Barbara Sher Retirement

[Tituba]

Barbara Sher's Newsletter
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Hi All

I've decided to retire.

I mean, not actually retire but to stop running face-to-face week-long things like my retreats and face-to-face 10-month-long things, like my coaching course in Frankfurt, Germany. (My dear U.S. and Australian friends, this also means I don't intend to do any in your part of the world, either.)

I'll still write, and I'll stay active in Hanging Out comments - I can't help myself. (Don't forget, that starts again on November 17th and then you have to wait for many months before you can join again!) And I intend to do some rather cool conference calls. If you're on my mailing list, I'll tell you when.

But except for an occasional invited lecture or two-day workshop, the upcoming coach training in Frankfurt (the one that starts November 15 and lasts 10 months) will be the last time I work face-to-face with you, my fellow humans.

I've loved it, every minute. It's been powerful stuff for many of you and for me, too. But it's time to move on to my next project. Life is not forever.

I tell you this in case you're one of the people who really, really wants to work with me 'someday.' I just think you should know that your last 'someday' starts on November 15, 2014 and ends September 13, 2015. Ill meet you in Frankfurt five times and work with you long distance anywhere in the world in between. And if you must miss one of our two-day weekends, I'll help you catch up.

Of course, I intend to make it my best coach training ever. In fact, I'm rubbing my hands together as I plan what we'll be doing in this coming year. If you're a natural coach and my work matters to you, you're going to have an exceptionally fine learning experience. And you'll go on to do a lot of good in this world.

Just think of how your life might have been different if an intelligent, naturally talented coach had shown up at some crucial times in your life and said, with respect and genuine concern, "Can I help?"

Okay, that's all I'll say today. You do what you have to do.





Upward and Onward!

With warmest regards,
Barbara Sher

[velvet]

Congratulations, Barbara!
and I'm hoping you get just the right people for this last long training session.
Upward and onward indeed!
velvet

[permaculturenow]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the encouragement and support. You are a shining beacon for so many. Hope you have a great retirement! You deserve several!

Lidia

[BarbaraSher]

Thank you, Velvet! That's a really great thing to say and I appreciate it. It's a very big class, and a friendly one and I'm pretty sure I got the right people but we're doing more translating with Google Translator than ever before. Half the time that means that they are laughing until tears come to their eyes at the translations - and vice versa).

[BarbaraSher]

So nice to hear from you, Lidia! Are things going well? You opened a new world to me with Permaculture. Thank you for that.

[Elaine Glimme]

A very big THANK YOU for all the help and encouragement. And I'm so glad that you'll be around in Cyberspace.

My life is much richer because of you. I don't think Temporary Address or The Molly Chronicles would have been created without your help and the help of a lot of people on the Boards and on HO.

Your retirement sound like a busy day at work to me (which is as it should be). Anyway, have a great retirement. If you're ever in the San Francisco area, I'll be there.

[BarbaraSher]

What a lovely thing to say, Elaine. Thank you. Yes, there's something about communicating with people in cyberspace that I really love. Let's see if I can count the ways:

1. I can say something whenever it hits my mind, and not wait until I can reach somebody.

2. If I want a response, I can say it here or on Facebook or Hanging Out or some such place, knowing that *somebody* will surely answer with no huge delay. That's what I call 'human contact on demand,' and it's lovely.

3. I have a record of what was said no matter how long ago it was said, which is enormously helpful to my memory (which was lousy when I was 15, so now you can imagine). I've laughed and had my heart warmed by exchanges 6 years ago. That's worth its weight in gold, no matter how little one might think cyber-talk actually weighs.

4. Nobody calls on the phone to interrupt what I'm doing, which is either done to lovely silence or lovely music (or one of those wonderful movies on YouTube: I recommend 'Cold Comfort Farm' when you can't think of anything else. But I digress.)

5. I don't have to call anybody, which is increasing my natural aversion to making phone calls.

6. When someone asks me a question (about wishes and obstacles, that sort of thing) some switch goes on in my brain and my fingers start writing an answer - often one I didn't know I knew, but I can see it's close to target. Then I can lift the written results into a rough draft of a book - or a piece in Hanging Out, or whatever I'm working on. It has been said, and I agree, that letter-writing is the best writing: personal, direct, readable, etc. I used that technique in my magnificent WriteSpeak program and some fine books were written by the students as a result.

7. I get to know people I would never otherwise have met or been able to spend time with. I get to *know* them, not just bump into them on an elevator as we both make small talk and avoid having lunch with each other. When people imply that the internet is impersonal, I'm always astonished. On the internet, we find each other. And more: shy people talk, about themselves and what they think and feel (which they would never do in person), and they give great, intelligent, original ideas and advice (which they never would do in person). In fact, few people ask shy people for help, thinking it will embarrass them. In Cyberspace, nobody is shy. (I know that's not always delightful, but I, for one, am willing to pay the price.)

Feel free to add any benefits you think of that I have left out.

