Kara Cutruzzula - Do It Today: An Encouragement Journal

by Kara Cutruzzula
illustrated by Tyler Spangler

ABRAMS IMAGE, NEW YORK

What does a meaningful life look like to you?

Perhaps it involves being present for your family, friends, colleagues, or community. Perhaps its a life in which you unapologetically move toward milestones and dreams that feel authentic and worthwhile. Perhaps it starts with casting off old beliefs, embracing new growth, and experiencing a sense of momentum.

A life overflowing with meaning is possible. Were going to get theretogether.

***

I feel like Im wasting my life.

I cant believe I said that out loud. But I did. Multiple times. Over multiple days. To multiple people. Where did that thought come from? I would like to blame the ongoing pandemic, or grief, or a work assignment, but the truth behind this dramatic statement was much simpler: I was spending very little time each day doing meaningful work.

Lets define work, because Im not talking about the work that checks items off a to-do list. Im talking about any work that requires effort and motivation, whether that springs from your career, art, personal life, or all the above. Rethinking what work looks like can shift your perspective. The good kind of work can be going outside for a long walk or putting in hours on a project that is important to you, like nurturing a side business, going back to school, or learning a new creative practice.

So what makes work meaningful? This work is the hardest and most essential there is, the kind you were born to do. Meaningful work makes your brain tired in all the best ways. When youre fully immersed, reaching the full range of your capabilities, all that time and energy feels worthwhile. It feels right.

Thats what I wanted to find again: meaningful work; work that gave meaning to my days. I am a writer, for better or worse (writers love self-deprecation!), and I come alive when I write plays and musicals, poems and short stories. Taking a tiny idea from my brain, floating it into the world, and hoping it might reveal some truth to whoever finds it is meaningful to me. When Im doing this work, I feel more confident, funnier, happier, lighter. Im able to show up as a better partner, sister, daughter, friend, and collaborator.

So why is it extraordinarily difficult to find work that lights us up? And if we do find it, why do we resist giving it the time it deserves? Heres the truth: Its hard trying new things and changing our habits. Inertia is a powerful force, and its disorienting to balance our current lives with dreams of what life could be. Its hard to be grateful for what we have while wanting something more. And its hard to feel all these things at once.

Combine that with the urgent itch that you must figure everything out right now, on top of all your other responsibilities. Impossible! Finding the time to grow is almost as difficult as finding the work that makes you grow. Tomorrow always feels like the better, safer option, until tomorrow comes.

Maybe you feel like youre not in a space to beginits too late, youre out of options, or youre overwhelmed. Maybe youre tucked away in your burrowthat dark, quiet place where its easy to hide from the future.

I feel those emotions, too. Sometimes they hit at the same time, and sometimes theyre sprinkled throughout the week like existential confetti. I dont promise to have all the answersIm still figuring it out with you. But I hope to share the lessons and observations Ive returned to again and again. When I remember and use them, I get closer to the person I see in the mirror on my best days.

Lately, it might feel like nothing has gone as planned. We have changed, mourned, struggled, and survived. Together, we have learned that tomorrow holds no promises. If ever there was a time to do something new, why not now?

There is no better moment to reinvent yourself or discover new possibilities. There is no doubt youve changed in the past few yearsperhaps in the past few daysand are getting serious about what the next version of your life looks like. Youve also probably had some ideas about what youd be happy to leave behind.

Look around. The people beside you are switching careers, embracing hobbies, and starting new adventures. While it may appear like everyone is uprooting their lives, theyre actually growing new roots. Theyre digging deeper, and you can, too.

This is an unlimited space for your best days. You are someone who makes things (or wants to). Someone who has dreams (or wants to define them). Someone who is searching for motivation (or wants to shake up their routines).

You want to feel like youre spending time on the commitments, ideas, and people that give your days meaning. You care, deeply, about the work you do and what you are giving back to the world. You long to move toward the future with bright ambition and a sense of beginning.

You will follow your curiosity.

You will start before youre ready.

You will percolate your ideas.

You will find courage to fly.

You will show off your rejections with pride.

You will connect with your champions.

You will share your generous spirit.

You will cultivate optimism.

Look ahead. The space before you contains the blueprint you will create, the call to action that comes from your voice, and the gentle push that begins your most meaningful life.

Do it today.

Why was there a notebook on my coffee table with the word LYRICS written across the cover in black marker?

I recognized my scraggly handwriting, but I didnt read music or play an instrument. I did take piano lessons when I was a kid, but quit when my instructor wanted to stick to basic theory and refused to teach me how to perform Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. But now, I was thirty years old and Id never written a song. I had no idea how to write a song.

Still, something compelled me to try. Even the idea of trying was exhilarating, and I had decided that this notebook would hold all the songs swimming inside mea physical manifestation of my unhatched skills. Over the months that followed, my attention was drawn back to those pages, and Id write a line or two, try to rhyme some words that definitely did not rhyme, and scribble phrases that might prove useful in some mysterious future version of my life.

I didnt realize it at the time, but I was experiencing the magic of the pull. An invisible magnetic pull happens before starting something new. When youre quiet and still, you feel the tug. Look over here, it says. Arent you intrigued?

Thats what the notebook told me: Follow the pull, despite that my past experience did not align with this action; the hurdles were high (I had no clue what I was doing); and nothing about it made sense.