Honor Your Commute

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(I understand my living and work situation is unique to me and not everyone can work from home or has flexibility and time. I hope this inspires your or anyone to just find a minute in your day for YOU).

Remember commuting? Maybe you drove an hour listening to an audio book or took BART or the Subway listening to your Discover Weekly on Spotify. Maybe you were dropping kids off at school, grabbing a coffee, and heading to the office. Or walking to work, enjoying the views, and catching up with your mom. Whatever you were doing, it was likely something other than going through email and Slack, or working on a presentation.

I used to walk to the cable car and take that up and down the hill to my downtown SF office. To this day I think it’s one of the best ways to commute! I loved it so much. I would listen to music or a podcast and told myself NO Slack until I got to work. Some days I’d miss the cable car, look up the intimidating SF hill ahead, then call my sis and have a great walk. I actually loved my commute.

SF Cable Car

SF Cable Car

Then the pandemic hit and early March 2020 many of our homes became our offices too. The bookends to the day disappeared and the only thing separating my desk and my bed was an eight foot rug. Like many of us, I started walking and creating a morning routine! I “walked to work” each morning in Alta Plaza Park (one of the most beautiful parks in SF and one that I never went to pre pandemic. Small wins). Did one to three laps, no more no less. I discovered my new favorite podcast Girls Gotta Eat, which made my Monday walk extra laugh out loud enjoyable. I looked at the cute pups that frequented the park — Kuma the teensie tiny white Maltese is my favorite. I’d mix in calling my sis and Obe Fitness and Peloton workouts. I also discovered the perfect bench for my daily Calm meditation. I subscribed to Trade Coffee for my at home daily pour over and every other Tuesday enjoyed a bouquet from Matilda’s Bloombox, a local flower delivery helping support local growers.

Alta Plaza Park

I starting hearing so many coworkers telling me that they wake up looking at Slack and go to bed looking at Slack. I shared how much I valued this morning walk and started doing a short “honor your commute” presentation during onboarding to hopefully inspire anyone to set digital boundaries and take time for themselves.

So I challenge you to honor your commute!

  1. Think back to what you did before.

  2. Reflect on what you do now.

  3. Have you taken time to do something enjoyable today?

  4. Set a small goal for this week!

Maybe it’s five minutes or an hour. Dedicate some time for just you! What a gift! We can’t control how much time we have in a day, but we can control how we spend our energy throughout our day.

Don't change!

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Don't change!

Find someone whom you don’t have to change at all. It is much easier to find someone who is already the way you want him or her to be, instead of trying to change that person. Also, that person must love you just the way you are, so he or she doesn’t have to change you at all. If others feel they have to change you, that means they really don’t love you just the way you are.

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For the Adventure of Being Alive

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It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

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On Patience

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On Patience

I have written so many things that I just haven’t posted and now if I posted those essays they would all be crossed out. So rather than posting a bunch of crossed out words I’ll talk about right here right now. Long story short… moving back to CA after living in NYC for 8 years is hard. (note the present tense even after 4 months). And these 4 months have been such a roller coaster of highs and lows, laughs and tears, adventures and solitude.

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On Gratitude

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On Gratitude

It is so easy to get caught up on silly problems, and sure everything is relative, but I’ve gotta take a step back. It’s sort of in my personality to dwell and obsess and maybe it’s the Virgo in me… but I’m a perfectionist. And sometimes I have to actively stop myself from dwelling too much (thank you first therapist!) and spiraling and texting every friend to entertain my stress.

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Be Kinder

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Be Kinder

I went to Burning Man. This post isn’t about naked Thursday or watching endless sunrises (unfortunately). It’s about a very simple lesson learned. Burning Man is this magical made up city created by you and me with hundreds of art installations, hundreds of camps offering pancakes and hotdogs and bloody mary’s, 70,000 people, lots of dust, and even more love.

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Stop. Breathe it in.

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Stop. Breathe it in.

“Stop. Breathe it in!” I kept saying on a recent trip. So I quit my job and jetted to Europe for a month (another story) and as I escaped and landed in Europe I just stopped doing and let myself breathe. Usually, people leave jobs and already have a job lined up. This time around I forced myself to just stop, not take the next thing that pops up and is easy, and just let myself take a step back and figure out what I REALLY want to do with my life. (sidenote: saving is important!)

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