rebel! Archives - Page 2 of 5 - ⚡️Kristen Kalp

Posts in "rebel!" Category — Page 2

50 everyday acts of rebellion.

Rebellion is often portrayed as Princess Leia risking life and limb to sneak around with Death Star plans, but everyday acts of rebellion can help us advance our ideals in a sustainable way.

Rebellion and resistance are often most effective when they keep us sane, happy, and capable of empathy in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s our job to keep our joy, to do our work, and to resist in every small and large way possible. …and if you’re tired and out of energy, start small.

Rebellion can be small, but vital; seemingly insignificant, but capable of moving the needle forward today. Key word: TODAY.

1. Subscribe to a newspaper.
2. Read a book. (One of mine, even!)
3. Get and then use your library card.
4. Buy an album or a record instead of downloading a single from iTunes.
5. Support local music.
6. Boycott homophobic restaurant chains.
7. Register to vote.
8. Run for office.
9. Turn your phone off for the day. (Yes allthewayoff.)
10. Write a poem.
11. Add your representatives to your phone’s Favorites.
12. Actually call your representatives. (I know, introverts, I know.)
13. Make beautiful moments and don’t capture them in any way.
14. Sell art for charity.
15. Meet up with people like you in person.
16. Spend time with the sea.
17. Take notes in the margins.
18. Give up sugar.
19. Or alcohol.
20. Or both.
21. Smile at a stranger.
22. Attend a scholarly lecture.
23. Let out your weird.
24. Let yourself feel what you actually feel instead of pretending you’re fine.
25. Work from home without losing your mind.
26. Make space for your wild.
27. Stand firm.
28. Stop worshiping at the altar of Busy.
29. Gather your people and love them hard.
30. Quit social media for as long as you’d like.
31. Write a love letter.
32. Support your favorite artist, maker, guru, or leader. Likes and thank you’s don’t pay the bills.
33. Be at home with yourself.
34. Fuck. Make love. Both/and.
35. Ask for help.
36. Ask for help, ask for help, ask for help.
37. Make space for what you really want.
38. Give up on the ‘next level.’ It doesn’t exist.
39. Give up on using buzzwords, period.
40. Embrace your spiritual practice.
41. Hang your heart out to dry.
42. Assume people want what you have to offer.
43. Call out your asshole brain for what it is: an asshole.
44. Say your dreams that will not die out loud.
45. Acknowledge the pain of turning yourself down.
46. Ask more questions.
47. Change the tapes.
48. Eat well and hydrate.
49. Rest.
50. Choose love.

Ultimately, being a vital and alive, well-rested human is an act of rebellion.  Whatever you do from there is a bonus.

P.S. How to claim freedom from all kinds of bullshit.

How to use your dollars to shape the world.

You have tremendous power. 

You spend money every single day, and where you spend that money matters tremendously.

Your dollars can be spent to make giant corporations even larger, or they can be used to keep currency in circulation locally, to keep people who safeguard our democracy (i.e. journalists) working, and to keep artists, makers, thinkers, and rebels doing their respective jobs each day.  (I suggest the latter.)

Here are quick and effective ways to use your dollars to shape our world for the better.

Subscribe to forms of media that pay journalists.

At a recent political conference I attended, subscribing to a physical newspaper was described as a political act. Pick a paper and get it delivered. If you want to overachieve, get a local and a national paper subscription.

Best of all, newspapers are delivered without a comments section. No angry trolls lurking at the bottom of the page!  No clickbait waiting to draw your attention!  No news about how to lose 15 pounds using that one secret trick!

Subscribe to media forms that are not owned or influenced by major corporations.

There used to be 10,000 franchises and companies that owned and contributed to our radio waves, TV waves, and newspapers. Now there fewer than 10.

I’m completely new to this realm and have to be honest — I only know of The Young Turks in terms of major not-funded-by-a-conglomerate-outlets. (The founder, Cenk Uyger, received a triple standing ovation at Sister Giant.) If you’re like, OOH I KNOW SOME AMAZING ALTERNATE SOURCES OF NEWS, KRISTEN — message k@kristenkalp.com and help me out.

Pick an artist — any artist — and buy their work directly from them right now.

