Everyone Talks About Launching a Book. Nobody Talks About the Post-Publication Crash

Almost one year to the day since publishing Joy, Regardless, I’m sitting down alone with the microphone to share what this year has actually been. This episode may just be the most honest thing I’ve said out loud!

Everyone talks about launching a book, but nobody talks about what comes after. In this episode I name the post-publication crash - the disorienting gap between the dream and the reality - and trace it back to something I didn’t expect to find: a lifelong fear of disappointment so deeply buried I had simply mistaken it for drive and ambition.

In this episode I cover:

* The elation of publishing, and the crash that followed

* The pattern I thought I’d evolved past, but hadn’t

* The fear of disappointment that had been running my life from behind a curtain

* What happened when I finally said out loud: I am disappointed

* The difference between knowing the path and walking it

* Where wholeness actually lives

* The tools that have helped me this year

This one is for anyone who has done the brave thing - published something, started something, risked something - and then found themselves wondering why it didn’t look the way they imagined. It’s about the groove we wear into ourselves through years of running from feeling. The sirens of the mind calling us back to control. And what happens when we finally stop running and agree to feel it instead.

I also read the moment in the book when the part of me that is already enough begins, for the first time, to stir.

It’s an honest and deep reflection so i’d love to know if it resonates, please let me know in the comments.

Happy first birthday, Joy, Regardless! And if you’re listening on the 10th from down under - Happy Mother’s Day to all the women and mamas here! I see you. The ache you carry, the love you pour, and the quiet wondering if there is more to you than all of this. There is. There always was. And my greatest hope is that this podcast and this book walk alongside you on the journey home to yourself.

I am still walking that path home. But one thing is for sure - I am very glad you’re walking it with me.

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🔗 Get my memoir, Joy, Regardless: https://laracharles.com/joy-regardless/

🔗 My favourite podcast this month: Gangaji - listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts