August playground reflections
Personal themes: sensitivity, intensity, fear, patience, trust, messiness, trust, raw honesty, identity
Favorite self-care tools: crying, punching pillows, saying exactly what I mean and feel, radical acceptance
Currently consuming: Everything All At Once (by Steph Catudal)
A lesson learned: To stand in your power is to honor your truth—and the truth will set you free. Whatever comes from you sharing your truth, is the right thing for you. Be bold and bare your heart open, raw, and honest in self-expression.
A journal prompt to explore: What is clouding or clogging my flow of energy?
What questions, concerns, or inner struggles have I not been seeing or addressing?
Where am I not feeling total peace and contentment with myself, my life, my choices?
What in my life is not in total alignment with my values, or the context of this season of life?
Another month in the playground of life!!
This is supposed to be a reflection on the month of August, which I will do, but as the end of August also feels like the end of the summer season and I’m having some big feels about that transition, I’ll start by speaking on that 🌞
This summer was weird. It was important. It was not what I intended or would have chosen, but it was what I needed.
When I first felt these reflections coming through, I thought about what didn’t happen this summer and thought I would need to give myself some space to feel sad about that – but immediately I found that I didn't really need to. As I sat in presence of where I am now and what made up the past few months, I'm actually grateful for what it was. I'm proud of what I did this summer. I’m content with what transpired, because it was what I needed in each moment. I was true to myself, and I don’t know if there’s anything that brings me more peace than authenticity and alignment.
At the start of 2024, I wrote four themes on my whiteboard for where I wanted to focus my energy/time/effort this year – and this summer was heavily dedicated to 3 of those 4 things. It’s easy to feel like not a lot of big accomplishments or big progress were made, but when I look at the slow and steady progress happening on my primary points of focus, it reminds me how much IS happening.
There is a lot in my life right now that I feel I'm still in the sacred (and messy) middle of, which I want to hold tenderly within myself until I am ready to share. There's a lot that I'm proud of, and there’s also a lot I'm still making peace with. I'm reconciling the duality of regretting how certain things went in the past, while simultaneously being so happy with what I learned and where I landed through those experiences.
I'm stripping identities that aren’t a 100% fit in this season, even if those identities make me feel good about myself. In the process, I'm allowing myself to be (likely) misunderstood, even if it means people judge or think less of me. My job is to understand myself, hold radical acceptance for myself, and stay in my worth as I act as a steward for my soul. My greatest commitment in life is to honor my inner truth. Authenticity over comfort.
I’m taking some big leaps, and letting fear be my copilot. *Fear is often perceived as a negative or weak emotion. But as you (hopefully) know, all emotions have a purpose. Fear helps us to be alert to threatening circumstances and keep us safe! I’m in the driver’s seat, but fear is sitting passenger, helping me to make sure that I’m seeing everything on the road and driving safely to my desired destination – and this feels right for me right now.
I'm perpetually so, so grateful for the life philosophy I have (which inspired the name and theme of this substack, ‘playing human’). It is easy to forgive myself - and others - with the perspective that we’re all figuring it out as we go, and that every experience is sacred and valuable in its own way. It makes it (mostly) easy to embrace the lessons, celebrate the journey, and act from what I feel and know in the present moment, understanding that I will get things wrong many times along the way and that’s okay.
Despite the many challenges, being a human on planet earth is genuinely fun for me. I think this is one of my greatest strengths. I truly enjoy having all the emotions - even those like regret and fear - when I zoom out and remember the true essence of my playful soul. I want the FULL human experience, and this is it. I'm doing it. So I welcome everything that comes as part of the ride.
As I hit send on this post, I’ll admit I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all the things happening on the inside and outside of my life at the moment. But I am grateful to know how to hold even the discomfort of such moments. I sat in a long meditation this morning and tuned into my body, shared some reflections with Damon and received some cuddles, and will head out shortly for a morning run in the crisp air. When I get back, it will be time for aligned, focused action — creating momentum, one step at a time. Later, I’ll journal, dance, rest, and assess what needs to happen next.
Deep breath in, exhale (with a sigh or vocal release), over and over again. We’ve got this ❤️
Big love,
Tara