Susie’s Musings

Well, hi there! If you could see me right now, I’d be frantically waving at you with a big goofy grin on my face.

There are so many reasons for my smile; first and foremost, I am so excited to get the chance to regularly be amongst this incredible community of women!

I’m also smiling as I think about how I’ll be sharing fun and creative ways for you to rock out life as a marvelous modern woman; how we can all embrace aging gratefully together, because there’s nothing graceful about it, right?! Let’s not only accept our age but revel in all the wonderful things that come with every wrinkle and sag!

So, who the heck am I? My name is Susie Shubert, of Your Unexpected Journey. I came up with that website name not only because I’m a huge Lord of the Rings nerd, but also because—as cliché as it sounds—my life truly is about the journey. I’ve tried, dabbled in, and done so many different things, and I have to say; letting go of the destination and simply allowing my soul to lead me down the road has taken me to the most incredible places. I mean, here I am at Modern Prairie!

The thing is, we’re all on an unexpected journey, and my goal is to help you navigate yours so that it takes you where you want to go. To do this, you must be aligned with who you truly are, and then do the work to move forward with intention.

Where do we start?

Everything I do starts with a life coaching certification that I received over 17 years ago, through the incredible Martha Beck Institute. What began as a one-on-one practice has now become more of a collective experience as I tap into the coaching wisdom and skills through my writing as a published author and my work as a tarot advisor.

What have I written?

Aside from years of writing site content, blogs and newsletters, my first published work was The Badass Planner! A call-to-action journal-type planner, it helped you rock out your daily life and make each day count. Each month had a themed essay, and weekly quotes to keep you motivated. Sadly, after its five-year run, it met its untimely death in 2020—another victim of COVID-19, as my publisher was going in a different direction.

Currently, I am working on two daily desk calendars for the year 2024! One is called Whimsical Witch, a light-hearted look at magic, and the other is Terrifying Trivia! This is all about popular horror movies, books, and the villains and monsters we all love to hate.

And now for something completely different…! In the spring or fall of 2023, Little House Life Hacks will be hitting the shelves! My co-author and dear friend Angie Bailey and I are Gen-X pop culture junkies, and as we found ourselves homebound during the pandemic not only did we binge-watch episodes of Little House, but we started thinking about how it seemed that the world has been craving that back-to-basics lifestyle. Even before our own modern-day plague, our beloved Walnut Grove folks had a lot of great life lessons to share, both from the TV show and the books. Little House Life Hacks is a lifestyle book chock-full of fun tips to connect with loved ones, family, friends, community, nature, and yourself, with plenty of kitschy humor. I mean, come on—who couldn’t share a laugh over the 1970’s cheese-factor and Pa’s ever-sweaty and often bare chest??

Talk about an unexpected writing journey, eh? I can’t wait to share it all with you!

Wait…did I say, tarot??

I certainly did. What began as an “oh, what the heck?” tarot reading became the catalyst for me to dive into this ancient magical modality. As much as the tarot can be a divinatory resource for many and a place to connect with your own personal brand of spirituality, the thing I love most about the practice is that it’s an incredible self-development and creative tool.

I look at the cards of a tarot deck as pages of a collectively cosmic book that reflects the stories of our lives. Their insights help you break down that wall you’ve put up around your subconscious. This barrier is made up of messages and ideas told to us by the people we’ve grown up with, and things we’ve learned from society. Tarot can help break down that wall so that you can have access to your own ideas and answers that will help you align with your authentic self. There’s no magic in the cards…the magic resides in YOU!

I’ll be talking a lot about how these cards can inspire us throughout our everyday lives.

What else? Well, here’s me in a nutshell:

• I’m a huge Lord of the Rings nerd. Yes, I said that already, but it’s worth repeating. At least to myself.

• I grew up in Iowa City, Iowa, and eventually made my way to Hollywood, California. Chasing my rock-and-roll dreams, I sang in a couple of bands. One was called Warbride, and the other was The Charm School Dropouts. We used so much Aqua Net hairspray (that we lovingly called R-Aqua Net) that we probably contributed to the hole in the ozone layer…sorry about that.

• I have been married to the same guy for almost 30 years–we have two grown human kids and two feline ones. We live and freeze in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• We used to own a coffee shop in Missoula, Montana called The Atomic Grind. Our slogan was “We’ll Keep You Regular”.

• I am a very strange mix of pragmatic + woo.

• I love donuts.

• I love horror movies—even the bad ones.

• I believe that the original Die Hard is a holiday movie.

• I am and will always be lured by anything that glitters or creeps. (unless it’s a spider.)

• My music taste is eclectic; on any given day I will be listening to Barry Manilow, Tame Impala, or Metallica.

• I refuse to get old; I will only grow older.

• I change my hairstyle almost as much as my underwear. OK, not every day, but…

• Everything must have meaning and purpose, even if that is only to delight me for a day.

• As a child, my best friend’s mother made us Little House mob caps and I always had to be Mary.

So, where are we going?

Every month I will share my musings with you about aging gratefully, living loudly, and dealing with this often-challenging thing called life, which will hopefully help to inspire and move you. Much of it will involve the tarot, and as I am a big proponent of the powerful magic of the written word, I will often be prompting you to write about your own thoughts, insights, and experiences.

I hope you will join me on this journey—I’ll make sure we stop for snacks and potty breaks, and I always make time for sightseeing. We are going to have so much fun! I can’t wait to get to know you and share time together! (Btw, I’m still smiling.)

Your magic, write now ~ Susie

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