Hi friends! Today’s newsletter marks the one-year anniversary of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice! I can’t believe I’ve been doing this newsletter for a year already. Thank you all so much for reading, sharing, subscribing, and tipping. Sometimes you put a thing out into the world and you don’t know if anyone wants to read it but you do it anyway because there aren’t enough voices like mine being heard, especially in the self-improvement sphere. The reception you’ve all given me and this newsletter has been well-beyond my expectations and I am so happy to be connecting with all of you in this way. Thank you. Thank you so, so much. You’re all amazing!

So, my wife has been following Dana St. Amand, a badass, trans blacksmith on social media and recently Dana posted some special openings for hand-forged goods. You pay a set amount of money and she will make whatever SHE wants and surprise, you’ll get a unique handmade dagger or ax or hammer or something in the mail, like a commission but a surprise because you don’t necessarily get to choose what you get. She only posts a few open slots at a time and they go quickly. Well, Nicole was able to grab one of them so we are currently waiting for a surprise in the mail.

When checking out, there was a space for notes to the creator. Nicole noted she would be happy with anything while I know full well that she would be happiest with something sharp and pointy. I told her this and said, “It’s okay to say, ‘I’ll be happy with anything but I’ll be most happy with something pointy.’” This sparked an interesting conversation about asking for what we want that I wanted to bring to this newsletter.

Before I dig in, here is a photo of my plumeria which is steadily getting out of control: