Maybe it’s because the cooler weather has FINALLY hit my corner of the world (north Florida friends: you feeling the same?). The long sleeves have come out of hibernation from my closet. Drinking a hot cup of tea in the back garden doesn’t leave me in a puddle of sweat.
Truth be told, I’m feeling both more introspective and unmoored as we’re nearing winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Part of it is that I’m finally letting myself reflect on some personal events that have transpired the last few years, now that I’m on the other side of it.
Because I had no intentionality behind this year, I ended up reacting to events as they arose (and arose, they did!) and having to push everything every which way to prioritize what was most pressing.
This year turned into a lot of advocacy work for myself and looking into state laws and such. I don’t need to tell you that some of the language contained in these documents can be intentionally confusing.
All this to say: in an attempt to both connect with you all on here (I love you!) and bring more intentionality into my days, I’m starting a monthly column to look backwards and forwards.
May some or all of what I share resonate with you in some way. Either way, I’m so grateful you’re here.
-Sarah
Some Joys
To celebrate (!) the last bits and bobs of the advocacy work my family had been obsessed with doing, we played hooky and took a school day off to Legoland. I screamed-laughed way too hard on some of the rollercoasters. I secretly wished I was small enough to drive the Lego cop car for the park’s “driving school.”
Connecting with my weekly meditation group is so nourishing. I’ve really come to cherish our times together, whether we all leave feeling hopeful, sad or anything in-between. This month I came away with so many book recommendations, many of them poetry collections.
What I’m Working Towards
This year has seen a huge shift in my paying work, so I hired a business coach I’ve followed for a while to help me make some changes. The main reason I’ve hired her is more for emotional and mindset support, with some strategy sprinkled in. I’m both nervous and excited!
Someone close to me made an off-handed comment about how it seems like I haven’t felt myself when it came to embracing the joys around the Christmas season. To be honest, I’ve been acting Scrooge-like and leaned hard into that attitude hard the last few years, much to my and others’ detriment.
So, the aim is to bake up a storm and find little joys to share with family next month. So I’m trying new-to-me recipes! This one for individual Black Forest mousse cake sounds divine, thinking about this fresh gingerbread with lemon icing, and debating between this peppermint chocolate brownie cookie or Mexican hot chocolate cookie recipe (maybe I’ll bake both!)
What I’m Mulling On (aka, listens & reads)
This episode where Sam Smith interviews Ocean Vuong on their podcast. The love between the two is infectious (and they just met!). I sat crying at their connection and how open and vulnerable they were willing to be. Absolute perfection.
The interview with Atul Gawande for the On Being podcast gave me hope in how we care for the dying and giving dignity to the process of death.
Speaking of connection, I love the way
over at Musings by Mika encourages connections within the Substack community. Her ‘Find Your Tribe’ posts (here’s the November version) is such a lovely place to be. s post about winter friends really got me thinking about how I missed spontaneous meetups with friends, which sadly doesn’t happen often because many live in different parts of the world.A little journaling prompt
What would you do today if it felt easy?
Does life have to be so hard? Or, what if you flipped the switch on the mindset on what is worth fighting for and see what you’d do differently if something were easy instead.
Sorry, I'm late to this! And what a meaningful one, too! The timing of your question is good though, so you see how this works out? Anyway, I woke up feeling poorly (sore throat) and I was depressed because work is such a petri dish, and I thought I had skirted around the worst of it. But I told myself, I'm going to feel better as soon as I have to go to work (this afternoon), and lo and behold, I do feel better. Not 100%, I'm still fighting it, but I'm not resigned to it, you know? Thanks, Sarah for another great one, xo
What would I do today if it felt easy? Humm... I'd book more last-minute trips to Italy? More as in, not once every 4 years.