For weeks (maybe a month), I’ve been trying to plan a course for my Solo Empowerment niche. I want to teach people how to go from being anxious doing things solo to truly adventurous.
I’ve planned, read medium articles, taken courses, and been on an unending cycle of learning but not actually doing. I think the doing part is scary for me because then I’m allowing other humans to judge me or my products, which in turn makes me feel out of control. So I don’t do much of it. But today, I decided ‘good enough’ is much better than perfect. I relinquished a bit of that control and told myself to create something simple. Something helpful.
Something that will be useful coming up for the holidays for people who may not have anywhere to go, not have family to see, or just generally don’t want to see anyone else.
So I took myself to Claude.ai and started asking questions. Personally, I prefer using Claude over any other chatbot.
The bot gave me a good 10 suggestions but the option that stood out for me was the advent calendar suggestion. Advent calendars are so popular through the holidays, it felt like a no brainer.
Typical advent calendars are for the days leading up to Christmas (think Dec 1st thru 25th), but I decided that there needed to be a leading up to [American] Thanksgiving and into the holiday season resource.
I decided to tackle three of the biggest themes in solo empowerment: boundary-setting, gratitude, and celebrating solitude (being alone, not lonely).
With all of my suggestions for colors, themes, and layout choices, Claude created a beautiful calendar for me — quick and easy.
We went back and forth on:
- Color palette (I chose jewel tones — burgundy, forest green, warm brown)
- Layout (grid format split across 3 pages instead of cramming all 30 days on one)
- Visual elements (soft autumn imagery that frames rather than overwhelms)
- Tone of the prompts (gentle suggestions, not commands)
The whole process took less than an hour. Each time I had an idea or wanted to tweak something, Claude adjusted it immediately. No design skills needed on my end; just knowing what I wanted the feeling to be.
Here’s how it turned out:
I am the queen of learning and not doing. But today, I decided to reframe who I am and actually create something. If I can break the cycle, so can you.
