I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.
🛌 Winter – The Season of Sweet 'NO-THANK-YOUs' 🛌
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Guten Tag, Reader, The land settles into winter. All growth is done, all seeds have been set, and all systems are switching from generation and expansion to slow-shit-down and leave-me-the-fuck-alone. Well, I might be projecting on that last bit. Certainly, though, nature knows winter is the season to conserve and protect energy. Yes, I am noticing the juncos, chickadees, finches, flickers, magpies, and squirrels moving about my backyard every day now. But only for gathering food. There is no frivolous expenditure of energy. There is only the gathering of more, as much as is available in the winter. Humans might be the only species that has forgotten about seasonal living. Industrialism and colonialism made sure we keep hustling. I invite you to consider how you might hustle outside of work, too. The holiday season is prone to make us say ‘yes’ to things we don’t actually want to do. Attending parties, hosting people, writing cards, decorating rooms, buying stuff, baking treats, cooking meals. Did you have a reaction to anything on this list? What is the worst that could happen if you refused? My friend Bev always reminds me that ‘no’ is a complete sentence. But there are some other options to decline:
Okay, so our brains have been manipulated to forget about seasonal living. Our animal bodies remember. But we still push them as if they didn’t need rest and restoration in the winter. In the Midlife Wilderness Expeditions, we are all about seasonal living.Since winter is the season to nourish our deepest reserves, there will be less learning or doing new things and more strengthening of what we are already capable of. If you choose this adventure, you’ll lean into the experience and wisdom you have squirreled away your whole life. We will share stories around the virtual campfire and notice the unique scent, sound, taste, and sights of winter. Yes, we’ll go outside together because that’s just what a good expedition is all about. So bring a jacket. And bring your creative project to focus on — whatever it may be. This is a unique opportunity that is sure to motivate and inspire you for spring growth. 2025 Planning Your Thing?And if this is the time you plan your adventures for the coming year, consider going Rogue and joining my friend Angie and me on our WildHER Rogue River Adventure next September. Respond going Rogue to this email, and I will gladly email you the details. I will see you back here in two weeks. If you liked this letter, please forward it to a friend. Always on your side, truly, p.s. If you got something from today's letter, why not buy me a coffee? I am keeping my writing AI-free, so I put much work into it. You can leave me a tip here. p.p.s.: If you want more of me than a letter every other week, you might enjoy hanging out with me on social media: |
Welcome to my Joy Letters
I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.
Guten Tag, Reader, One of us walks like a cartoon thief—knee high, toe first, then heel. Of course, he might also practice a Qi Gong movement. Called The Heron, perhaps? Another walks with a sway while swinging a flappy spruce branch. “I watched my nephew do this last week,” she will share later, “and he looked so connected with his body that I wanted to try.” Me? I walk as slowly as my brain will allow. Stopping to pull a fresh leaf to my cheek, smell each wild onion in a patch, and caress...
Guten Tag, Reader, “Die hat doch einen Vogel,” they say in Germany, “She has a bird,” when someone talks or acts a little off. As if that’s a bad thing. The bird. Or the off-ness. Not in my book. The one that I am writing in my head. Where the birds live. And where they peep. Peep. Peep. Peep. April also has a bird. "April, April, does what it will," the Germans say. Sometimes, the Germans are specific about the kind of bird—a chickadee (‘ne Meise). And those have been chickad-ing and dee-ing...
My mom accompanied me to Helena on one of my biggest adventures: becoming a US citizen in 2015. Guten Tag, Reader, I knew the words were going to come out of my mother’s mouth eventually. Not in every conversation, but certainly in every conversation about any of my adventures: Going to the island of Corse on a motorcycle with my boyfriend when I was 17 Studying abroad for a year Traveling to any place outside of Western Europe Eating sushi Hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim Rafting the...