I just returned from a month-long trip in France where I co-hosted a retreat and then went on a six-day solo hike through the mountains of Haute Provence. I’ve returned feeling energized, calmer (the small stuff doesn’t bother me as much), and more prepared to handle challenges that come my way.

If you were to write a memoir, what would the title be? 

It sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? And the question is most certainly premature, but bear with me because the idea of the exercise of writing your memoir- even if it never sees the light of day - can be incredibly enlightening in that it gives you a great deal of insight into who you are and allows you to make decisions and lean into a better story of you moving forward.

It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards. - Kierkegaard from his Journals

LinkedIn (and my mom) reminded me July 5th was my 22nd anniversary of leaving my corporate job to start my own practice. That was quite possibly one of the more terrifying things I've done, and, at the same time, it was incredibly rewarding.

My journal prompt this morning was to write about a teacher and how I saw them as a child, then write about them as "the student of life I am today." So I wrote about Mrs. M. She was my French teacher. I thought she was chic, but she was also demanding of her students and quite intimidating. She pushed us to do difficult things, the hardest being the dreaded one-minute monologue she assigned quite regularly.

I worry that we obsess over the idea of being original and how important it is. We imagine artists, writers, and creative directors locked away in châteaux in the Cotswolds or the Berkshires in Massachusetts conceiving brilliant ideas never before seen or heard by another human.

I’ve been running a personal experiment lately. It has to do with trusting myself, and it comes with some risk, but if I start in lower-consequence situations, like small meetings or quick decisions, I can gradually build my confidence to handle higher-stakes situations.

This week, I broke two of my own rules in the same “classroom” on the same afternoon. I've spent the past two weeks working with Their Story is Our Story, an organization that elevates refugee voices through education, advocacy, and storytelling.