Friday Reflections #19: The Softening
Sharing fun finds, & announcing my upcoming departure/hiatus/rebirth
Welcome to Friday Reflections! A weekly newsletter sharing 3 thoughts and/or things I loved and learned from the week as I navigate creating a reality I’m nourished by, and thriving in after experiencing life-changing loss.
Something’s a-swirlin’ in me…
Change is a-comin’!
I brought it up in my post this week, but I’m really reconsidering how I show up online. Even here on Substack.
It’s a necessary change, but the changes shouldn’t be a whiplash to any of you.
Since diving into the Money Made program I’ve mentioned before, and spending two hours being taught very personalized and humanized specifics on how to get clear on our REAL desires, and joining a Substack subscription of masterclasses on optimizing your Substack better, I’m seeing my intentions aren’t clear and how I’m spending my time and energy aren’t ideal for me either.
I’ve been going with the flow this week. At the start of the week, my dad asked if I wanted to walk around my alma mater and see what’s changed there. We eventually walked near the back part of campus where I used to walk down into a short patch of forest, over a bridge, and then would buy our campus’ farmer’s market produce.
But I did NOT remember so. many. stairs! We were winded!
We collapsed on the nearest bench and depleted the nearby area of all oxygen I swear! Once we could breathe again, we both agreed that that experience wrapped up our “light” workout day. Haha!
The rest of the week was spent in my feelings a bit. I had a coaching call I had won along with a spot in the Money Made program I’ve mentioned before, and it was game-changing.
She was able to point out so many things I wasn’t able to see because I’m so deep in the middle of my own mind and experience, you know?
And she left me with so many actionable things to do daily to help myself on a subconscious level and I’m really excited to dive in.
I’ll dive a bit deeper into that call in my monthly Coffee Date Digest at the end of the month because it got personal but gave me the BIGGEST “ah-ha!”s.
But I do wanna end with this: I think this is the time I’m taking my two weeks off for the quarter. Get my head back on straight, figure some things out, ya know?
I’ll still do Friday Reflections as best I can (we’re going on a family trip sometime during that time too!), and will still be around the Substack ecosystem! :)
Now, let’s see this week’s three!
Thing One: These French onion puff pastries
Haven’t made ‘em yet, but they look so simple and tasty!
It’s a quick reel so I couldn’t snag a picture, but they’re golden brown, flaky, and drizzled with a balsamic glaze, olive oil, caramelized onions, and herbs. Looks so so good!
I had to share ‘em here just in case you beat me to the punch trying these. This recipe makes me excited to create a whole experience around it, and the ingredients are simple and few. I wanna hear how you like it if you try it!
Thing Two: Viewing fireworks via a drone POV
Just in case you weren’t one of the over 3 million people who viewed this video, it’ll be an experience!
You’ve never viewed fireworks in the air, this up-close and personal! It’s quite a beautiful and fascinating sight!
Thing Three: The Softening
I’ve mentioned it so many times already, but I feel soooooo good about going into my hidey hole to reflect on some things and birth something new with my online space.
I plan to finally dive into my first journaling by this weekend at the latest and I’m super excited to do so! Because I have a lot to say and to reflect on.
It’s just felt really good lately to reeeeally sloooow dooooown and observe my life and the inner workings of my mind on a deeper level.
It felt good to organize my Google Doc to begin the process of writing a fiction book. I’m excited to learn about the intention and inner workings of building a novel!
It’s also felt good and fun studying Japanese lately, too! I find myself looking for pockets of time outside of the tasks I have planned for each day to fit in more studying.
I want to work on my art style and character design (I have an Adventure Time-esque character in mind but I’m gonna try to play with that more so it doesn’t look like a rip-off).
I want to look more into Human Design and what the stars say and what’s truly hidden deep in my heart that needs to be held and observed gently (that 1:1 coaching session really was life-changing for me!).
Even when I attempt to give myself the permission to play and rest, I’ve recently learned that a deep part of me still doesn’t. So I’ll be exploring that while I’m away as well, and am pretty eager to see what I uncover.
BONUS FOUR: Calling all those suffering from chronic illness/symptoms
In the beginning of this Substack rebrand, I mentioned discovering David Bedrick, a wonderful man who does a lot of work on Unshaming things you believe are an issue for you and your life.
I had signed up for a free webinar where he shared the work he did with people in his Zoom audience, and the way he didn’t judge anything brought to him was unfortunately so so rare to see!
He explained what he was doing and why unshaming is neccessary and it was a mind-blowing concept and point-of-view.
He’s running this free webinar for those with chronic illnesses and symptoms next Thursday July 20th, 2023 at 4:30-7pm PST, 7:30-10pm EST. And no, I have no affiliation with him! I’ve just never seen the type of work he’s done before and I loved what I’ve seen so far.
Here’s all the details and where to sign up. :)
Alright then, I’ll see ya soon enough!
Thank you so much for your time, again and again each week. <3
I'm going to miss you. Enjoy your time away 🙏🏻🌹