31 Comments

'I have spent years feeling like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, lamenting, “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”' I loved this, and I hope you are now enjoying the good things in your life here and now.

Yay, Sade! Fond memories of interviewing her for Just Seventeen (UK magazine) in 1984, and seeing her in concert back then. Was and still is such a cool lady.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Wendy! and I am! Most of the time, I do have to give myself a little pep talk every now and then. And WOW at interviewing Sade!!!! 1984?! What a magical year, too!!! I don't really get star struck but there are a very small few that make me starry eyed, she is at the top. 🤩

Expand full comment

Just checked and it was actually 1985, by which time she was very much a star. But so down to earth.

Expand full comment

So beautiful, Jenovia. ❤️

Expand full comment

Thank you, Amelia ❤️‍🔥🫂

Expand full comment

Wonderful, touching and beautifully written post, Jenovia. Also, love Danyel’s writing and this piece on Sade was beyond. Also, also: laughed out loud at “20 years late” on word of the year! xx

Expand full comment

Thank you, Jolene! BEYOND! It's going in the vault of all time favorites. Danyel is such a talent. I can't believe the word of the year.. As I've entered my 40's, never have I ever been so conscious of...it all comes back around.

Expand full comment

Not late. Right on time. Also a fan of that hippie tea!

Expand full comment

💗 It IS hippie tea!!! 😂

Expand full comment

Oh Jenovia, there are so many lines here that I want to restack. Some that broke my heart and others that made my heart soar! I’m so glad that you are able to see the magic of yourself! And how I hate how much life has demanded of you. And still you show up with your heart open again and again. What a gift and guide you are to me!!

I’m imagining American Primeval is like 1883…it hurt to watch. So much darkness and sadness. Unfortunately I do like watching shit like that 🫠

Expand full comment

You're a gift and guide to me!!

I hate how much life has demanded of me too!!! 😂 😭 It's okay though. Like Elton yells, I'M STILL STANDING!!!! If you're ever feeling down, I highly suggest blasting that and having a dance party. Works like a charm. American Primeval is so gnarly but so good. My favorite part was the Native representation in it. I would say it is worse than 1883--violence wise, but clearly a realistic depiction of the times.

Expand full comment

STILL STANDING!!!!!

Expand full comment

Throat Coat Tea is the GOAT

Expand full comment

TRULY. 💥

Expand full comment

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Kairos time, qualitative and untethered to clocks, and much more responsive to life and all the moments that string it together. If we lived more in accordance to Kairos, these expectations of “arrival” wouldn’t make sense, we’d always be exactly where we need to be. Which is exactly how I see you, and feel your own trajectory as I read your words and the layers of powerful lived experience and wisdom that emanate from them. You’re right on time beauty! ❤️❤️❤️

“Which is silly because you can’t show up too late for your own life.”

Expand full comment

Thank you, Kimberly. 🥹 Reading this comment felt like a warm hug and I agree! The Greeks had it figured out. We would all benefit from adopting Kairos time into our lives. It is difficult living in this fast-paced society. It is so easy to stray from what you know to be true in your soul, which is a sign I need to spend more time in the wild and the quiet. ❤️‍🔥

Expand full comment

“Reading requires you to meet yourself again and again, and I wanted desperately to forget.” Your writing oozes beauty. YOU ooze with beauty. I feel so honored to get to read your words.

Expand full comment

Amy! Thank you! You always leave the best encouraging comments and they always make me feel so loved. Grateful for you and so honored that you're here. 🫂

Expand full comment

I've been waiting for one of these links posts for awhile! Always glad to see you in my inbox.

Expand full comment

YAY! I love link roundups too! It is always so fascinating finding out what people are consuming and I discover so many new things that way.

Expand full comment

I want to get back to doing one. I used to way back in the day but had to stop since I was adding way too much annotation and it was taking too long...

Expand full comment

I adore your soul. I wish you didn't have to endure so much grief and your wisdom wasn't so hard to earn but ... this was so gorgeous to read.

Also, because I am very literal: do you write in your daily planner like a journal? A page a day?

