Author: The Daily Sampler

  • Serenity now

    I love a word of the year– not only to set intentions around, but it also gives the flexibility to watch what happens as you go, and see how true to the word you were when all is said and done.(ICYMI stressful goals and resolutions are outtttt!) My WOTY history is a little shaky. The…

  • Motherhood in December: Snowballing Burnout

    I drank the holiday Kool Aide long ago. I live for the coziness of it all. Hot beverages, fluffy blankets, sparkling trees, cheer, and overflowing generosity. Crooning holiday music always sets the stage for a romanticized December that we should *all* get to enjoy. My mother, while never outwardly obsessed with the season, certainly made…

  • My Buy-Nothing Year in Business

    (And one thing I DID spend money on at the end) I’ll be honest. I did not make a declarative commitment to buy nothing for my business in 2024. What I was sure of was how bad I felt after overspending and under earning in 2023. I’d awakened to how much damage the “education economy”…

  • The Audacity of Hope

    I did everything in my power to shield myself from the ups and downs of the election cycle. Early in 2024, I asked my husband if it is my citizen duty to engage with the election news and campaigning rhetoric- and his answer stuck with me this whole time. “Will it change the way you…

  • Everything is a practice

    I remember where I was when I realized the idiom that had been drilled into my head for my entire life was INACCURATE. “Practice makes perfect.” No, it sure as hell does not. More on that in a moment. A practice is something that’s meant to be continued, worked on, tweaked, updated, and savored. It’s…

  • The rage epidemic

    The rage epidemic

    We’ve heard that we are living in an epidemic of loneliness. But there’s another, darker component to the curse of loneliness and isolation.

  • I nearly lost myself there

    I nearly lost myself there

    Many of my intentions for 2024 have gone by the wayside in the sweeping busyness of life, and in dealing with the unrelenting heavier things I’ve been grappling with personally. When the heavy gets too heavy, I’m reminded how important those intentions really are.

  • The superpower we all have

    A few weeks ago, the heaviness of April lifted into what I dubbed, “Miracle May.”

  • Trust Fall

    In the last decade, I’ve learned what it means to trust myself. My 30s have been about tuning in to the natural intuition I have as a woman, as a mother, and as a business owner. Over the weekend, I experienced an entirely new type of trust fall.

  • May I Ask Who’s Calling?

    The age when nostalgia firmly sets in? 39.5. I’ve started to have all these sappy feelings about nuggets of yesteryear that today’s generation will never know, understand, or appreciate.