Dear Reader,

If you've ever put your own creative life on hold to take care of someone, you know how hard it is to find your way back to it.

Last weekend I got to watch my dad find his way back.

My daughter, my sister, my niece and I helped him mark off a ten-by-ten square on his basement floor so he could practice setting up his booth for a craft fair that's coming up.

He put his woodworking aside for years to take care of my mom, right up until she passed in March. That's what we do when the people we love need us, right?

It filled me right up to see him standing there with all his pieces around him. He wanted my help figuring out prices, but each time I threw a number out, he looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

I've seen that same wide-eyed look on so many of the women I coach. So many of us grew up believing the things we make with love should be given away, or sold for next to nothing. I spend a lot of time helping women price their work above what I call the resentment line. (That's the price where you won't end up bitter about how much you gave.)

Later, while my sister made dinner for everyone, I snuck upstairs to my mom's healing room.

She's everywhere in there. Rows of stones she lined up just so. Mobiles hanging from the ceiling. And these unbelievably lush plants she bought half-dead at Lowe's because she couldn't stand the thought of nobody taking care of them.

I lay down on her Reiki table and just breathed. My heart felt so big and so sore with grief.

And I felt so close to her gifts as a healer that it lit something up in me.

Then I thought about my dad down in the basement with all his lovely pieces, and how his gifts might be saving him right now.

I'm writing this in between packing for Tuscany. I'm heading over to be with an intimate, gorgeous group of women on a retreat all about the sweetness of doing nothing. I'll tell you on Sunday how this retreat came together.

In the meantime, I'd love to know: what have you been giving away, or pricing below that resentment line?

Until then,

Brooke

DEPARTMENT OF BEAUTY & MAGIC

I'm Brooke Hofsess.

I'm a Midlife Midwife for women who want to start their next chapter from soul, not fear or ego, so they can finally do the work they're meant to do — and actually enjoy it.

You'll find me in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, where I live with my husband Dustin, our daughter Thea, two clever border collies, and an ever-growing collection of handmade mugs for Egyptian Licorice Mint tea.

You can read about my journey here.​