Hi Reader,
I’ve been quiet this week.
Honestly, the week snuck up on me. Now it’s Thursday afternoon, and I’m realizing I haven’t written the email—the email I haven’t really wanted to write because I’m still processing some of the heaviest emotions I’ve felt in a while.
Life has had me buckled in lately.
The friction in my soul became physical: sharp heartburn, pain through my side body, tight shoulders, a clenched jaw, and a nervous system holding on for dear life.
It was the kind of pain you know is connected to stress—but you’re so far in your own way that you do everything except sit with it.
This week, I finally sat with it.
I bawled my eyes out. I poured my heart into a podcast episode. And I watched my family change almost overnight as Theo started kindergarten and all of us began adjusting to a new normal.
In the episode, I explore the grief hidden inside life’s most beautiful transitions—and what happens when someone you love enters their next chapter while you’re still trying to understand what that transition means for you.
If you’ve already listened, I would genuinely love to hear what landed for you. Just reply and tell me.
While I was white-knuckling my way through my own transition, I was also having incredible conversations for the podcast.
I spoke with Jen Stanford about how to recognize stress, how to manage it, what actions need to be taken, and what it really means to serve ourselves better.
So much of that conversation met me exactly where I was.
In fact, it was partly because of that conversation that I stopped avoiding myself long enough to sit still—and truly feel the pain of this season.
By Tuesday, the dust had begun to settle at home. The episodes had aired. Life started finding its new rhythm.
And I could feel my blood begin to cool.
My temperament softened.
My shoulders released.
My jaw unclenched.
And for the last two nights, I have slept like a rock.
I still amaze myself sometimes.
I have so much knowledge. I understand so many practices for managing stress. I teach people how to get quiet, listen to their bodies, and come home to themselves.
And yet, I am still learning something new about my own body—and about how well I’m actually listening to it—every single day.
What a strange and beautiful phenomenon it is to be both the teacher and the full-time student.
But hey—I wouldn’t choose any other human experience.
With love,
Rachel
Alignment is the new hustle.
You are your most important project.
P.S. Sometimes your next level isn't another certification or promotion.
Sometimes it's finally trusting yourself.
If that hits... let's talk.
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