Before I could even walk, I slept on planes flying over the 4,600 mile expanse of the African continent. Before I was nine the pieces of who I was were already shifting and spinning, a globe turning in motion with six domestic and international moves.

A therapist I used to see always said the body never lies. Thoughts can lie. Words can deceive, but the gut will not betray you. Your body will always tell you the truth about how you feel.

I reject the idea that someone else, something else outside of me needs to choose me first. I am always my first yes, and I will let you follow in my wake when you join the chorus.

I’ve lived a life where my tongue has often felt in knots. Where I have more often than not swallowed pain, anger, words because I didn’t know what to say, how to say it or didn’t feel like I had permission or the right to say it.

Cape Verde didn’t let anyone tell them who they were; they showed them who they are.

Maybe you regularly consider your financial investments, but when was the last time you considered your investment in your communal life?

What if we released our obsession with productivity and the need to measure the impacts of our rest?

What have you exchanged for your life and career since 2020? What have you lost? And when will you weep?

How can you set yourself up now to actually have a holiday season where you experience rest, reflection and meaningful connection?

This is a gentle nudge to put in your request for time off in order to maximize holiday shutdowns at your company.

The habit of centering rest begins in the smallest choices we make today.

When it comes to talking to people in our lives about a career break, it can be one of the hardest parts of making it happen.

While it may be uncomfortable to think about, death can bring great clarity in illuminating what matters most to us.

There are very real barriers and challenges that can make taking a career break difficult, but no one else is going to make this opportunity happen for you if you don’t first decide that you want it.

If you work 40 hours a week, some estimates are that you spend a third of your life, or 90,000 hours, working over the course of your life! And for many people work is not aligned to their values. It makes sense that it’s hard to even imagine what we’d do with the time that is not spent at a job.

My time in Colombia was a sweet reminder that our journeys are richer when surrounded by the right community.

Being outside the US, I found more freedom to expand in how I experience my identity, cultures & family.

In Portugal I made a small mindset shift, inviting myself to remember my needs, desires and dreams, and instead of shutting them down, embracing curiosity at what could be possible.

Solo travel reminds me that a different life is possible as I become a stranger in a new place and see the different ways that people live. It reminds me that I have the power and possibility to become who I want to be.