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they’ve enjoyed my work for months/years but have never purchased anything — but THANK YOU!!!!!!!!, they say — I could pay this month’s rent with those dividends. I am grateful for kind words, but they are absolutely useless currency for paying bills, buying food, and keeping coffee in my French press.

Pay your favorite people to keep going.

Further: if you are an artist and you don’t pay artists for their work, you’re unconsciously undermining your own. In a world where art is being driven toward free with a link of attribution for usage, all of our work descends to a far-from-sustainable-for-paying-the-bills place. Photographers, writers, poets, makers, illustrators, designers, tinkerers…pay for every piece of art you enjoy and/or use and your own work can only shine brighter.

Give money to those who inspire you.

When humans make work that inspires you and you pay them, they can keep making work that inspires you, and on and on the cycle goes. Donate to a nonprofit that’s kicking ass at the moment. Pick up a book that will change your life or reframe the way you do business (or both — Calling to the Deep!). Buy a full album from your nearest record store instead of a single from iTunes. Support projects via Patreon. Chip in to pay for intellectual food.

Elevate the voices of those thinkers, talents, speakers, writers, and artists you love.

Share your art purchases with a link and a hearty recommendation via any social media platform you choose.

Spreading the word about what you listen to, what you read, what keeps you sane, and what keeps you laughing is of vital importance. As the media comes under more and more fire — as these uncertain days get longer and darker and heavier — we will need to uplift one another with our words and our dollars more than ever.

Right now: put your money where your heart is. Pick five people who’ve inspired you and find a way to give them money.

If for some crazy reason they’re not taking money and have absolutely nothing for sale, e-mail them to ask to make a donation to charity in their name. (No seriously, do this right now.)

This week, I: bought a tote and pin from Emily McDowell, subscribed to James Victore’s Patreon, purchased 2 books — Men Explain Things to Me and Corruption in America, stopped by The High Point Cafe, which was donating 5% of its proceeds to the ACLU for the day, and went to see a movie at my local nonprofit movie house.

Those aren’t big giant dollar-sucking commitments. Those are everyday purchases totaling less than $60 that I spent to support makers and non-profits and people who make me laugh really hard.

I found that $60 for supporting the arts easily by popping into Sarah Von Bargen’s Put Your Money Where Your Happy Is course — which caused me to renegotiate billing on several fronts and save $650 per month on expenditures.  YUP, that’s a $147 class that paid for itself four times over in the first month of use.  Check it out here.

If I’m one of the people who have inspired you in some way, please pick up one of my books or come to the Brave workshop this September. I can’t keep making without your support — and you can’t keep making without the support of others.

We need one another.

These words are part of a longer That’s What She Said podcast, too!  Listen in…

P.S.  Again, this class helped me save $650 per month — so put your money where your happy is, please.

My work: 2005-2017. WTF moments included.

When you’ve done something long enough, you assume everyone knows how you got started or what, exactly, you do, and why you do it. This is the official let’s-get-you-up-to-speed rundown of where I’ve been, what I do, and where I’m going, with some glorious life lessons and witty stories thrown in for good measure.  (Hint: steal this idea for your own website!)

First up: the distant past.

There’s a 17-year-old male Philadelphian hanging from the air conditioner outside the classroom. He’s barely got a grip on the window unit and my guess is that his pants are revealing a shocking amount of the boxers beneath while he’s dangling there, but he’s committed. He’s screaming “Liar! LIIIIIIIARRRRRR!” at me while I teach the afternoon’s computer class.

A smirk flits across my face before I go back to delivering the day’s lesson plan.

I’ve finally won.

You see, Cruz routinely made up lies about all the ways I’d been mean/evil/terrible to him and then told them to the principal. I was called onto the carpet to defend myself a few times a week for the duration of the school year. Nevermind that the lies weren’t particularly creative or remotely true. Nevermind that Cruz was in a problem student in a specially-designed school that provided more therapy than traditional education. Nevermind that I had a four-year degree in education and was super fucking good at my job.

The principal always believed him. I went home dejected most days, crying more often than not, until I finally gave my notice. (It was right after The Afternoon of the Air Conditioner.)

