I took the plunge

I still don't feel ready to send out a newsletter, but I took the plunge, and here is the first issue.

Quickly addressing why you are receiving it: you may have brought one of my products, met, chatted, and probably had a session together. If you don't want to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe below... but I hope you stick around!

Each week, you will receive a visual and my musings on creativity, mental health, and lifestyle design to help you flourish and grow. Hope you join this ride with me.

Before we kick off, here is a quick intro

I'm Mounika. Say hello on Twitter or Instagram. My DMs are always open.

I started working as a freelance artist last year. It was an incredible journey. I made many mistakes, put out a lot of shitty work online, and sacrificed my mental health in the process. Still, the experience I've gained is invaluable. I want to share my insights, creative learnings, and growth tips to maintain a good balance while working towards your dream life. I've garnered an audience of 70k+ on various platforms. Creators like Steven Bartlett, Sandeep Jain, Jerry Lee, and many more have shared my visuals.

Welcome to Issue #1 of my Newsletter, Enjoy!

Secret to my success?

Motive behind this newsletter was simple - to give a sneak peek behind the mask. An attempt to be a little more closer to the community we are building. And as I write this, it reminds me how scary it is to start, and how long this journey has been.

I think this fear echoes around the loudest among all of us. One of the frequent questions I always receive is how to start a new hobby or habit. We welcome this overwhelming thought of how are we going to manage the various aspects, while all we have to do is focus on this SINGLE piece. Everyone expects a magic solution, but there isn't one. As I embark upon this new journey, all the fear tangents flow through - rejection, failing, leaving it in the middle.

Feedback loop of procrastination might seem unbreakable, but all it takes is first step. TAKE IT. Show up, put in the effort. Take a tiny, easy step to set a positive pace toward your goal. Here are some tips that has helped me start:

6 actionable tips that have helped me

• Starting with a simple task

• Break down your goal

• Push yourself daily

• Take feedback

• Repeat

• Reflect

Remember you are one step closer to your goal, one step in the right direction, and one step towards your dreams. Every day spent moving in this direction brings you closer to the person you want to become.

Mind clouded and riddled with excuses is normal. But instead of fretting about the future, you need to break down your goal into smaller achievable steps. We will talk about more about habits in later editions, but pre-requisite to everything is showing up. Just solving one piece of puzzle as you get it. You need to put effort every day, consistently.

So instead of going through this alone, how about we start together?

We build together, we put ourselves out once more. Once more out of our comfort zone. Sending out this newsletter is my small step towards a larger goal of creating a community.

Let me know how are you going to take that LEAP STEP. Reply and I will include your responses in the next newsletter.

PS: I share a lot of free checklists, templates, and trackers on my Twitter and Instagram. Follow me to stay updated.