Hey Reader, I didn't know what to write to you this week. Not because I have nothing to say to you, but because many things in my life have remained much the same as in the past few weeks. I have been running a lot more lately, I have been trying to cook more at home with new recipes and ingredients, I have been eating (and craving) a lot more fruit and complex carbs from all the running, I have been working on recording and editing new Podcast episodes, and I have been 'trying' (keyword...
8 days ago â˘Â 7 min read
Hey Reader, A few weeks ago, I did something I never thought I would do. I literally did a semi-nude photoshoot as a way to celebrate my 35th birthday. You can see the results HERE. The thing about growth is that we all know it involves getting outside our comfort zones, but we often forget that to do that, we need to overcome the resistance and the extreme discomfort that comes with stepping outside of anything we have known before. I tell you this because when I see these kinds of artistic,...
15 days ago â˘Â 10 min read
Hey Reader, I recently decided to run my first full marathon. Honestly, for a while now, this is something that I have said that I want to do, but I have never fully committed to doing it. Three years ago, I ran my first half-marathon. Since then, I have run several half-marathons, always thinking to myself that the next one I did would be a full marathon. The truth is that because I knew how much time and energy I would need to dedicate to training for a full marathon as opposed to just...
22 days ago â˘Â 6 min read
Hey Reader, What if itâs not âgoodâ or âbadâ? What if things didnât always have to be white or black? What if most things that happen in your life are simply that, events, circumstances, experiences that happen, and how we treat them, how we approach them, how we perceive them is what makes them âpositiveâ, ânegativeâ, or even âinsignificantâ in our lives? This is just a simple reminder that how we choose to see the things that happen in our lives has more power in how we experience them than...
28 days ago â˘Â 12 min read
Hey Reader, Yesterday, during a yoga class, the teacher discussed the importance of coherence in our lives. She encouraged us to ask ourselves, "Is there coherence between what you want, what you say (to yourself and to others), and what you do and how you behave?" My first thought afterwards was, "Do I even know what I really want? Because I think that's where we often get stuck. We don't allow ourselves the permission to ask what we truly want to get out of this one wonderful, terrifying,...
about 1 month ago â˘Â 6 min read
Hey Reader, A couple of weeks ago, a girl who didnât like my scatterbrained, and honestly, a little bit clumsy, and unpunctual self let me know about her discontent with my presence and âway of beingâ, I guess. She literally said, âYou live in Jennyâs world and Iâm not about Jennyâs world at allâ. Since then, I have been thinking about âJennyâs worldâ. The truth is that Iâm non-confrontational to my core. I strive to avoid confrontation, the best I can. And so for many things, I prefer to...
about 1 month ago â˘Â 8 min read
Hey Reader, Not too long ago, I watched an old interview clip about a simple life philosophy that has the power to change your life. You can watch the video here. In a 2002 interview, award-winning actor Michael Caine talked about a moment in a play rehearsal when he had no idea what to do. A chair got stuck in the door he was supposed to walk through, and he froze. He goes on to say that this moment shaped one of his life philosophies. âUse the difficultyâŚ. Well, I got it from⌠I was...
about 2 months ago â˘Â 8 min read
Hey Reader, Lately, Iâve noticed how quickly my inner voice hunts for whatâs wrong, focusing on tiny mistakes, and forecasting the worst-case scenarios. I think this is true for most of us; we can get caught up in a cycle of negativity and catastrophizing if we don't make it a point to notice and catch ourselves when we are talking to ourselves in this manner. I think that's why mindfulness is so important, because making space to listen to what is inside helps you hear that inner voice. But...
about 2 months ago â˘Â 4 min read
Hey Reader, Iâm writing to you from Anna Maria Island, a few hours away from my home in Florida, where I'm staying with my boyfriend's family for the long weekend. In the past couple of days here, I have walked around, lied in the beach, looked for sand dollars in the ocean, played in the sand, gone on coffee runs, had fun conversations in the jacuzzi, went for pizza and ice cream, cooked burgers, played board games, watched bad reality TV shows and old movies, had great sleep, and just all...
2 months ago â˘Â 6 min read