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Kate Cassidy's avatar

I find myself in a daily ritual and it actually makes me tired, and bored most of the time. I am now a care giver and was raised to always learn how to walk in another's shoes. Initially, it pertained to American Indians, and I certainly can relate to them....their beautiful spirits and beliefs that we all are connected to nature and need to treat it as such in order to survive together. But, then I began to want to help others grow....to walk in their shoes....and I forgot for years to walk in my own shoes. And now, I'm paying the price. I find it hard to love myself. I find myself becoming a recluse of sorts and now politics have really pulled me down into a hole I never experienced before.

I lived in Colorado for 17 years while raising my children and there I learned freedom by driving up to the mountains and taking hikes and breathing in the beauty and fresh air and stillness and peace. Now I live in a city and only feel the concrete under my feet. I love to write my substack and I love to remember who I was when I felt free. And that experience pulls at me every day. I'm a person who sticks to their commitment and that is a cost to my health and soul. I love to paint and that is inspired by being in nature, which is pretty much my back yard. Keep encouraging people to follow their own needs. It's critical to learn to take care of yourself first. As women, we are born caretakers. We have to break the habit in order to survive.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

πŸ™πŸΌπŸ’›

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Mirella Allocca's avatar

Those last 3 lines of your comment really hit home. I’ve been struggling lately and thinking and taking care of myself are now my number one priority.

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Ali's avatar

β€œ I find it hard to love myself.”

It happens to more than you’ll know. I give myself a real hug and say the names of the people who loved me that have passed. Just as I would if they were alive. It really helps!

I did the last 5 years of work life as a Hospice carer, it can be a bottomless pit. I hope you find a way to restore your vitality and equanimity. So very important. πŸ«‚

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Jade F's avatar

thank you for the next week of journaling prompts. i love this. september always feels my my january.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Same. Happy New Year!

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Deanna C's avatar

Same! I eagerly anticipate September just as much as when I was a kid and I’m 65 years old!

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Paula Gregorowicz's avatar

Same here. Perhaps raised by a teacher who then was principal of my high school adds to the rhythm of September as new start

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Ali's avatar

Fascinating! I wonder how many of you were actually autumn babies??? πŸπŸ‚πŸ„β€πŸŸ«πŸŒΎ

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Karen Davis's avatar

I love these questions so much! Thank you! Here’s my solution for greens, because honestly, I don’t love them raw. Every week I get a big container of spinach, mustard, greens, chard, or whatever other green my Farm Share might be offering up. Not kale. I take the whole big batch and wilt them in a pan, I guess you could call it stir frying them. Then I freeze them in half cup pucks. I have a container just for this. And then when I want to use them, I just warm them up in the microwave and add them to eggs or chicken or whatever else I’m eating. I usually add them to breakfast every day.

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Mirella Allocca's avatar

Adding them to soups is wonderful too. Perfect for those crisp autumn days.

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Ali's avatar

That’s brilliant. I’m solo so there’s a veritable library of frozen flat baggies of food in my freezer too. Stored vertically they don’t freeze together.

And Gurl~ you’re right about kale; it’s horse food! Blegh!

I bought a prepped grocery store Caesar Salad and got… kale. 🀒 It’s called Caesar because the base is romaine (Roman) lettuce. I took it back and had my moment in the sun as a β€˜crazy lady’. Now I’m that person looking at any salad product 3” from the container to suss it out. πŸ€ͺ. Bon appetite!

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Karen Davis's avatar

I have that frozen flat baggie library too! Cooking for one.

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Ali's avatar

I’m good at it but always end up with so much. The variety is the vitality!

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Karen Davis's avatar

Also, Cesar salad should not have Kale!!

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Michele's avatar

It's weird how sometimes a bunch of stuff comes at you sometimes with the same theme. Your newsletter, another one on the Athletic about how you can't focus on more than one thing at a time, and The Siren's Call by Chris Hayes - all telling me that there's value in what you choose to turn your attention to and that maybe shutting out the rest is also valuable. I think the universe is trying to tell me something and I guess it's time to listen.

I also am viewing this September 1st as almost a mini-New Year's Day. There's 4 more months to this year. A little more than 5 more months until my next birthday. What can I accomplish in that time that will make me love my life more? Thank you for the introspective questions - I think these will help me on my path!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

I hope so! Please let me know if they do.

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Michael Jensen's avatar

Man, I adored fall and start of school. Cooler weather! Pretty leaves! Pumpkins! My birthday! Halloween!

We're in Taipei, Taiwan, right now where it's going to be in the 90s for the billionth day in a row and I'm not sure they ever have fall and I'm really missing it now!

Fortunately, fall comes much later to Japan where we'll be in a few months and I'm very jazzed for that.

Also, as a native Coloradan, please go hug an aspen tree for me.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

I want you to know I really did hug an aspen for you.

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Michael Jensen's avatar

I never doubted it for a second.

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Michelle Juergen's avatar

I just took Fridays off work for the fall and winter to focus on classes, writing, creating and simply not thinking about WORK and I’m excited to see what follows and what falls away from carving this space out for myself. πŸ‚ 🍁

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Obviously I love this

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Ali's avatar

Kelton, one of your greatest talents is timeliness. You’re so attuned to the present; what a gift (pun intended) !

Makes me think of one of the greatest A words ever: an…ti…ci…pation!

I am going to celebrate your seasonality by planting some more basil seeds in anticipation of Indian Summer warmth but not the hellhole. I named all the tomatoes, so there will be a whole new tribe of Keltons for more companion plants. πŸ€£πŸŒ±πŸŒΏπŸƒ

This season is just spectacular in WA mountains. There’s a stretch of 410 on the way to Mt Rainier where massively tall big-leaf maple trees meet way up above either side of the road and the falling 12” lemon-yellow flat leaves fall in a leisurely zigzag down to us terrestrials. (I should stop and video that for the 9 months of rain to come) Summer has been record hot, so the vine-leaf maples will be brilliant red. They were turning too early in July.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Lol these tomatoes!!! Also you're making me want to road trip. Thank you for taking me there mentally.

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Michelle Giacomino's avatar

A season of thresholds- lovely sentiment!

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Carolann Gallaher's avatar

Same for me with fall, it is a reset of life, checking my priorities and how I am spending my time. Thank your for the thoughtful questions.

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Kelly Barrett's avatar

Love the prompts. Gonna percolate on these with my morning cup tomorrow πŸ™

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J. Hinz's avatar

β€œMute the rest.”

Excellent advice, especially in a world overflowing with intrusive bad news. Worth the effort, though.

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Ali's avatar

I haven’t watched the news in years now. Those goons are bad enough as an online picture, but they are not welcome in my house as representatives of actual humanity. I hate when comedians imitate even the voice. I want to know what is going on but don’t need to rub my nose in it.

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Elin Strong's avatar

I’ll be answering these questions in my notes app, journal, and brain this upcoming week…and I think I’ll be better for it. Thank you!!!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Would love to hear how it goes.

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Jennifer DAlessandro's avatar

"or just answering them outloud to a typically very receptive audience of birds and trees ..."

This made me smile.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

πŸ’—πŸ’—

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Kristin's avatar

These questions are delightful. Thank you!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

πŸ’•πŸ’•

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Katie's avatar

Love these, thank you for sharing 🫢

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Olivia Muenter's avatar

I loved this. Will be thinking a lot about these questions on my next long walk.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

πŸ’•πŸ™πŸΌ

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