much needed break filled with some of the people I love most in this world. I can't wait to unwind in warmer weather and create new memories (and of course, things to write about).
Want to learn more about my work? Visit wickwriters.com, post a comment below or drop me a line at rachaeldubinsky@gmail.com.
Until next next week, stay #wicked.