That's all I can think of at this moment

[Tituba]

I would add that people you thought were unreachable (authors, movie stars etc.) are now on the other end of the keyboard and respond. This alone makes the world a more level playing ground. Many times, you think that those with fame are different than the people you know in your community. Having a dialog with them, however fleeting, brings understanding.

[inspiresuccess]

Hi Barbara,

I can't even begin to say how much you've helped me and changed my life, starting way back with reading Wishcraft for the first time. I've read all your books and have been active on the barbarasher.com Boards for many years.

I'm sitting here speechless (well, type-less!) All I can think of to say is "Thank You" and that doesn't even begin to say what you've meant to me in this lifetime.

I'll give it a try.

Using your methods, I found a house to live in when I could only afford an apartment. I created a real-live success team plus a wonderful support thread on your boards to help me finish writing a masters thesis. I got my sweater designs published in leaflets and books. I got to see sweaters I designed walk the runway in a fashion show. I got invited to teach knitting classes at national conventions because people saw the designs that got published.

I've done so many things that I never would have done by breaking them down into baby steps and asking for support. Asking for support was something I never did for anything until I read your books. I thought I had to do everything alone (that's what my parents taught me). That's all I can think of for now but I'll come back and add things when I think of them.

You've changed the way I approach doing anything in my life, basically. You've changed the way I think about things, the way I interact with people, my belief systems.

Well, that's it for now but I know there's a lot more! For now...........THANK YOU! I wish you the best with your "retirement".

Inspire Success

Oh, yeah, and you taught me how to inspire people with my own actions and words!

[Grasshopper]

Enjoy! At 40 I frequently look forward to retiring so I can do all those things I'm desperate to try. Fortunateness having just discovered your book about scanners, I might not have to wait that long!
I kept thinking of something my dad said to me as I read your book. As I did yet another challenging, fascinating job for minimal financial reward, and justified to my parents as 'it will look great on my CV', my dad, exasperated at my apparently aimless wandering said 'yes, but when are you going to actually use your CV'. I wish I'd had this book to show him then.
I did eventually get a diverse job that combines my unique set of work experience. I'm the perfect fit for the job. I may still have to brandish the book at him as the fascinating job now doesn't fit my desired lifestyle...

[BarbaraSher]

I would add that people you thought were unreachable (authors, movie stars etc.) are now on the other end of the keyboard and respond. This alone makes the world a more level playing ground. Many times, you think that those with fame are different than the people you know in your community. Having a dialog with them, however fleeting, brings understanding.

So true, Tituba! I didn't think of that. I think that's because I'm so grateful for all the contact I have with my readers, for one thing. Fan letters were always touching and encouraging to me, but there was little chance for a real exchange before the internet: first of all, publishers used to hang on to letters to authors (the ones that were sent to publishers - which was most of them!) for six months or a year! (That is so outrageous it makes me angry even now! I won't share the missed connections with really good people - I try not to think of them.)

And second, most writers of snail mail letters didn't expect to get an answer, so they wrote close-ended type letters, to which a 'thank you, Barbara enjoyed your letter' was often sent.

Now that everyone has email - even people who insist they don't like the internet - I can answer myself. That changes everything.

[BarbaraSher]

Hi Barbara,

I can't even begin to say how much you've helped me and changed my life, starting way back with reading Wishcraft for the first time. I've read all your books and have been active on the barbarasher.com Boards for many years.

I'm sitting here speechless (well, type-less!) All I can think of to say is "Thank You" and that doesn't even begin to say what you've meant to me in this lifetime.

I'll give it a try.

Using your methods, I found a house to live in when I could only afford an apartment. I created a real-live success team plus a wonderful support thread on your boards to help me finish writing a masters thesis. I got my sweater designs published in leaflets and books. I got to see sweaters I designed walk the runway in a fashion show. I got invited to teach knitting classes at national conventions because people saw the designs that got published.

I've done so many things that I never would have done by breaking them down into baby steps and asking for support. Asking for support was something I never did for anything until I read your books. I thought I had to do everything alone (that's what my parents taught me). That's all I can think of for now but I'll come back and add things when I think of them.

You've changed the way I approach doing anything in my life, basically. You've changed the way I think about things, the way I interact with people, my belief systems.

Well, that's it for now but I know there's a lot more! For now...........THANK YOU! I wish you the best with your "retirement".

Inspire Success

Oh, yeah, and you taught me how to inspire people with my own actions and words!

How did I miss this message, Inspiresuccess?! (Well, I know the answer: I stopped being notified of post because of some glitch now gone, I'm glad to say.) What an amazing message you have sent me! (I'm going to look you up on Google this minute.) Thank you for your words. They mean a lot to me.

[BarbaraSher]

This is unreadable for me. Would you consider breaking it all up into small paragraphs?

If others are like me, your material won't be read by many.

[SquarePeg]

Barbara, that post is spam. The user has been making multiple similar posts in several topics.