Dear friends,
Lately, I feel very porous, as though things are reaching me more deeply than they have before. The trees look mightier. The clouds are awe-inducing. Human faces seem more tender. I feel new somehow. And any kindness sent my way feels extraordinarily soothing.
Last week, John and I escaped to the magical Oregon Coast. Just the two of us, with the fog and wind and chilly weather of a coastline we love so much. It was a birthday trip for me, but also a light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel trip. The kind we’ve been looking forward to for weeks while selling our home, navigating some heavy personal stuff, and moving once again.
Before we left, we built a tiny beach fire and burned a bundle of foraged botanicals (I love these burn bundles). As the smoke rose, we declared the end of one chapter and welcomed in a new one. More simplicity. More humor. More choices aligned with our values.
As I step into my 51st year, the values guiding me most are freedom, health, and creativity.
It’s such a simple reset for me. How can I make choices aligned with what I say I value? How can I move closer to my truest life? Freedom and health feel like lowering my stress as much as possible, so I’m starting there :).
Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
He also said the above, which Donna (a dear one in our creative community) emailed to me last week in this gorgeous graphic.
We all move through seasons when the systems, identities, or beliefs that have long held up our lives no longer fit. It’s like trying to wear a pair of jeans three sizes too small. Tight. Uncomfortable. Restrictive.
Life changes us.
And the best way I know to navigate the inevitable right-sizing of it all is with support, one tiny choice at a time toward what we most value, and generous doses of self-compassion and grace.
So, to those of you in the frolic / bliss / possibility of your journey, I’m celebrating right alongside you. May you savor every bit of it.
And to those of you in the fiasco, I’m sending a different kind of wish. I hope the right people arrive to help usher you through. I hope you find a self-compassion that nurtures every tender part of you. And I hope you can hold onto a vision, even a tiny one, that guides you toward what is already on its way: E x p a n s i o n.
As for me, I’m hopeful the fiasco season is packing her bags. But if she insists on staying, I’ll keep showing up for the lessons until class is dismissed.
XO
