my new morning practice + my Virgo season top 5

We have officially entered the "birthday gauntlet week." 

The one where I'm planning a big family party, 3 individual celebrations (my Dad, Ben & Anni) and my own personal new year to bring up the rear.

With the advent of Virgo season, it's one part delightful - and one part overwhelming...

But instead of going under with the self-induced pressure to balance all of the needs and wants of this special season, I am leaning in to a new practice I am starting my days with that has really helped. 

At the top of a blank page, I write the words: 

What's important to me today?

And then I make a list of everything that comes up. 

It makes space for to dos, yes, but also for how I want to feel...in my body, mind and spirit. 

It's a simple practice and I've noticed that it feels way more generative & rooted than my typical to do list. 

I'm also zooming out to look at everything - business, included, from the big picture vantage point and there are a few elements that are helping with that - especially in this high-impact season of life with a toddler, a tween and multiple businesses. 

Here's what's helping the most:

1. Focusing on consciously choosing how I want to experience these days and weeks with the season change that's upon us.

As summer fades, the lake begins to cool and we transition into our "normal" routine. Which, tbh is everything but normal with a 3 1/2 year old who's embarking on his first parent-free gymnastics class to our girl switching up her nature/homeschool selections for the year as she crosses the threshold of 12!! I tend to get a bit sad at the end of summer - winter is a tough season for me...Adding in that simple practice and being super dialed in on HOW I want to feel each day in all that I am doing is pre-paving the way for an amazing fall.

We're also planning a month in Florida this winter - to host our ELEVATE MM Retreat and get a gigantic reprieve from the toughest part of New England winters. It will be the culmination of years of planning, adjusting how our family operates and how our life is designed... talk about something to look forward to! 

2. Identifying our needs and taking radical personal responsibility for communicating them. 

This is probably the most important thing on the list. And I want to be totally transparent - it is challenging.

Ben and I have been having breakthroughs in our own relationship, dotted with real conversations and truth-telling on repeat. As the one in our marriage who can feel the energy shift in a person within a nano-second, this isn't always easy - especially when my partner is quiet the opposite. We're learning, we're growing and we're modeling conscious, loving repatterning work...and it's paying off big time. 

3. Being honest with the parts of me that feel under resourced, stretched thin, overwhelmed or dysregulated...and calling in specific support. 

I hired my first business coach in 5 years and I am loving the feeling of having someone to partner with BTS. I am working with an HRT support team that is helping me address my raging hot flashes and everything else that comes with entering my "mid-40s" (s'cuse me, wut?!). We are enlisting a local college student to help with childcare because this parent-preneur dream team has been out here holding it all and our nervous systems are demanding it. 

There is no award for being the one to "hold it all." I've certainly learned this the hard way, ha! 

But what I've come to realize is that the more accepting of ourselves we become, the easier it is to let others in to see those parts of us we'd rather hide away. This patterns of the strong, "I've got it" type keeps us in constriction, perfectionism and old wiring that we've used to keep us "safe." Until that strategy no longer works. 

Allowing in help has been such an incredible blessing...10/10 recommend. 

4. Getting ultra-dialed in on what I love MOST in my business and doing only that.

With the launch of the new podcast - Homeward - I am so lit up about the conversations we're having on what is most relevant for the women in my community. I recorded an episode yesterday (it drops on Tuesday) about the question I asked the women at the ELEVATE retreat last week to kick-off our 2 days together and how it set the tone for the whole experience and a level of depth and intimacy like never before. This one will give you pause...

I am also all-the-way IN on 1:1 coaching - in all 3 of my primary offers and it is magnetizing the most incredible visionary creatives and coaches. The work we're doing together is collapsing timelines and creating limitless possibilities. I'm obsessed and excited about the amazing people coming into my world. 

5. Taking inventory on what's essential and what's not.

This feels obvious - but Virgo season is all about essentialism. Clearing the clunky bits and getting really honest with ourselves about what is holding us back is life-altering. Grab a garbage bag and get rid of the things that are perpetually frustrating you, install the coat rack (note to self), load up the car and take it to the swap shop, delete those extra pages, old files, etc. 

Our brains crave open space for creativity and new ideas. 

We're spending this Sacred Sunday celebrating our 10 year anniversary of living here on the lake. It's hard to believe what this space has bloomed into over the last decade!!! From doubling it's footprint to adding the Tree Haus and hosting countless retreats here - welcoming Alex home and more - there's lots to celebrate. :) 

Wishing you a beautiful last weekend in August and hoping you can center what matters most. 

Inward. Onward. Homeward. 

xo

Amber

PS - Ready to explore more support in your business for the season ahead? Apply here