Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Dear Reader, You're probably going to know the answer to this question before I finish asking it: When life gets full — and it always gets full — what goes first? The walk without your phone. The unhurried morning spent recalling your dreams. The ten minutes at the window, not doing anything, just there. Gone. And here's the tape that likely starts playing the moment you even consider taking a beat: If I slow down, things will pile up...
22 days ago • 2 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Hi Reader, Yesterday I scrolled upon Andrew Scott reading Everything Is Going To Be Alright by Derek Mahon: How should I not be glad to contemplate the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window and a high tide reflected on the ceiling? There will be dying, there will be dying, but there is no need to go into that. The lines flow from the hand unbidden and the hidden source is the watchful heart. The sun rises in spite of everything and...
29 days ago • 3 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Dear Reader, I wrote my dissertation on renewal and play because I needed to learn what my body already knew: rest isn't the absence of passion. It's what rekindles it. Here's what all that deep study taught me: the most transformative practices are often the simplest. Il dolce far niente. The Italians understand this. The sweetness of doing nothing. Because you can't repair what you won't stop using, beloved. Not...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Hi Reader, Picture this. I rushed out the door to an early doctor's appointment (just routine). Got sent over to the hospital for lab work, since the tech was out at the office. Ran by the market to get staples for the winter storm approaching. Threw together a quick lunch and switched the laundry. Checked in with my dad and husband (who was filling in for me as a ski trip chaperone—more on that later). And then I realized it was...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Dear Reader, I'm just going to say it. It's been a ferocious start to the year! It's my dear friend in Minnesota reaching out in pain and terror about what is happening to her community and neighbors. It's my dad – linking his arm in mine outside the hospital ward, steering me away from my mother's room, saying: We need to talk about her last scan before you go in. Honey… it's so bad. It's my sister (of all people) lashing out. And...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Dear Reader, Your metaphysical toolkit is not a guilty secret. No matter what your 9 to 5 looks like. I keep coming back to something Jaiya John wrote: “ Our great misunderstanding is that we believe some things are meant to be done soullessly, and other things soulfully. Gradually, this line creeps. More and more we live soullessly, believing it to be the easier way. Nothing is meant to be lived soullessly. Ease has nothing to do...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Hi Reader, Lately my family has been teasing me about what they call my fully honest NO. For nearly fifty years, I couldn't say no without guilt or explanation—but that's finally shifted. I'm not overcommitting the way I used to. FOMO doesn't have the same lure. I'm far more honest about my actual capacity. And maybe most surprisingly, my relationships feel stronger. That's because I'm learning to live above what I call The Resentment...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. Dear Reader, Seven years ago, I was traveling for work when my phone rang with the call every daughter dreads. My mom was being rushed to the hospital. Her cancer was back—in her heart this time. She might not make it through the night. I felt completely helpless. And so, so scared. Our relationship wasn't healed yet. I wanted more time. Before that phone call, I used to take 3 or 4 trips a year—following whatever called to me. An...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Support for women ripening into their second bite of life. All growth emanates from a place of rest, Reader. Every time we work for love and belonging, we betray the principle that makes growth possible. We hustle for worthiness. We better ourselves to exhaustion, believing transformation is something we earn through effort. That if we just try hard enough, we'll finally arrive at the life—the self—we're meant for. A seed doesn't work. A baby doesn't, either. They do not do; they rest, and...
3 months ago • 2 min read