“So, yes, by all means get that pedicure— but also don’t sleep on the restorative power of tackling something hard that will ultimately bring long term peace. For me, that’s been facing the number on the scale, getting that blood work, accepting that I was addicted to my phone, healing from childhood. Donate those clothes you don’t feel good in, put your skillets in one drawer, buy a new spatula. Romanticize the every day of it all, not just the one hour escape. This is something I feel I have really, truly began to understand since 2024. When my life went from slow, calm, “normal” to chaos, moving, adoption uncertainty, I couldn’t control the chaos that life normally brings, but I could control my reaction. I could carve out moments of calm.”