Greetings my friend from the beautiful city of Oslo, Norway!

I’m at the beginning of a month long trip to Scandinavia, and so far it’s been great.

The first 2 days were solo before my husband joined me (I used points to fly) and that meant I could shop, wander and sketch as my heart desired…and that also meant I had the time to try something special…

Yes! I made a reservation at a Floating Sauna - have you heard of these? They are located in the harbors of Oslo. Here’s what it looks like inside.

So I was able to have one of these floating saunas with only 3 other people. A Mother/Daughter from Minnesota and an interesting young man (Art Consultant) from NYC. They were super nice and friendly.

And of course, part of the Scandinavian sauna experience is to intermittently take a break from the heat by jumping into the Fjord. Yup. A real-out in the wild Cold Plunge!

I was the last to arrive, (a story for another day) and when I got there, the mother/daughter had just come back from their first dip. They were red and laughing about it.

I let myself get all relaxed and warmed up and then it was my turn to plunge.

Wow! It was so fun!! I’ll spare you the video of me jumping in. (Sebastian, the art consultant, was an Instagram specialist, so he was happy to take the pictures for me.)

That’s the Oslo Opera House behind me by the way - spectacular!

When I got back onto the sauna boat, the ladies from Minnesota couldn’t believe I was able to stay in so long and easily enjoy the water. (It was only 57 degrees - so quite comfortable for me.)

They said, “Wow, you’re so good at this. You make it look easy.”

I just laughed and said, “It’s just that I’ve done it more than you.”

And it hit me, that’s it exactly!

I’m just a bit further down this cold plunge road than they are. As you may remember, I’ve been cold plunging for several years.

The first months of it were not easy. They stretched me like crazy!

But then, with practice, it got easier and more enjoyable.

Hmmmm. This is a lesson I needed to remind myself.

Because, as you know, I’m just starting out on this art-making journey.

And my mantra - “I give myself permission to be a beginner” - is something I tell myself every day.

I don’t know about you, but I often (even now!) find myself looking at those in the art world much further down the road than I am, and I get discouraged.

“My art doesn’t look professional.”

“This isn’t like I see it in my head.”

“That’s not quite right.”

It’s looks so amateur-ish.”

And so on.

So I need to remind myself that this is all part of the journey.

Learning, applying, doing, growing, getting better, learning some more, doing some more…and before I know it, I actually will be producing things I love and feel good about.

Do you need to remind yourself of this too?

Are you trying something new that’s not quite where you want it to be yet?

If so, give yourself some grace and tell yourself the truth.

“It’s good to be a beginner.”

“This is all part of the journey.”

“Of course this is difficult - that’s all part of it.”

And in the meantime, if you want to join me this month on this trip through Norway, Sweden and The Netherlands, come on over to Facebook or Instagram. I’ll be posting every day, so you can get a taste of it too.

Love you,

Christy :)