I relate to this DEEPLY!! It’s invigorating and scary to know that the work is never done, that our change is constant. But we have to. We have to let ourselves flow and flow towards our truest self. And I so appreciate your commentary on consumerism and women. (Part of my studies have been on how consumerism has been a means of power for women…but how it’s all a distraction). I very intentionally don’t follow influencers, and that does not come from a place a judgement, but rather my understanding that their main goal is for people to buy more and more and that no longer aligns with the path I want for myself. I now know I won’t find sustained happiness in the material.
Yes! It feels so daunting yet so exciting to know that we are never in our final forms. I’m committed to every transformation I must go through and women like you in my life make those changes feel more graceful. 🥹 Thank you for being here and experiencing life with me. Your depth always brings me so much comfort.
I feel you on not following influencers. I unfollowed a ton last year and I do not miss it at all. I’ve never been more frugal in my life than right now AND I’ve never been happier.
There is nothing more gorgeous than a human choosing to examine life and extinguish all that is dead in our world. I applaud and adore passion to go deeper, ask bigger questions, and let go of the parts of yourself and society that are destroying the heart of humanity. Each time your voice sings her truth, others will hear echos of their own, and I too, want to believe that eventually, a critical mass will see the sunrise of a new era. May it be so. Thank you for wielding that wrecking ball and showing others how it’s done.
Thank you, dearest Kimberly! Ecstatic to have women like you virtually by my side to examine and extinguish the dead parts. To ask the bigger questions and explore our passions together all done with support and love ❤️🔥
Just recently getting acquainted, but reading this post, I realized I already know you. My soul jumped up saying “Oh yeah! That’s why I feel aligned with you.”🪶
I would be honored but only if you read your gorgeous work aloud as well. Porch sitting and tea drinking are my two of my favorite things in life. We can sip, and read, and cry together. 🥹😍❤️🔥
Sovereignty sovereignty sovereignty! I cannot get enough of this word! All I can see as I wake up are the ways I've been conditioned not to trust myself. I can't stop thinking of our collective power if we were to simply opt out. Not compete. Not fight, not believe we should be satisfied with crumbs when all around us it's CAKE. Limits beget limits beget limits. The new power is gentle and expansive and inclusive. It's for all of us. Everyone. Your work fills me with excitement for what's to come.
CAKE IS RIGHT! Our collective power is the key. I believe our natural instinct is gentle, expansive, and inclusive. My goal is to fully return to that and stay there, hopefully bring others along with me. I'm so excited what we can discover together. ❤️🔥
on the cusp of my 53rd birthday tomorrow, your words here land so powerful in the core of my intuition, that how you encapsulates your thoughts here, and the spirit of what you share resonate deeply with me, are exactly what i needed to read right now🙏🏻💖. thank you and keep on keeping on, being the beautiful soul and lovely person you are! cheers!
Happy Birthday Heidi!!! 🥳 I hope you're having a wonderful day filled with love and joy. I'm sending you all the best wishes. Thank you so much for your kind words and support. I so appreciate you being here. 💞
Oh how my soul struggles with this! Your words capture the essence so beautifully. But even reading this truth, my ego will not let some things go.
I’ve been listening to The Minimalists podcast since my pandemic identity crisis, I pick up episodes when I feel the urge for church, for salvation, to remind myself that consumerism has been ingrained in me since the minute I could focus on the TV. I often wonder what would happen if we all just stopped buying stuff. Reaching for more. Would everything collapse? We talk about companies only appeasing their shareholders but what about when we ARE the shareholders? I hedge my bets and maybe come out even before sliding into the grave. So we make a change, we try to stop buying and when we take away the trips to target and the minute obsessions on the hedonic treadmill, what if we are scared of what is left? A nothingness. What do we fill it with?
Consumerism has been ingrained in all of us since the beginning 😭 We cannot escape it in this country but I believe we can fall in a peaceful agreement that is more measured and sustainable. I would love to see what the world would look and feel like if people stopped being driven by consumerism/materialism and started deriving joy/their worth from deeper places. Imagine! 😍
Yes, yes and yes Jenovia, we alone can know what we have been through to get here, but here we are and here is HOPE. For a better future and a way of living that aligns with a harmonious humanity. And let the fun commence.
