Month: October 2016

creativity

Wonder: A sweet Halloween treat – The Breaking Bread Podcast launch!

Christa Avampato

I am so excited to let you know that The Breaking Bread Podcast launches today. Check out my interview with the Capital Area Food Bank and learn about all of the incredible work they do to support 444 food-based organizations in the D.C. area who in turn help hundreds of thousands of our neighbors every year who face food insecurity on a daily basis. It’s an inspiring story about food as a social justice issue, the fight to end hunger, and our ability to help our city grow stronger and healthier together.

You can find The Breaking Bread Podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, and TuneIn.

 

creativity

Wonder: A walk to remember

Christa Avampato

I’m used to walking hours a day with Phineas so since he couldn’t take a long walk, I took one for him on Saturday. I walked from my neighborhood across the city to Georgetown. We’re having an amazing weekend in D.C. with highs in the 70s, bright blue skies, and gentle breezes. It’s perfect weather.

Once I got about halfway through my walk, I started to feel a lightness. A funny sense of belonging, of feeling like slowly but surely I’m figuring it all out despite the stumbles and setbacks. I found a city I really love. Now I just have to find the right home. I found an industry I really enjoy working in, that I find fascinating, and that also supports all my creative projects like my writing and collage work. Now it’s just a matter of finding exactly the right fit. In the past two years, I’ve made a lot of big decisions and seen a long of progress. Now, it’s about refining and that realization gave me a lot of peace after a stressful week.

It’s amazing what can happen over time when we focus on making the here and now better.

creativity

Wonder: Recording an episode about YA literature with the Lit to Lens podcast

Christa Avampato

I’m so excited to head to Georgetown today to record an episode about YA literature with the Lit to Lens podcast team. I’ll be talking about my book, Where the Light Enters, my creative process for writing fiction, and why I think YA literature is such an important genre for all readers and writers. When the episode goes live, I’ll be sure to let you know!

creativity

Wonder: What’s the worst that could happen?

Christa Avampato

I was obviously very upset sitting in the waiting room at the animal hospital as the doctors checked Phin’s back early Tuesday morning. I was sad that he was in so much pain, and also grateful that we have such amazing care for him here in D.C. Then, I asked myself “what’s the worst possible thing that could happen?” He would have a back issue that couldn’t be fixed and we’d get wheels for him. And that’s exactly what we’d do so long as he could still have a good quality of life. (Check out this amazing company, Eddie’s Wheels, that has made wheelchairs for dogs for 20 years!) He’d still be my little guy and I’d still be his mom. And that’s really what matters.

(I’m happy to report that he is doing extremely well on rest and meds so I feel very hopeful that he’ll make a full recovery! He just wishes he could get out there for a long walk around the neighborhood. That won’t happen for about 3 weeks. Rest is the most important part of his recovery.)

 

creativity

Wonder: A tool to make tough decisions

Christa Avampato

When I’m making a tough decision, the thoughts in my head ping-pong back and forth to the point that there’s a tornado in my mind. I find that I’m better able to clearly see the picture if I can write down my thoughts and then sort them. For example, I know I want to buy a home and that’s a complicated decision. Condo or house? What are the positives and negatives of each? Which neighborhoods? How much money do I want to spend? What size place do I want or need? There is so much information that feeds into these questions and if I can see a map of it, it’s easier to make the decision that’s right for me.

If you have a decision like this with lots of options and moving parts, maybe writing it all out will work for you, too. It’s worth a try.

 

creativity

Wonder: The greatest lesson of life

Christa Avampato

One of the greatest blessings of being Phineas’s mom is that he makes me remember that every moment counts. There isn’t a single walk, snuggle, or smile that I take for granted with him. Yesterday when I had to take him to the ER for his back again, I was reminded, painfully so, that we have only so much time and that every day is a gift that we are never promised. Each day deserves the best we can give. There isn’t any time to waste. While I wish that realization wasn’t so heavy, maybe it needs to be. Maybe that truth is so significant that we need to feel the weight of it to really understand it.

