Now

I’m basking in the glow of being married.

In October 2023, I married my person, the love of my life! Henry and I have the most amazing, simple, lovely life together. I really enjoy our relaxing evenings and weekends, adventures, travels, and all the loving support he provides me. This is the most stable, secure, and calm home environment and relationship I’ve ever had and I am so grateful. We have a honeymoon to Hawaii planned later this month and I already can’t wait for time on the beach, exploring, and eating shaved ice every day! :)

I’m enjoying the creative process with new writing and audio projects.

I’m writing a lot these days, and I’ve also started recording audio. I’m currently writing:

• A series of blog posts on what it’s like to be a highly sensitive person

• A few blog posts and social posts on how I’ve grown and changed over the last decade

• My next collection of poems

• A series of essays on healing my relationship with my body

• An e-book on the last three years of my life and how expansive and transformative it was to move to Utah

It’s been a dream of mine for a while to create guided audio meditations and I finally bought a mic and have been experimenting with it. Throughout my ten years of teaching yoga, I’ve had students say, “Your voice is so relaxing!” or “I love your voice!” and I’ve always thought it would be fun to do some recording. I recently recorded guided meditations for new yoga teachers who want to feel less nervous before they teach a class. Next up, I’ll be recording a series of short mindfulness meditations for stressed out people who need help remembering to slow down and breathe throughout the day.

I’m loving my decision to quit the MBA program I started last spring.

This year I enrolled in a competitive, intense, fast-paced, and absolutely incredible Executive Master’s of Business Administration program at the University of Utah. I was in a cohort of around 75 people, one of the 25% of women in the program. I loved it. I met some amazing people. I also realized it wasn’t the right fit for me.

The stress was continuing to build and I made an important decision for my own mental wellbeing to not to continue. The pace and workload was starting to feel exhausting, week after week. I was experiencing a lot of anxiety every time I went to campus for the program— the energy in the room was overwhelming to me. I was losing sleep over it. I realized, wow, this isn’t working for me and I don’t have to continue.

I have felt so relieved and proud of myself for making this decision!

I also realized that the international travel that’s a part of the program was not going to be a good fit for me. Initially it was part of what drew me to the program— the idea of going abroad and studying at other universities, then at the end of the program doing a big trip with visits to international companies sounded amazing. But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I realized that was just going to be a huge stressor for me. I’d rather travel with my husband and have the freedom to explore and relax, and spouses aren’t allowed to come along for those trips that the program has planned.

Other factors involved in my decision to quit the program: I don’t want the large amount of student debt I would have racked up, I don’t actually want to move in the direction of a more corporate job, and the skills taught in the program aren’t quite aligned with my career aspirations and creative dreams to publish more books. Quitting the program has been one shift of many in my de-programming/de-conditioning around patriarchal structures, people pleasing, perfectionism, and being a ‘good girl’ who follows the rules and achieves success by ticking all the boxes. I grew up thinking I needed to prove myself and I know now that isn’t true. I am enough just as I am, without needing to achieve anything in particular.

Once I could see all of this clearly, it was an easy decision to withdraw from the program. I grew as a leader in those three months I was enrolled and I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process. I got what I needed and discovered I was ready to move on! Whew!

I’ve self published two books in a span of three months.

Almost immediately after quitting the MBA, I was able to publish two new books. The first is a collection of poetry inspired by the autumn season called Autumn Light. You can buy a digital copy here on my website, or order the paperback on Amazon. This was a really fun project— many of the poems were floating around in my head from May to October, just waiting to be written down.

In February 2024, I self-published another book called Creating Confidence: A Practical Guide for Aspiring Yoga Teachers. It’s a field guide for brand new yoga teachers who are struggling with imposter syndrome and self-doubt. What I love about this book is how digestible it is and how the concepts apply to anything in life, whether you’re a yoga teacher or not. Here are the links to the books, in case you want to check them out.

I was recently interviewed on the Yoga for First Responders podcast about my newest book.

YogaShield® Yoga For First Responders® (YFFR) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing yoga training that is job specific and culturally informed. They are a fantastic organization and I had the best time during their instructor training back in 2019.

🙏📚 In the podcast episode, we dive deep into the power of yoga, making career moves, living life to the fullest, my self-publishing journey, and my latest book. Big thanks to Olivia Elizabeth Mead and Eric Brenneman for having me on the show! 🎙 To learn more about YFFR and how they help first responders process stress and build mental, physical, and emotional resilience, visit their website: https://www.yogaforfirstresponders.org/

I’m continuing to edit books for authors around the world.

In 2023, I’ve edited over 20 books and supported over 50 authors with their projects (!!!!). I do both developmental editing and copy editing and absolutely love it. If you have a book project you need help on, feel free to reach out.

I recently hosted an 8-week online accountability group for writers. I’m deciding if I want to do another one in 2024.

I often have friends and followers reach out to ask me about my book writing endeavors and I decided to get a group together to talk about our writing projects. It was a small group setting on Zoom (4-8 people) and we were able to talk through common blocks in the writing process, how to self-publish on Amazon, and we even did some workshopping of each other’s writing. This was a great experience for me as an author and a coach. I’m currently meditating on whether I want to do another group like this in the future and how to structure it. If this is something you might be interested in, please reach out!

I’m honing my copywriting skills.

In addition to my full-time gig as a copywriter on a creative team, I freelance for a wellness center that features floating, sauna, cold plunge, and massage services. I absolutely love working with them! The voice of the brand is conversational, real, honest, funny, and direct and I’m passionate about the content. It’s a natural fit and I can’t wait to see how my copywriting efforts impact the bottom line for this small business.

I’m enjoying slow mornings and walks in nature.

I’m making it a priority to rest more, to be kind to myself, and not to load my schedule up. I also make sure to get outside for a morning walk, to write in my journal, and to sleep 8 or more hours a night. I love it!

This page is inspired by the Derek Sivers concept of having a “now” page. I’ll update it as my focus changes. Thanks as always for being here and for following along! I appreciate you.