Hi folks!
It’s been a minute.
Back in September I set off on the Fall of Slow. After a 2023 with some high highs, and several low lows – I was craving time to come back to myself. I’ve spent the past five months giving myself permission to STOP, to PLAY, and to go INTERNAL.
I was not expecting to take such a long hiatus from writing. While in the Fall of Slow, I returned to my journaling practice so I could process the rollercoaster of last year. I’ve taken the past few months to reorganize my schedule (and, really, my life) to be more aligned with Stopping, Playing, and being Internal. That shift, funnily enough, has inspired me to write again in a form that is not just chicken-scratch in a soft notebook (eg. what my journaling looks like).
So, I’m here, admittedly, a bit out of practice in writing in a linear fashion. There are so many thoughts and ideas that are backed up that it’s tricky to figure out where to start.
To rip off the Band-Aid, I’m sharing a Snapshot from my 40th birthday in December, and my reflections on how I spent it.
My 40th was one of the best birthdays I’ve had in recent memory. After reflecting on why it felt that way, I understood that practicing real self-care made it so. Real self-care consists of 4 Principles:
Boundaries
Compassion
Values
Power
For my birthday, I set Boundaries (with others), was Compassionate (in the way I spoke to myself), and I chose a birthday aligned with my Values (an intimate, low key day spent people I love). In the end, I felt gratitude and ease with what I have in my life (I call this Power).
In this note, I’m going to first set the stage with how I spent my milestone birthday, and then after that, I’ll walk you through my practice of Boundaries, Compassion, Values, and Power.