🇪🇺 My Eurotrip has led me - through many glorious ups and excruciating downs- to the moment that I have been hoping to avoid: A divorce. It is much harder than I expected.

🤷‍♂️ If you’ve been following this blog the past 12 weeks, you know I have done the work! But isn’t it strange how we sometimes find it hard to let go of things that do not serve us?

🙋 Poll of The Week

Thanks for voting to keep this website last week. You saved me a ton of work that I thought I had to do. That does not mean it won’t happen, but you’ve helped me push it down my priority list.

I need your opinion on something else this week. I am working on setting up a data-driven health coaching business…

I have more credentials for that than as a writer (I am an ex-doctor, I am a data analyst, and I am a certified health coach), so I keep wondering if I should bring more of that side of me here, and add more research driven writing behind a paywall to support myself.

The concept is still tied to Gumption, in the sense that I would write for an audience that is motivated to go after what they want, but still want to maintain their health on their journey.

These are the kind of people I want to work with.

So today I ask you, is changing the direction of this blog from pure fiction to a more of health and wellness approach a good strategy?

💬 To elaborate please leave a comment, or simply reply to this email.

#31: Letting Go

On our search for gumption, we may encounter moments where we did not expect to let go of something.

In my case it is a relationship I worked so fucking hard to manifest. And now I have to work even harder, to undo my attachment to it.

In your case it maybe:

A job.

A friend.

A couch.

A book.

An idea.

A dream.

Old clothes.

Our treacherous path towards meaning and purpose requires us to sometimes drop one thing for another. It is a key part of our development. In the hero’s journey and in every other story structure I have studied last year, the protagonist always has to give up something to get what they want.

Otherwise it is not a relatable story.

It is so hard to let go of things, people and ideas because it is not comfortable to do so. We naturally get attached.

But…the hero HAS to give up something in order to evolve.

So what is it that you need to let go of?

One idea I really like meditating on is this:

Imagine that your mind is a garden with many bright yellow, orange and purple flowers but is also infested with weeds that are growing beneath the surface.

These weeds are thoughts that are not yours, take a moment right now and take stock of what is underneath the surface.

Are there any weeds or ideas that are not serving you/ are not your own?

👨‍🌾 Time to take these fuckers out!

Let go. Get to work.

Thank me later.

💬 Let me know in the comments, or reply to this email.

Sunday Gratitude 🙏

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 This one goes out to the most cliche and yet still underrated subject of gratitude: My family.

I thank my mom, dad, and Lina my sister for supporting me through both marriage and divorce, through a career as a doctor, and now through my aspirations as a writer.

Family is one of the ultimate sources of gumption that one person may have, and I am grateful for their support, encouragement, and existence. Thank you Mom and Lina for reading this Sunday blog.

One day I will get dad to subscribe as well :D

The Artist’s Way ✍️

Morning Pages:

I have been doing them while traveling, and surprised by my consistency.

I journal therefore I am!

Artist’s Date:

Last week I missed a connection in Istanbul, and after being really pissed at the airlines and going into a bit of an internal moment of despair, I found myself asking a question: Why do I need to spend 24 hours in Istanbul?

That one question shifted my whole being from frustration »» acceptance.

My artist date this week ended up being a spectacular and unexpected day at a Turkish Hammam and a spa which rejuvenated me after 3 days of partying.

Turns out I needed to be alone, massaged, and cleansed of toxins before carrying on with my journey.

⛲ Letting go is great for the soul! ⛲

Craft Updates:

• Wrote a bunch of mediocre poems while on the road, but otherwise I have been offline, and taking it easy with my craft this week as I go through the motions of finalizing my separation.

Poem of the Week 🖋️

Here is a poem from my up and coming collection “An Ode to Heartbreak”.

Let go by Omar Shaker

It is an energy drain,
an opponent 
in a tug of war,
that lives in your brain. 

You create false hopes,
You project untrue dreams,
You can't accept this 
new reality where 

what you 
yearned for 
is not 
yours.

So it pulls harder, 
and bounds you
by an invisible 
chord.

A spider's web that
surrounds you
until you 
drown.

Just cut it out,
Trim that fat
Slim that shady
attachment style

that sucks 
you in
and holds you 
on a leash.
 
Take these
humongous,  
silver, and
shiny scissors, 

and cut the damn thing!

Let it wobble 
Let it shame you
Let it tell you
that you are

half the person 
you never 
wanted 
to be!

So just let go 
of your spirit vampire,
and maybe then
you’ll be free.
 

See you next Sunday

Omar