Peg Cheng

Author + Teacher

Peg Cheng

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Travel Photography for Everyone: Iceland is Now Available!

I’m stoked to announce that my hubs Marcus Donner, has released his first book, TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR EVERYONE: ICELAND!

This book has been nearly four years in the making. It all started when Marcus and I traveled to Iceland in the summer of 2016.

From beautiful waterfalls around every corner, to soaring puffins flying with beaks full of fish, to majestic Icelandic ponies grazing in vast green fields, to icy glaciers and black sand beaches, Iceland made an indelible mark on us. When Marcus decided to write a book on travel photography, he had so many great, diverse photos from Iceland that it just made sense to center his first book on that.

But while the photos are from Iceland, the tips in the book are culled from Marcus’s 30 years as a professional photographer and photojournalist.

“I wanted to reveal the secrets of taking a great photo–techniques I’ve been using for years–but show how to do it in a way so that people at all skills levels could understand and do it,” said Marcus.

When I asked Marcus how it felt to finally have his book out in the world, he said, “It just feels great to share my love of photography with everyone.”

This book is the fourth book/zine published by our indie publishing company, Plaid Frog Press, and we couldn’t be happier to share it with you.

“As CFO and head of employee retention,” said Froggy. “I’m going to make sure that Marcus celebrates all weekend–maybe even for the rest of the month! I’m incredibly proud of him and his book.”

If you’ve been wanting to visit Iceland, want to take better photos, or just need an escape through some gorgeous armchair travel, order a copy of TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR EVERYONE: ICELAND today!

ps. If you’d like your book signed, indicate that in the NOTES box when you check out. Marcus would be happy to do that for you!

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Digital Detox 30-Day Update

I’ve been on a digital detox for 30 days and it’s been WONDERFUL. It wasn’t without its challenges, but overall, the changes I made resulted in less stress and more peace, so I’ve decided to do it for another 30 days.

Here are the goals I set 30 days ago and how each one turned out.

1. DECREASE SOCIAL MEDIA by spending 5 minutes or less on it per day. All social media will be conducted on my computer. Apps have been deleted from my phone. 5 minutes? Ha! It was more like five to six times that amount. I found that I like to spend about 30 minutes on Twitter each day and only a few minutes per week on LinkedIn. I did stick with doing social media only on my laptop, but I also did it on my tablet. I’ve kept the apps deleted from my phone. For the next 30 days, I’ll keep social media to 30 minutes per day MAX and will keep accessing it just on my laptop and tablet, not my phone.

2. DECREASE EMAIL TIME by spending 25 minutes or less on it per day. Only check email after I’ve finished my writing and other important brain work and don’t check it again for the rest of the day. All emails will be done on my computer or tablet. Email has been deleted from my phone. This was hard. I couldn’t make myself stick to checking email only once a day. In fact, I realized over the last 30 days that I check my email like 5-10 times each day! Checking email this much definitely leads to more stress and annoyance for me, so I want to set a new goal that’s more than once but less than 5-10 times a day. For the next 30 days, I’ll check my email 3 times a day MAX: once in the morning before I start important brain work (I like reading my emails first thing to see what I might want to respond to later), a second time near 3pm (to check for Plaid Frog Press orders that need to be mailed out), and then lastly at 5-6pm to respond to emails and shut emails down for the day.

3. DECREASE TIME ON MY iPHONE by turning off all notifications and reading texts only once per day. I will read all texts but responding is optional. I can choose to email or call people back rather than texting. This was the best change ever! Turing off notifications on my phone and reading and responding to texts once a day was a game-changer. My stress and annoyance levels went way down. Also, I gave myself permission to only respond to texts I wanted to respond to and it was absolutely freeing. Keeping this goal as is.

4. READ THE NEWS no more than once per day for 30 minutes or less. No prob. Turns out it’s easy for me to read the news less than 30 minutes per day and still feel up-to-date. Keeping this goal as is.

5. GAIN KNOWLEDGE AND RELAX by reading 2 hours or more per day. I love reading so this goal was easy to do. On the rare days when I didn’t get at least 2 hours of reading in, I’d feel irritable. It’s key to my self-care to spend a good amount of time reading every day. Keeping this goal as is.