I had two weeks to find a job — any job — or I would take the position I’d lined up at a similar educational facility. (Read: the first thing you learn at orientation is how to restrain a child effectively. I’ve told precisely one story from my time teaching anywhere: don’t store a mouse in your mouth.)

I applied for a job as a photographer with a person named Haunani. I had about 15 4×6″ glossy prints that I’d picked up from Target the night before in an envelope. I liked taking photos in abandoned buildings and somehow believed that could translate into a job.

Haunani remembers that I showed up early, wearing a suit, and called her “Boss” before she’d given me the job. (She gave me the job.) It would be nine years before I would call myself a teacher again.

I spent 2006 to 2008 working as a photographer in a now-defunct portrait franchise that taught me the basics of taking portraits and then selling them to people. I eventually turned my many-times-a-day-every-day portrait photography selling skills into Sales Without Shame, a no-longer-available program.

When Haunani’s studio closed in 2008, we spent a few years as a children’s photographer and really-cool-Hawaiian-sidekick duo with a brick and mortar studio in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The Essential Imagery website is defunct, the images accidentally deleted (HOORAY TECHNOLOGY!), but the work I’m most proud of was shot for Flying Kites school and orphanage in Kenya during a series of visits.

I started Brand Camp in May 2009, penning twice-weekly articles to help other peeps in business figure out what the eff was going on without boring them to tears. Most business books I read offended my English-degree-having bits, since they were little more than dry lists of steps that weren’t actually realistic. (How to be popular on social media: step one. Get popular. Step two: stay popular. You know, shit like that.)

I didn’t create a product or service or any money-making thingamabobs for over a year, as it never occurred to me that Brand Camp would turn into anything more than a happy little side project that kept me writing and helping other people who were just like me. I liked pushed my own envelope. Sometimes I made wildly inappropriate hooker analogies, and my peeps liked them.

I also took up ghostwriting projects with a number of clients, one of whom I work with to the present day. I was all up in people’s business(es), ghost-marketing and ghost-launching and ghost-editing class after book after course. I learned that helping a person you don’t particularly like to make 7 figures isn’t NEARLY as fun as you’d imagine. 😉

I also learned that I work best with lots of fingers in lots of pies: six-figure photography business, Brand Camp (no revenue stream, just writing, because WRITING), and ghostwriting/marketing/editing/launching, too.

I chose to bring my photography business to a halt in 2010, when I signed a book deal with Jon Canlas. That’s when I decided to dedicate myself to writing and teaching full-time. In 2012, Film is Not Dead: A Digital Photographer’s Guide to Shooting Film was released.

It was the same year that I traveled to India and to Kenya on orphan-hugging projects and released Change the World, Dammit!.

In 2013, I used Go Your Own Way (the first 50 pages are yours for joining the Fuck Yah Club!) to raise over $10,000 for Flying Kites. I also held the first round of Steer Your Ship, a 6-month program that’s my very very absolute favorite for helping business peeps come alive.

In 2014, I held Brand Camp the camp. There were endless s’mores, a ferris wheel at sunrise, and killer speeches. There was an evening dance party, a whole-camp game of Paint Twister, and skinny dipping after dark. It was killer. It was fantastic. It cost me.

From camp until the present, I’ve continued to explore my own calling more deeply. I’ve released M-School, which is Harry Potter-like Magic School for Entrepreneurs. (Nab a 50% off promo code for joining the Fuck Yah Club here.)  I’ve also explored a shit-ton of topics about the entrepreneurial life through my podcast, That’s What She Said.

So….what’s the thread that runs through all of this stuff?

Where the fuck do I get off giving any sort of advice, when I’m so clearly a seemingly-scatterbrained writer who takes on endlessly evolving projects? (In other words: why can’t I just make a product, then release that product every year to bigger and bigger audiences, raking in affiliate sales and pretending that’s enough to keep me satsified?)

I help people become more of who they are. That means my projects change as I become more of who I am.

Sometimes I lend them my voice, as in ghostwriting.

Sometimes I help them come to new levels of understanding in person, as in camp and now, in Steer Your Ship.

Sometimes I give them permission to be who they are in the world, as in M-School, too.

