> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ashambirge.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Dear World: I Broke a Tub, Dodged Arrest, Lost a Grand, and Somehow Still Liked Myself in Morning (Mostly) - URL: https://www.ashambirge.com/dear-world-i-broke-a-tub-dodged-arrest-lost-a-grand-and-somehow-still-liked-myself-in-morning-mostly/ - Published: 2026-10-23T18:00:58.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T18:40:57.000Z - Author: Ash Ambirge - Tags: Travel and Culture, #affiliate Ahem, I now put *two* espresso shots in my coffee. --- Read [Yesteryear](https://bookshop.org/a/85416/9780593804216?ref=ashambirge.com). Couldn't put it down. The idea of being "a good Christian wife" terrifies me. --- Jeep Gladiator didn't pass inspection. Need new tires. Do you know that new tires cost $1,000??? --- Bench Warrant out for my arrest. *Almost.* Apparently you need to put "RENEW CAR REGISTRATION" in big, fat letters on your calendar. I'm such a hardened criminal! --- I didn't have a car for twenty years while I lived abroad. Can you tell? --- Trying out [ElevenLabs](https://try.elevenlabs.io/iyfj50m33m6o?ref=ashambirge.com). *Mind* *blown*. It cloned my voice and it sounds EXACTLY LIKE ME. It's creepily good! Perfect for narrating newsletters without the anxiety. 🤣 Listen here: I Broke a Tub Dodged Arrest Lost a Grand and Somehow Still Liked Myself in Morning Mostly 0:00 /190.66775 1× --- Been working on a new book. If [the first one](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/599537/the-middle-finger-project-by-ash-ambirge/?ref=ashambirge.com) was about leaving? This one is about coming home. --- Working on this, too. "The client app for introverts." I mean, what more do I need to say? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/e5/16e58068-cf89-457e-a7c9-2fae65c69386/content/images/2026/10/Screenshot-2026-10-23-at-11.51.05---AM-1.png) --- Something died. There's a nose-curdling smell *wafting in* from the woods behind my house. I hope it's not a person. Or my baby deer. The baby deer and I are pals. Here he is peeking in the windows of the barn like a real freakin' gangster. (And yes, that's a real 1800s outhouse in the background. 🤣) 0:00 /0:19 1× --- I miss walking around photographing every single piece of architecture in Madrid. Must return to Madrid. --- The guest cottage is almost done. A plumber is coming November 16th. You know you're old when this is legitimately a highlight. --- Do you know *why* I need a plumber? Because I broke the tub. Like, *broke it*. Got myself one of those fancy tub drain wrenches. Was gonna swap out the old nickel drain for a new brass one. You know, BE A REAL DO-IT-YOURSELF-ER. Until I heard a "crrraaaaaCCCCCCCkkkkKKKKkkkk." Apparently I broke the actual pipe. So now if you run the water? It goes straight into the basement. --- "How do you afford to travel so much, Ash?!?!?!" It was the question I always got. You know why, fuckers? Because I was not paying for tires and tubs. --- TIRES & TUBS should be the title of my new book. Just kidding. Then again, I'd definitely watch that movie. --- Best testimonial ever??? She's taking [Claude for Business Owners.](https://www.ashambirge.com/claude-for-business-owners/) The # of emails I'm getting that are like this is making me goosebumpy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/e5/16e58068-cf89-457e-a7c9-2fae65c69386/content/images/2026/10/Suzanne_testimonial_highlighted.png) --- More emails. I AM TICKLED. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/16/e5/16e58068-cf89-457e-a7c9-2fae65c69386/content/images/2026/10/Marie_testimonial_highlighted.png) --- I think about the career I've built *making things*. It's been twenty years now, and here I am, still *making things*. I want to make more things. More books. More apps. More newsletters. More fun. It's a hell of a way to earn a living. But, if you can trust yourself to pull it off? You'll never want to do anything else, ever again. --- There is a key to trusting yourself, you know. A secret. A sorcery. An ancient spell. And, that secret is this: ***You've got to actually like yourself.*** When's the last time you trusted somebody you didn't like??? --- Liking yourself is another matter. I won't pretend to have all the answers, but I can tell you this: The more promises you keep to yourself? The more you will like who you are in the morning. Even if you did forget to renew your registration. **The short answer:** How do you learn to trust yourself enough to build a creative career? You have to actually like yourself, because nobody trusts someone they don't like. I've spent twenty years making things for a living, and the way I've found to like myself more is simple: keep the promises you make to yourself. The more of them you keep, the more you like who you are in the morning, even on the days you forget to renew your car registration.