Life is a Bow
Tension, Release, Growth.
Distraction is a strategy in service of the work. Sometimes disengaging is the best way to engage.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act
Hello there. After two months of tending to life offline, I’m back!
The "ish" in monthly-ish musings isn't just a linguistic quirk; it's a testament to the trust I’ve cultivated in my intuition. In the past, when my creativity surged, and the desire to share took center stage, an inevitable shift would occur. During this shift, I’d begin craving more solitude in my personal world and yearn to disconnect. Guilt creeps in, and my gremlins whisper all the ways I’m failing at my own creative process. The fear that giving in to these inner seasons would somehow isolate me to the point of fading away, making me believe everything I’ve worked for would be lost.
In trying to force myself to show up, I’d stare at my laptop, missing the words or ideas that had flowed with ease just weeks prior. Experiencing the frustrating clash between my mind's inclination to document the details of daily life and my overall indifference. My frustrations only intensifying when I try to convince myself that I care more about external validation than my own needs. What I do care about is connection, thought-provoking conversations, and deep belly laughs be it in person or online. But this digital age has in many ways blurred those lines.
The truth is, whether consciously recognized or not, the "ish-ly" cadence of this newsletter serves as a gentle intuitive rhythm that allows me to trust and honor my inner cycles. It creates a container for the ebb and flow of my engagement with the external world and the very necessary periods of disengagement.
The fear of inconsistency and trying to keep up with the wildly fast-paced way in which we live our lives will have me writing without feeling. However, acknowledging that we all experience seasons of rest and moments of inspiration without immediate action, as well as phases of moving and shaking, brings me back to my center of power. Here, I’m free to write, create, and live from an honest and satisfying place.
Life is a bow. A constant push and pull of energy.
Pulling back creates tension and potential energy, and release propels us forward. In life, there are moments of tension, challenges, setbacks, and very necessary pauses, followed by moments of release, growth, or progress. This cycle of opposing forces is inherent in the nature of life, and a continual process of balancing and navigating through our experiences. I’ve learned to not fear that taking a pause might lead to fading away; instead, it’s a courageous nod to the pulsing heartbeat of being human.
Slowly but surely I’m beginning to emerge from this wintering state of being. And in true lioness form, today’s full moon in Leo warms my heart and with it comes the desire to pull back the curtains of my inner world. Just a little.
Behind-the-Scenes
When I set out to create an online course, I knew that it needed to be an area where I both possessed a solid amount of expertise in and where I’d also be excited for the deeper learning that comes from teaching and sharing something you love in your unique way. For years my identity was deeply woven in the world of beauty, so being able to bridge that part of my story with all the inner stuff that’s unfolded through coaching over the last few years feels absolutely natural. Radiance Elixir: A Holistic Approach to Beauty is an ode to inner and outer beauty, launching later this year - so stay tuned!
In December, I partnered with my hair stylist to host a local beauty workshop where I taught makeup looks alongside her hair styling. I also helped revive a community-wide nye event that drew in over 400 people to hear live music and an impressive puppet rendition of “The Wizard of Oz.”
My friend Ally and I decided it was time to take our lengthy voice notes to the next level and start our podcast! We’ve been recording away over the last two months and I’m looking forward to sharing more soon.
And lastly, I’ve been in sponge mode. After listening to this episode on astrological self-care, it’s made me realize that my habit of feverishly consuming books and podcasts on all the places my curiosity wants to go is my rising air sign’s (Aquarius) mode for self-care. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue had me in its throes throughout the first week of January. And despite pineapple not being in season, I managed to brew a substantial batch of anti-inflammatory pineapple peel tea to weather these chilly temperatures. To my delight, I discovered that mixing it with ginger beer makes a ridiculously crave-able, nutrient-rich mocktail. You can find pineapple skin tea recipes galore but here’s what I put in mine: pineapple skin, fresh ginger & turmeric, lemon, orange, cinnamon sticks, paprika, black pepper and aromatic herbs like thyme or basil. Until next time! ✌🏼