For the next few days I’ll be home for most of the time monitoring Phineas to make sure his medication and rest is working. I’ll be writing, doing yoga, and meditating on just how lucky I am to care for a being that has taught me the most important lesson of life with absolute certainty—that we must do as much good as we can wherever we are with whatever we’ve got, and be grateful for the opportunity to do so.

creativity

Wonder: Find which of your ideas are worth it with the Business Model Canvas

Christa Avampato

Once you start a business, I think it’s very likely that no matter how well (or poorly) it goes, you’re likely to try to build a second a business and maybe a third and fourth. I have notebooks full of ideas. Most of them are terrible, but there are a few that could be diamonds in the rough. They need loads of shaping and polishing. The trick is to quickly and efficiently figure out which ones merit the time, effort, and attention. And I have a little tool that I love that helps me see which ideas have a shot at success and which ones have more holes than Swiss cheese – Alex Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas.

In one simple page, Alex’s canvas shows the 9 main elements of what it takes to build just about anything that is economically viable and there are many ways it can be used including building a business or a product of any variety.

If you’re wondering how best to test any idea you have, I highly recommend taking a look at the following links:

http://strategyzr.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/resources/business-model-report-2015.pdf
https://strategyzer.com/canvas

creativity

Wonder: Practice doesn’t make us perfect

Christa Avampato

“You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” ~Charlie Parker

There are a lot of life lessons to be learned from music and musicians, and this is one of the greatest. In music and life, we practice not to get that practiced material perfect but to develop the muscle to do whatever we need to do when the time comes. Practice teaches us to leap and land on our feet, to think and act in harmony, and to roll with whatever is thrown at us. Practice gives us confidence, experience, and grace. Practice doesn’t make us perfect; it makes us perfectly prepared to handle anything.

creativity

Wonder: Keep it weird, and authentic

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I came across one of those clickbait articles about Robin Williams. I rarely read those kinds of pieces, but Robin Williams remains my favorite actor of all-time so I decided to read it. It said:

“When auditioning for the role of Mork, Robin Williams reportedly sat on his head in the interview when they asked him to sit down. The producers immediately hired him because ‘he was the only alien who auditioned.’ ”

So often we’re trying to fit in to a job, a relationship, a community. We don’t show our whole selves at first because we want to test the waters. Is it safe to be weird? Is it safe to be who we are? Am I what they’re looking for?

This story about Robin Williams made me think that maybe we’re doing ourselves a disservice by reeling ourselves in. Maybe we should be exactly who we are right from the outset. And if that means we don’t fit in, then so be it. Authenticity is what matters. And not fitting in can be a wonderful stroke of luck because it encourages us to move on and find our pack.

Let’s not be afraid to be our wonderfully weird selves. Let it all hang out.

creativity

Wonder: The gift of a service dog

Christa Avampato

I’m always amazed by a dog’s understanding, purpose, and compassion. I live near Gallaudet University, a private university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. Yesterday, Phineas and I were going into the store Unleashed by Petco, his favorite place in the neighborhood where everybody knows his name. A service dog was coming out of the store with his mom, a student at Gallaudet, who had her rescue dog trained as a service dog.

We were quickly joined by another neighborhood dog and his dad who has a severe chronic pain disease. This rescue dog was also a service dog, and is able to detect a chemical produced in his dad’s brain that causes severe pain. He alerts him to take his medicine to get ahead of a pain onset.

We talked for quite a while outside Petco and both people said that these rescue dogs were lifesavers for them. I’ve always felt that when I rescued Phineas, he rescued me right back. For these dogs, that isn’t a feeling; it’s a fact. They saved the lives of these people, and that purpose has fueled a deep and unabiding love and devotion that goes both ways. It’s something that anyone can easily see just by meeting them.

I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of how rescue dogs can be incredible partners for people from all walks of life who are grappling with a whole host of health challenges. It’s amazing what love can do.