Hey Reader,
There’s a forest path just down the hill from my house. Most days, that’s my minimum viable movement - a little 20-minute loop I can do no matter how busy I am.
Even if it’s wet. Even if it’s hot. (Admittedly, I’ll skip it if it’s especially windy.)
I’ve walked this loop so many times now, I don’t even think about it. Sometimes I’ll put on a podcast, or have Chani in my ear, but more and more lately, I just prefer the quiet.
That didn’t used to be the case.
I didn’t have a Walkman or an iPod growing up, so I’d sing to myself everywhere I went. I didn’t drive, and my mom worked nights, so I was always moving.
And today, heading toward the woods, it hit me - that was me regulating.
The same patterns and the same songs, walking the same places on repeat.
Now, I don’t need the soundtrack. I don’t need anything to hold me together while I move step-by-step along the path under the tree canopy with leaves crunching under my feet.
I didn’t realize how different that was until I noticed how quiet everything had gotten inside of me.
*
Sitting at my desk freshly back from Costa Rica, I'm sitting with the downloads Nina and I came back with.
And the most important one, one we shared, was the least expected - that the priority is getting our kids launched well.
If you’ve been here a while, you know how long I’ve wrestled with the intersection of motherhood, identity, and ambition. When I had Emerson, it brought it all right back to the forefront. And while I’d love to tell you I handled it better this time around, that’d be a bold-faced lie.
What I did have going for me was experience - the familiarity of postpartum depression and, critically, access to resources. I had enough childcare to not completely lose my mind.
But like clockwork, Emerson turned two, the skies began to clear, and the things I’d been so fixated on started to feel less urgent. Considering I’d spent months pressuring my husband to sell the house and move overseas, that season finally releasing its grip on my psyche felt like a necessary exhale.
(Not that I’ve let go of the overseas dream - don’t get it twisted.)
But walking through the woods this morning, I heard it so clearly: "I’m ready for my career to take a back seat."
I’ve always identified so strongly with what I do and what I put out into the world, and while I have no plans to stop creating or sharing what I'm doing, it feels like continuing on that path would be missing the plot.
It's funny how consistently good travel is for my brain. Just getting away from my regular routines and being able to focus on staying present and just whatever's happening that day. Traveling is usually my best writing time, but instead, I found myself quiet. Still. Listening more deeply to the people around me, because it felt like there was something I wasn’t supposed to miss.
The only goal that I set myself during this trip was to stretch and do some yoga every day, which I did. And for the first time in the longer than I care to admit, I can finally touch my toes reliably again. But that daily intentional practice of going out to the deck and stretching and doing yoga with Nina (and walking through the jungle?!) and talking through what we've both been dreaming about just always unlocks whatever's supposed to come next.
And that's looking like a lot of completion and closing out for me which feels really good. One thing I was reminded of during this trip was how much I really love what I do when I'm granted autonomy, but frankly, that's something that should be a given. Let me do my job or why am I even here?
The older I get, the more that I realize that if I try to fight how I'm wired, I just get pissy and resentful. So much of what I'm feeling lately feels cyclical. I'm getting old enough to see my own patterns, and lately it's been all about projects - letting myself make something and let it just exist and be imperfect.
This fall, my projects are looking a little different than I anticipated at the beginning of the year. But that's okay.
In some ways, this year has felt so long, and in others, it feels like I blinked, and now it's almost August. But patterns will do their thing and they'll keep revealing themselves on repeat. So my next little series of projects probably won't surprise anyone. But I hope they’re useful. Or at the very least, good for helping you hit pause, reset, and go - the same way they are for me.
Now - let's talk about the projects.
The Common Wealth Summit
I'm thrilled to finally share a project I've been helping with behind the scenes - a summit that's a whole lot more than a freebie grab.
Back when I'd first launched Reinvent(ed), it was because I'd wanted to create a stage for my friends at scale that focused on giving way more than what was often a thinly veiled pitch.
This is like that, except it was created in an egalitarian style across a group of 9 women. (Betcha didn't see that coming as the punchline, did ya?) I'm so proud of what we've built for you, and I know you're going to get a ridiculous amount of value out of the workshops here.
Treat this like a program you paid for, show up, and consider upgrading if you think you'll need more time to apply everything.
Referral Worthy Season 2
It’s here. Finally.
This season, you’ll still hear me talk shop - especially about the state of online marketing - but a lot of it is about what really drives this work: the relationships we build, how we build them, and why they matter.
Start with the season opener - I’m joined by Veronica Yanhs, and we’re not holding back.
|
|
|
|
|
Hearth & Hollow
Fall is just around the corner, which means it's time to start your next round of seeds?
No room for your winter garden yet? I’ve got you.
Hearth & Hollow is now taking pre-orders for fall veggie starts. Think of it like a CSA for plants.
More info here!
|
Last but not least, I’ve made the call not to host Reinvent(ed) this year.
That said, it's looking like I'll be traveling for the holidays, and wherever I land, trust I'll be hosting a gathering for us.
|
|
|
Last Thoughts
I left Costa Rica with a whole lot of clarity, love, and self-respect.
There are still a few things that need wrapping up, loops that need closing, but the self-imposed urgency has disappeared.
Now, it's just figuring out how to navigate this next season without abandoning myself in the process. No big deal, right?
Thanks for listening. Be back with a cute lil ebook soon.
Talk soon,