Often, that means I’m talking directly to you in my podcast.

Whether we’re talking about business or about life in general, we’re all unfolding.

I help people unfold in the right direction, where the right direction is the one your whole heart wants.

I listen to the impulses within me that say more of this, less of that, then I translate those intuitive whispers into practical steps for you that are neither ‘woo-woo’ nor misleading. (I’ll never teach to “manifest your abundance,” nor will I ask you to “create your 7-figure tribe” or some shit.)

I write about my struggles with losing dollars, with depression, and with perfection porn.

I write about the very difficult realities of living in the modern world, like the time I cried in Hawaii.  And being able to feel other people’s feelings in my own body.

I use my own life as an experimental lab for business and for living a slower, fuller life. (Also here I am in a bikini on the internet at nowhere near my ‘ideal’ weight. STILL easier to show you than talking about depression.)

I’m unfolding. I help other people unfold.

Whether that’s in my one-on-one work, my workshop — Steer Your Ship, in an online business course for Harry Potter lovers, or in book form, as in Introverts at Work or Calling to the Deep, I’d love to help you unfold, too.

That might mean stepping away from something you thought you’d be doing forever. (When people asked me about professionally photographing children, I’d say, “I was meant for this” and mean it. What’s right for you at the moment might not be right for you forever.)

That might mean stepping into the thing that scares the shit out of you. It often means taking your business seriously, taking your talent seriously, or taking your self seriously. (Self care is not treating yourself like shit and then getting a pedicure. It’s eating well, sleeping well, hydrating, and relentlessly making space for listening to your inner voice. Pedicures are entirely optional.)

That might mean you click away and never stop back again, because FUCK THIS — BULLET POINTS AND 7-STEP SYSTEMS ARE EASIER, and that’s okay, too.

I’m interested in interior work, hard work, and interesting work.

I’m interested in bringing your best work to light.

I’m not interested in your excuses, though I am dedicated to helping you overcome them.

If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to join the Fuck Yah Club for access to a secret library of treats I’ve dreamed up for you!

Wherever you’ve come from…welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.

May your unfolding be as steady and painless as possible, and may you know the wonder on the other side of becoming what you couldn’t have imagined even a few short months ago.

P.S. Six potentially devastating side effects of bringing your biggest dream to life (and why you should do it anyway).

Boundaries are the best thing EVER.

Today on That’s What She Said, a reader question about boundaries!

“…when setting boundaries, is it necessary/important to verbalize the boundaries to the person crossing them, or if the boundaries are clear inside my head, is that good enough? Meaning… Is it okay to politely decline or tell a white lie? How important is assertiveness in setting boundaries? (I’m pretty bad at assertiveness. I want to be assertive so very badly.)”

I tackle all these questions and a few that weren’t answered in this episode of That’s What She Said, brought to you straight from the living room of my Parisian apartment during the final leg of my European trip.

If you’ve a chronic people pleaser, an everyday white lie-maker, or the resentful soul who shows up at parties or events because you couldn’t think of a good reason not to do so, this one’s for you.

Bonus! We talk about how boundaries affect your attitudes toward things like oral sex — and why that’s a very, very good thing. OBVIOUSLY.

P.S. You’ll need episode 48, the 3 types of business time, after listening to this.

Influences: a chronicle.

These are the books, people, programs, products, and miscellanium (YUP I MADE UP THAT WORD BUT YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS) that currently influence my personal life on a regular basis. (This post chronicles the business products and subscriptions that keep everything running smoothly if you want a more nuts and bolts, less subjective read!)

I’m absolutely fascinated by knowing more about the people who influence people I think are nifty, so I figure you’re like me and want to know what’s getting my attention these days.

::insert genie-like ‘your wish is my command’ gesture here::

First up: the body.

I find having a physical body challenging and annoying most of the time. GAWD, you’re hungry again? You need what? Water!? Really!?

I find taking care of my body frustrating at best and exhausting at worst, which is why any moment that I find myself enjoying my body, I take copious notes and pass that information along to you, lovely reader person.