Jenovia, love your writing style. A captivating, insightful and flowing take on materialism and the alternative way to distance yourself and live authentic life. It takes a lot of courage to take this route and keep on going. But when after a while you meet your grinding friends and see the look on their faces, you know you made the right choice to abandon that boat. Keep up the good writing and greetings from Vilnius.
“The refusal to think that rest is a privilege and not a right. That if we take breaks or move at a slower pace, life and the world will pass us by.”
— I relate to this so much. I recently took a break from ‘all the noise of the internet’ and I found it disturbing how concerned I was that it was going to pass me by if I didn’t return soon. In defiance of that feeling I actually stayed away longer than I had planned, but it still gets me that it’s even a feeling I had, like the lies our society tell us run so deep that they’re hard to shake even when we know they aren’t true.
Thank you for fighting the good fight and for writing about it so beautifully. :)
Thank you!! So happy you took a pause and so happy you’re back!
And yes, the lies run so deep 😵💫 I have to remind myself often than I would like not to listen and forge my own path in this capitalistic chaos that we live in.
You are making an attempt to describe an experience that is indescribable. And I love it. Bizarre and glorious, you say.
I think relating it to childlikeness in your article about 'going back to the beginning' helps one understand what you are talking about. Thank you for sharing this.
Mmmmm. Jenovia, this is beautiful—the deep searching braided with honest eyes and a heart of hope. To the soft living then. Maybe it’s soft like tender, like gentle, like flexible, in the what can bend doesn’t break sort of way. Thanks for these beautiful words.
wow I really just wrote a poem about returning to the beginning a few hours ago. (will publish tomorrow.) I have often been frustrated at how once I feel that i have reached a certain level of healing or growth, then another level suddenly appears before me and I feel like shouting (and sometimes actually do shout) HOW MUCH MORE HEALING DO I HAVE TO DO? and you're right, the quiet voice says, "as much as it takes." this post really resonated with me, thank you for sharing.
I feel the same way at times. Like, MORE?!?! There is MORE??!! I AM TIRED! I DON'T WANNA! But then I heed the quiet, loving voice, take a deep breath, and continue. So, I'm here for the shouting. Shout, scream, banshee wail. Get it all out so we can remember and return to who we have always been. Those feelings of frustration are so important to express.
I see returning to the beginning as less of taking a wrecking ball to an edifice and more disrobing ourselves of the layers of falsehood that we've been clothed in since childhood.
But, either way, whether it's using a wrecking ball or it's the stripping away of falsehoods, there's a true self beneath that is fighting to become free. And that self never stops fighting for freedom, so why not let it win?
I relate to this DEEPLY!! It’s invigorating and scary to know that the work is never done, that our change is constant. But we have to. We have to let ourselves flow and flow towards our truest self. And I so appreciate your commentary on consumerism and women. (Part of my studies have been on how consumerism has been a means of power for women…but how it’s all a distraction). I very intentionally don’t follow influencers, and that does not come from a place a judgement, but rather my understanding that their main goal is for people to buy more and more and that no longer aligns with the path I want for myself. I now know I won’t find sustained happiness in the material.
I leave you with this from Emory Hall —
and all at once
they fell into a deep sleep.
all the tired women
that lived inside her.
That’s a beautiful quote!
Yes! It feels so daunting yet so exciting to know that we are never in our final forms. I’m committed to every transformation I must go through and women like you in my life make those changes feel more graceful. 🥹 Thank you for being here and experiencing life with me. Your depth always brings me so much comfort.
I feel you on not following influencers. I unfollowed a ton last year and I do not miss it at all. I’ve never been more frugal in my life than right now AND I’ve never been happier.
