Thriving in Discomfort`

Sometimes what we desire is not what we need

Hello Beloved Weirdos

I have big news!

When I say big news….I mean HUGE!

Many of you know that I have been working on a course about conflict and communication for over a year now!

I have interviewed many of you about your needs, conducted IG polls, and spent hours reflecting and making outlines of potential material.

All this invisible, below-ground work has finally manifested into a powerful seed ready to sprout!!

I am excited to announce the launch of my course, New Cycles : A Course for Self Accountability

This will be a 12-week course that will take place Monday afternoons starting September 11th and going until December 4th.

Classes will take place from 11am -1pm PST.

More information is coming soon!! You can join the waitlist here

If you are seriously interested I encourage you to join the waitlist and to let me know via email!

I am planning to have a total of 14 spots, 3 of which have already been taken by my beloved community members.

This course feels like my baby and has been a true labor of love. I am excited to share the knowledge I have amassed around accountability, healing, and transformation.

This course will cover spiritual concepts like energetic hygiene and cord cutting, provide grounded perspective around social justice language like accountability, and incorporate relevant neuroscientific research around nervous system regulation and feedback loops.

Alongside content we will also be moving our bodies and getting to know each other. I am someone who has taken many courses, and the other people in the cohort are , in my opinion, the best part!

The people who are already signed up are some of my favorite people ever, and I hope you choose to join us!

Sign up for the waitlist here

Summer is often a challenge for me. Along with the heat and bug bites, summer is often a time when visions seeded in the winter come to fruition. I always imagine that when my dreams come true, it will be universally joyful and exciting, and every summer I am humbled. I have come to understand that no matter how perfectly I plan a vacation, I am still human at the end of the day. There will still be moments of disappointment, moments where things don’t go as planned, and unpredictable moments of joy, and sadness. In the end, I still have to reconcile with the unpredictable nature of being human.

As summer drags on, I am less and less able to remember what life outside of summer was like.

I am noticing the idle tentacles of entitlement slowly form in my mind as I casually make plans with the assumption that in the future I will have this same amount of daylight and energy, while cognitively knowing that as I get comfortable, we are on the verge of a change.

By future plans, I am mostly referring to swimming pool plans. I made this fun little video about my kiddie pool.

This kiddie pool setup has served me well and has inspired me to upgrade my pool setup. I impulsively ordered a Barbie pink pool in the middle of the night yesterday, and I am excited to make an updated video with more tangible advice on how to create your own pool.

proof of my impulse purchase!

I have been making lots of fun little videos on tik tok and instagram! I’m including a couple below, but if you like them consider checking me out on IG or Tiktok! My handle on both is @opulenceabundance

Reflections on Thriving in Discomfort

Are you familiar with the classic trope of “Be careful what you wish for”?

This common plot line often features a character who makes a wish, and it comes true, but reality often does not live up to the character’s imagination.

This fable often has a vague morality to it, implying that our lives are better when we don’t control them, gently jabbing at the folly and plight of human imagination.

I have been thinking a lot about this storyline this past summer, but with a little bit of a twist.

Let me explain:

I have spent most of my life running from my conservative Christian hometown and the feeling of loneliness that seems to haunt it, only to end up back here, alone.

While it has been challenging, it has also been deeply healing. While it was something I resisted and avoided at all costs, I can all see that being here is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

That is not to say that it hasn’t been painful and challenging, it absolutely has.

Simultaneously, the move has been a catalyst. The isolation of my hometown has pushed me towards discipline and intention and created the space in my life for my creative voice to emerge.

It has allowed me to explore a supportive daily routine without the seductive possibility of abandoning my routine to hang out with my friends (because many of my friends live several hours away).

This time in my life has been so so so uncomfortable, but also such a necessary portal to transformative growth and healing.

I look back at the wishes I made, the things I wanted for myself, and I see how this moment of discomfort is a part of the larger journey. I manifested those things without knowing the path it would take me on.

I don’t quite have words for the loss of innocence I feel as I reflect on what I have given up and given in to, what I have offered to make these dreams come true. I don’t regret it, but I am changed by this process.

While I grieve for my former self, my innocence, my naivete, I also welcome in the person I am now, fortified by my own choices and survival.

Today I was reflecting on all of this and thinking about how growth and grief are often so connected. As we grow, we change, and it is natural to grieve who we used to be, as we step into new futures.

A snapshot of my present and soon to be past. We are stepping towards that barbie pool baybee!

These two really remind me of this honey-eyed javachip milkshake of a dog named Friday that has stolen my heart. I will post photos of them in my next newsletter as I want to get consent from Frida’s loving parents

Thank you for reading!

I’ll be sharing a cook book I made for my mom below the paywall. I want to make a version for public sharing, but keeping it behind closed doors for now because there are so many family photos in it’s current version. Just a reminder that if you donate to my Ko-fi I will comp your substack subscription for a year. Big thank you to all my supporters, and if you have donated and don’t have access please send me an email!!!

Appreciate and love you all!!!

Self Explanatory