6. GO FOR A WALK AND RELAX once per day (or more) for 40-60 minutes each time. Most days, I went for a walk and it felt good, but there were some days when my tums wasn’t feeling well so I’d skip it. Even though it was better for me to skip the walk due to not being able to be near a bathroom, I noticed on those days that I’d feel both tired and antsy. I’ve decided that on days like that, I’ll walk slowly up and down the stairs in my house and in the various rooms to get some exercise. With that added, I’m keeping this goal as is.

7. LEARN PORTUGUESE on Duolingo for 10 minutes per day. This is one app I’m allowing on my iPhone. Tudo bem! Yep, all is well with learning Portuguese. Sometimes I miss a day but it’s rare. My husband Marcus is learning the same language on Duolingo so it’s been fun. Keeping this goal as is.

8. DEEPEN CONNECTIONS by having a long chat with at least one friend per week. This ended up being easier to do because most of my friends have been sheltering-at-home due to the COIVD-19 pandemic. It’s been really nourishing to have a long chat with a friend at least once a week. Keeping this goal as is.

Little help here? Before, I said I’d use a timer, but actually, I haven’t been using one and I’m not sure if I will.

Most challenging change? I was right about #1 and #2 being the hardest ones to do consistently, but surprisingly, #3 was not hard to do once I got past the first week. I still think #1 and #2 will be challenging for the next 30 days.

Easiest change? I think #4-#8 will either continue to be easy and/or will be easier than they were during the first 30 days. I’m hoping that over the next 30 days, these five goals will feel like natural habits.

Most welcome change? Like I mentioned before, #3: spending less time on my iPhone and turning off text notifications, was a game-changer. I feel SO much better because of this change.

Most surprising change? I was surprised at how anxious or off I’d feel when I didn’t get two hours of reading in each day.

Once again, I have my work cut out for me. I’ll report back in a month and let you know how it went.

If this has peaked your interest in digital detoxes, check out Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport. It’s fascinating and helpful.

And, if you want to make changes to your digital life, or have made some changes already, post your thoughts below. I’m always looking for more ideas!

Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, co-owner of Plaid Frog Press, and a career coach combining intellect with intuition. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg lives in Seattle.

Photo by Fuu J.

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The Empath’s Journey by Ritu Kaushal

I learn so much from other people’s personal stories and love reading memoirs, autobiographies, and narrative nonfiction. When I read an especially good memoir, I marvel at how honest, revealing, and vulnerable the author is willing to be with me. The Empath’s Journey by Ritu Kaushal is one of those books.

The book’s subtitle describes it well: What working with my dreams, moving to a different country and learning about Carl Jung taught me about being an empath. It was fascinating to read about Ritu’s journey of moving from India to the U.S. and her many personal stories about how she learned she was a HSP (highly sensitive person) and empath, what her dreams revealed to her, and how those experiences and knowledge shaped her into the author-artist she is today.

As I was reading The Empath’s Journey, I felt like I was walking along a mandala-shaped labyrinth. I’m a fast reader but found that I couldn’t rush through the book like I usually do. Ritu’s language and imagery was so beautiful and rich that it literally made me slow down my mind as I read every sentence and paragraph like I was taking a mindful, meditative walk.

Instead of reading a chapter a day, I’d read part of a chapter and then give myself several days to let the stories and examples sink in. It took me two to three weeks to read each chapter and several months to finish the book. At first, I was alarmed that I wasn’t reading at my usual speed, but once I surrendered to this experience, I realized that this was what Ritu’s story was trying to teach me: slow down, take your time, notice what’s happening inside you.

Here’s an example of one of the many passages that I loved.

In the music of our dreams, in the dance of their stories, we can find these lost fragments. We just have to risk beginning the adventure, with its frightening, snarling creatures, with its breathtaking cosmic vistas. We have to decide to ride its crests to see where it takes us.

And another one.

Then, I think I can meet the world as it is instead of projecting nice things onto it, instead of believing that niceness will protect me from the turbulence of the world. I am learning now that the real harbour is inside myself and that what really protects me, in the end, is me.

Even though I haven’t been through the same external experiences as Ritu, I could relate to many of her inner experiences. I’m grateful to Ritu for writing so openly about her life. The Empath’s Journey made me feel seen, affirmed, and comforted.

If you’ve ever been labeled “sensitive” by other people, or told that you “take things too personally,” I think you’ll really enjoy this book. Get yourself a copy of The Empath’s Journey today. The journey of reading this book will be well worth your time.

ps. To learn more about Ritu and her creations, check out her site, Walking Through Transitions, and subscribe to her blog.

Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, co-owner of Plaid Frog Press, and a career coach combining intellect with intuition. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg lives in Seattle.

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It’s Never a Good Time to Start but Always a Good Time to Begin

It was 1996 and I’d just graduated with a Master of Public Administration (MPA). My classmates and I were all scrambling to find jobs but the job market was depressed. I thought my first “real” job would pay me $30,000 a year, a realistic salary for MPA grads. Girl, I wasn’t even close.

My first full-time job paid me $11.23 per hour for 32 hours a week.

That’s $18,687 a year working as a volunteer coordinator for an organization focused on eliminating poverty. Yep, the irony is not lost on me.

I could have told myself, wait until your next job—it’ll pay more and you can save then. I so wanted to do that! But every money book said to save for retirement ASAP, so I did it. I opened a retirement account and started saving.

When I got my first paycheck, it was a little smaller, but it was what I needed to learn to survive on. It was challenging but I kept living like a student and made do with what I had.

When I left this job seven months later, I had $600 in my retirement account. I was 25.

I’m now 48. The excerpt you just read is from my new book, Rebel Millionaire: Get Rich on Your Own Terms.

If I hadn’t started saving small amounts of money–$46.71 per month to be exact–to my retirement account 23 years ago there’s no way I’d be writing a book about money today. And I sure as heck wouldn’t be talking about becoming a millionaire when I turn 65. No fookin’ way!

It’s only because I realized that it’s never a good time to start that I began saving and investing despite scraping by and making just enough dough to pay my bills.

What I’ve learned over the years is that it’s never a good time to start. Your mind will always convince you that next week will be better, next month it’ll be easier, and next year will be just the right time. But then that perfect day never comes and you still feel just as much hesitation as before.

Why?

For me, it’s fear of the unknown. My hesitation to begin anything new (e.g. writing a new story, traveling to a new place, saving for retirement) stems from that fear.

My mind wants to protect me. It hates the unknown. So, in times like this, I have to turn to something else, specifically two other parts of my body: my heart and my gut.

It’s difficult to make good decisions when you’re feeling fear, anxiety, or outright panic. I’ve discovered over the years that when faced with a big decision, it helps to calm my body and nervous system as much as possible, and then let my mind, heart, and gut wander together to Decision Land.

For me, the times when I’m most calm and relaxed are right after I wake up in the morning and am still lying in bed, during the middle of my daily meditation, and while I’m taking a shower. It’s no surprise that I get my best ideas, and have the most revelations about an issue or problem I’m working on, during these times. These are the times when I can tap into my intuition and make decisions that truly reflect who I am and what I most want.

If you’re struggling with making decisions during this pandemic, please know that you are not alone. We are all having troubles with it. It’s okay and perfectly normal to feel listless and at sea. We will get through this. In the meantime, if you’re wrestling with a major decision or starting something new, why not give this technique a try?

Calm your body by doing an activity that feels good and doesn’t require you to think (e.g. taking a bath or shower, having a cat nap, digging in your garden), then let your heart and gut take your mind by the hand to wander around. In time, they will work together to point you towards the decision that feels right.

It might take a few days (or weeks or months) to get the hang of it. We’re all so used to thinking, thinking, thinking all the time. But when you can get to a place where you stop thinking and your body is relaxed, it’s amazing what messages will come through. It is then that you’ll know what to do.

Remember, it’s never a good time to start, but it’s always a good time to begin. Why not begin today?

ps. If money is one of the issues you’re wrestling with, check out my book Rebel Millionaire. It takes less than 30 minutes to read and just might be the encouragement you need right now.

Peg Cheng is the author of Rebel Millionaire, a guide for how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income, co-owner of Plaid Frog Press, and a career coach combining intellect with intuition. Born in Southern California to Taiwanese parents, Peg lives in Seattle.

Photo by Annie Spratt.

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Audre Lorde Quote & Test

I looked around when I was a young woman and there was no one saying what I wanted and needed to hear. I felt totally alienated, disoriented, crazy. I thought that there’s got to be somebody else who feels as I do.
— Audre Lorde

This is a public service announcement to bring you this awesome quote by poet Audre Lorde, but also to test my email subscription service which has been having glitches for the last month. I apologize if you subscribed to my blog but haven’t been receiving new blog posts. If you received an email with this post, please do me favor. Type “Got it!” or something like that in the comment box below so I know you received it. Thanks!