Wim Hof. I’ve already explained my great love of this method, as it helps me deal with my depression while acting as both a meditation practice and physical practice each day. I can’t sing the praises of this dude and his work enough, so lemme just say one more time: Wim is awesome. Crazy awesome.

Floating. You get naked, then float in a densely-salted tub of water for 90 minutes, without any sensory or auditory stimulus to distract you from being alone with yourself. My first session was absolutely lovely and absolutely terrifying in equal measure. (I’m going again soon.)

NYX glitter eyeliner.  I love make-up, but generally I was resigned to looking the same every day. You can only switch up your eye make-up and call it revolutionary so many times before you’re bored, right?  WRONG. You can wear lovely colorful eyeliner and then cover it with glitter eyeliner and then your whole make-up world is different.

Avocado oil. My aesthetician, Kelsey, recommended buying half an ounce of a fancy oil for $78, but I read the reviews and they said to try avocado oil first, since it’s cheaper, fresher, and chemical-free, and I’m so glad I did. The wintry terrible horrible skin that’s dry and irritated is at least 60% clearer than usual this year.  For $9.95.  Try it yourself.

Next up: books and people.

Books are my lifeline. They are often my introductions to people who later influence me through in-person events and the like. I’m currently re-reading Big Magic in preparation for M-School, which is your personal invitation to Hogwarts.

The Blue Sweater is currently on my nightstand and I’m devouring it whole. One woman explores the world of big finance, then takes it upon herself, over the course of multiple years and failed experiments, to found the Acumen Fund, revolutionizing worldwide micro-lending to women along the way. While most nonprofit stories are inherently interesting, the way they’re presented in print is often dry, condescending, or both. The Blue Sweater is a well-written, utterly engaging book that I highly recommend if you wanna change the world.

Shaman Healer Sage is on my nightstand, too, and I’m reading it slowly so as to fully absorb its message. Part how-to manual, part spiritual guide, part adventure tale, this book is one that you savor like the finest dark chocolate, one small bite at a time.

Rob Bell continues to create the only podcast I listen to every single week without fail. Not because he’s a Christian pastor (though he is), but because he’s so damn wise about all things life and living that he could just as easily be a Buddhist, a Muslim, an atheist, or a Jewish teacher and I’d keep listening. He draws from a deep, deep well, and his delivery on the podcast is absolutely enthralling.

The only blog I’m reading with any regularity is one Yes and Yes, which features the witty and lovely and engaging writing of one Sarah Von Bargen. Go forth, love upon her, and see what I mean.

I’m considering getting a Rollei camera because of this guy. And because shooting film is fun and because sometimes, I miss it.

Also, Dr. David Mehler at Vikaz is a secret shaman who practices network chiropractics. After a single session with him at a retreat I attended, my body gave up alcohol and dairy — against my mind’s will, I might add — by reacting violently to both of them. This is actually immensely helpful, since now instead of dairy tasting lovely and wonderful, it hurts to eat, it hurts to digest, AND it causes horrible acne. When body added pain to the entire process, it gave me the ability to stop consuming dairy once and for all. David reports that bodies often make choices like this of their own accord and that he is simply the catalyst for such changes. He’s a modest man, but he’s fucking magical, and if you can get yourself to New York City for a session with him, I recommend it. Later sessions have helped me make massive inroads against my depression, have helped me to feel more connected with my body instead of resenting it for existing (oh hello, overachieving academic brain), and have helped me to make wiser food choices without having to go on any diets or read all about all the ways I’m doing food wrong.  Get yourself an appointment here.

Finally: spirit and travel. They’re linked, obviously!

I’m a member of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, because there really is nothing like sticking your face in art to remember that life is for the living, art is for the making, and joy is for the having at any given moment. I tend to visit museums in short doses of less than 90 minutes, so having a membership removes the guilt of having to ‘get my money’s worth’ on any given day.

I’m playing more with Flying Kites this year than ever before, both by collaborating with the founder on a secret project and by making a trip to the Flying Kites school and dormitories in Kenya soon.

Hugs,
K

P.S. You should totally check out M-School if you’re secretly magic. (Hint: if you’ve read this far, you are.)

P.P.S. Here’s every muggle service I use to keep my biz online and operational.