Expand full comment

Thank you, Petya 🥹 Yes! I have a daily planner that has the full calendar laid out and then the individual days on half pages after the full month. On each day, there are prompts like, I woke up dreaming/thinking/feeling and questions like, how can you weave more pleasure into your day with space to give your answers and then a bigger space next to it for free writing. I never thought I liked writing prompts, but they are surprisingly effective and fun in this format. (it is the CHANI Astro Planner). I use the daily planner as a light recording of my day, like keeping track of any special events, or simple things like, it snowed today. I also write in my regular journal, the one with the blank pages afterward for a deeper dive into my feelings, life stuff, etc. It might be a little excessive for some people but it makes me feel accomplished and allows me to be more present in my life. It is also VERY FUN to have this type of time capsule to look back on and sometimes cringe--but cringe is fun too!!

Expand full comment

I feel such tenderness for the Jenovia who sat in fluorescent cubes and shopped to numb her young agony. Most people do that all their lives even without the trauma. The magic of your life now crackles like it's electric. The days you share with Joe read like a modern-day fairy tale to me--is it possible you got the love you have because you traveled such a monstrous road? You drink the romance so deeply maybe because you've lived their total opposite. I'm so proud to know you and to witness the love you guys have.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Isabel 🥹 We cherish your friendship as well. It's been a very long road. My unwavering belief in possibility, my utter refusal to be swallowed up by bitterness and cynicism, and my demand for a happy ending is what got me here...so YES. Monstrous roads lead you to one of two places. You either perpetuate the monstrosity or abandon it altogether. ❤️‍🔥

Expand full comment

I spent Saturday morning this past weekend your words over a cup of coffee, Sade on in the background of course. I am brought to tears. Particularly the part about time and our 20s and hiding. There are parallels there.

You write beautifully, Jenovia. You take us *there*, you have impeccable taste, and I always get a giggle from you (word of the year lol). Thank you for sharing your world with us.

Expand full comment

Thank you so much, Heather. That means the world to me. I'm so glad you're here. 🫂

Expand full comment

“Reading requires you to meet yourself again and again, and I wanted desperately to forget.” —- I’ve never been able to properly explain to my partner why there were so many years where I didn’t read much. And in one sentence you summed it up perfectly. Thank you Jenovia. Thank you for your openess, your insights, and the wonderful way in which you deliver both. :)

Expand full comment

Thank you, Michael! And I'm so glad we are both back to reading. My world feels complete again...an integral piece of life clicking into place.

Expand full comment

Sometimes I read your words and I try very hard not to make them also about me but I can’t because I understand some of you so well! I hid from my life but the opposite end, partying and numbing out so that when I finally got sober-lite my soul was screaming for something but I didn’t know what. Writing has been that thing. I often lament the time wasted (literally wasted half of it lol) but how one dimensional might we be, how less understanding and forgiving of others without it. No time is wasted if you learn from or how to make use of it. Your outlook on life gives me such hope and feels like a period piece I want to talk into.

I’m also cracking up because I said raw dogging in my newsletter yesterday and was thinking of Alice in wonderland the whole time. I’m a little tripped out on this… 😂

Fuck the clock. Let’s time travel with our words

Expand full comment

“Fuck the clock. Let’s time travel with our words.” 💥🔥☄️ This forever! I couldn’t agree more even when I’m masochistic and beat myself up about the past every so often. 😂😭

PLEASE make it about you! I write so other people will see/feel themselves in my writing so that we can communicate and connect. Some of the most healing moments in my life have been when someone has said, “I feel/felt that, too.” Life can be so isolating, especially when you experience loss at a young age. It tints everything with a particular hue, and you can sometimes feel crazy because you’re like…is no one else seeing this color? So, thank you for relating and sharing. It’s my favorite part about this newsletter.

I have always believed we find our people and paths through energy, the divine, and assistance from the Universe, little signs illuminating particular choices. When I read your latest newsletter, I was like, Yeah, she’s my people, and we’re both on the right path. ❤️‍🔥

Expand full comment