13.32 - Reasons to celebrate: 14th birthday - beginnings borne from frustration
We've had many reasons to celebrate at MyFrenchLife Magazine. This month we're celebrating our forebears The French Conversation Group, that has turned 14 years old! Here are a few of our celebrations
1.Reasons to celebrate: 14th birthday - beginnings borne from frustration 2. NEW articles: MyFrenchLife™ Magazine 3. Merci mille fois
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Reasons to celebrate: 14th birthday - beginnings borne from frustration
I’ve always been a believer in recognising achievements - even the tiny things.
Who knew when I started ‘French Conversation in Melbourne Group’ on meetup, all those years ago, that it would still be thriving 14 years later? I created the group as a reaction to being told that with an intermediate level of French, I could not join the local weekly ‘wine and cheese’ events - in fact, I wouldn’t be able to join until I was deemed to be at the ‘advanced level’.
So many good things seem to be borne from frustration, don’t they?
That evening when complaining to my husband about people with closed minds and rigid policies, I discovered Meetup.com, having never heard of it before. With little consideration, I inserted my credit card particulars and set up what I felt was needed - indeed, it was needed for me! Et voilà. Then I shared the idea and link to join with my friends and colleagues and the very first members joined the group. It was not long after that we held our first of what have been 237 events, so far.
That first reunion was in September 2009, and just yesterday I attended one of our regular French conversation reunions with 19 other people: French and francophone alike. A diverse group of very interesting people with fascinating stories to tell and all very supportive of each other, especially helping with your French.
Why celebrate the small stuff?
Did you know that our brains are wired to respond to rewards? Celebrating the completion of small accomplishments leads to the completion of larger goals. According to research by Teresa Amabile from Harvard Business School, people who tracked their small achievements every day enhanced their motivation.
…Leading behavioral scientist, B.J. Fogg, explains the link between emotions and habits. Habit formation is not, as conventional wisdom claims, a matter of 21 days of consistent practice. Celebrating small wins stimulates dopamine release in the brain, a feel-good chemical that reinforces the learning experience and strengthens our sense of connection to those we work with. Change and growth are promoted through positive emotions more than through disciplined practice… Just as the accomplishments we celebrate don’t have to be large, our celebrations don’t have to be grandiose; they just need to be meaningful…
I’ve always been a believer in this celebratory approach.
1. The French Conversation Group - driven by frustration, however, I didn’t do this alone
Humble beginnings: In August 2009 I created the French Conversation in Melbourne Group, on the Meetup platform, and it still continues today with ~2500 members, many of whom come and go over the months and years. I owe enormous thanks to key group members who’ve helped and/or single-handedly kept some of these reunions going, by hosting events through the pandemic and since! This celebration belongs to them & to those who attend. Un grand merci !
Here was our first of 237 events, in September 2009 - so much fun! French and francophiles together enjoying conversation, laughter, french wine, and Fromage of course! Wonderful for the spirit and the soul.
2. The website: MyFrenchLife.org became a magazine - driven by curiosity
In mid-2010 I founded MyFrenchLife Magazine which is 13 years of age this year. My curiosity got the better of me. I was wondering why everyone in the French conversation group, seemingly had a different reason for their love of France and the French language. So MyFrenchLife.org was born as a magazine with a growing number of Contributors, telling their stories and interviewing others, all striving to explore, understand, and experience France beyond the cliché and that’s what we’re still doing today.
Net back in 2012, we celebrated achieving a milestone of having published 600 articles - for context, we’ve now published almost 3,000 articles… perhaps 3,000 will be our next celebration.
This year, 2023, we’re opening up our French Bookclub to Substack subscribers too. You’ll find us here. You can read with us and join the discussions on either Facebook or Substack - your choice. We’re about to hold our next online event across five timezones, wish us luck :)
5. The Substack migration - driven by the desire to reach a wider audience
And in May 2023, I migrated le Bulletin newsletter to Substack and I’m ecstatic that I finally made that decision. Substack is an entirely new universe where none of the rubbish goes on that we’ve all experience on other platforms, especially social media. Substack is a publishing platform, a newsletter, and a social media platform that helps writers/publishers be closer to the readers. It is building a “better internet” for readers! You can subscribe to le Bulletin here.
On Substack, we’re celebrating every day being amongst amazing writers and appreciative readers!
6. The #FranceStack™ launch - driven by the desire to help readers find the best info about France & also the desire to collaborate
What is #FranceStack™? A Francophile dream: The best Substacks for Francophiles
This is a repository… a group of Substack writers who are either in France, writing about France, or who are in some way connected with France. Great writing that Francophiles will be drawn to!
The intention is to make it easy for readers to: . find great articles about France (mainly in English) and · find great substack writers to follow.
You’ll find it here - a list of fascinating and talented people writing about so many different aspects of France!
What’s next?
There have been many, many other highlights and celebrations - too many to mention here, but all are etched indelibly in my memory and that of others.
I’m not sure what our next celebration will be… but I look forward to it, with great gratitude and arms open wide. I hope that you’ll be with us.
"It was a scorcher the August day we arrived in the south of France. Kim and I had flown in from Boston to visit our friends Jocelyne and Patrick, and to admire their new home, still under construction, in the old village of Fayence." says Mark Jespersen... Discover more when you read this delightful story about one way of staying in a #French State of Mind.
“Merci mille fois... for reading ‘le Bulletin’ …I'm so grateful that you’re here - I really enjoy writing for you each week...” Judy MacMahon
Thank you for your messages - rants, suggestions, creative ideas, collaborations, & opposing views, they’re all welcome. Send me a message À Bientôt, Judy x
PS: this week’s paid ‘le Bulletin’ - 13.32.a - Coffee in France: which type are you - €1 or €5- is in your inbox. Check-out the preview & consider upgrading if you enjoy it.
PPS: Our French Book Club #Bookchat text chat channels are about to open - on 15 August and we’ll publish the date/time details of two online zoom EVENTS 21 & 22 August - zoom link will be emailed - RSVP essential here
félicitations pour toutes vos réalisations! I’m so happy I stumbled onto My French Life. Wishing you many more years to come!
Wow. 14 years on the go. Congrats. Good on you.