It is a pleasure to be here with you! I treasure it, truly! I happily follow a lot of poets now instead, and it’s sooo nice 😊
There is nothing more gorgeous than a human choosing to examine life and extinguish all that is dead in our world. I applaud and adore passion to go deeper, ask bigger questions, and let go of the parts of yourself and society that are destroying the heart of humanity. Each time your voice sings her truth, others will hear echos of their own, and I too, want to believe that eventually, a critical mass will see the sunrise of a new era. May it be so. Thank you for wielding that wrecking ball and showing others how it’s done.
Thank you, dearest Kimberly! Ecstatic to have women like you virtually by my side to examine and extinguish the dead parts. To ask the bigger questions and explore our passions together all done with support and love ❤️🔥
Just recently getting acquainted, but reading this post, I realized I already know you. My soul jumped up saying “Oh yeah! That’s why I feel aligned with you.”🪶
I love that you felt that! What a wonderful feeling/comment. 🥹❤️🔥 Thank you, Grace. I appreciate you being here so much.
This one quite literally brought tears to my eyes. I would love to just sit on a porch with you and drink tea while you read your work aloud 🖤 :)
Agree!
Let's make it a paaaaartay!
I love this for us
I would be honored but only if you read your gorgeous work aloud as well. Porch sitting and tea drinking are my two of my favorite things in life. We can sip, and read, and cry together. 🥹😍❤️🔥
Hello heaven!!!
Sovereignty sovereignty sovereignty! I cannot get enough of this word! All I can see as I wake up are the ways I've been conditioned not to trust myself. I can't stop thinking of our collective power if we were to simply opt out. Not compete. Not fight, not believe we should be satisfied with crumbs when all around us it's CAKE. Limits beget limits beget limits. The new power is gentle and expansive and inclusive. It's for all of us. Everyone. Your work fills me with excitement for what's to come.
Cake for all! I love this so 🍰
MIAM MIAM MIAM 😍
CAKE IS RIGHT! Our collective power is the key. I believe our natural instinct is gentle, expansive, and inclusive. My goal is to fully return to that and stay there, hopefully bring others along with me. I'm so excited what we can discover together. ❤️🔥
on the cusp of my 53rd birthday tomorrow, your words here land so powerful in the core of my intuition, that how you encapsulates your thoughts here, and the spirit of what you share resonate deeply with me, are exactly what i needed to read right now🙏🏻💖. thank you and keep on keeping on, being the beautiful soul and lovely person you are! cheers!
Happy Birthday Heidi!!! 🥳 I hope you're having a wonderful day filled with love and joy. I'm sending you all the best wishes. Thank you so much for your kind words and support. I so appreciate you being here. 💞
Oh how my soul struggles with this! Your words capture the essence so beautifully. But even reading this truth, my ego will not let some things go.
I’ve been listening to The Minimalists podcast since my pandemic identity crisis, I pick up episodes when I feel the urge for church, for salvation, to remind myself that consumerism has been ingrained in me since the minute I could focus on the TV. I often wonder what would happen if we all just stopped buying stuff. Reaching for more. Would everything collapse? We talk about companies only appeasing their shareholders but what about when we ARE the shareholders? I hedge my bets and maybe come out even before sliding into the grave. So we make a change, we try to stop buying and when we take away the trips to target and the minute obsessions on the hedonic treadmill, what if we are scared of what is left? A nothingness. What do we fill it with?
Me and you, we write 🙂
Thank goodness for writing!
Consumerism has been ingrained in all of us since the beginning 😭 We cannot escape it in this country but I believe we can fall in a peaceful agreement that is more measured and sustainable. I would love to see what the world would look and feel like if people stopped being driven by consumerism/materialism and started deriving joy/their worth from deeper places. Imagine! 😍
Bring on the spiritual wrecking ball!
Thank you for sharing these powerful words, to make us sit up and take notice, to think about our thoughts and actions. A brilliant essay.
Thank you so much, Donna! 💥❤️🔥
I also love the image of a spiritual wrecking ball 😊
Yes, yes and yes Jenovia, we alone can know what we have been through to get here, but here we are and here is HOPE. For a better future and a way of living that aligns with a harmonious humanity. And let the fun commence.
Jenovia, love your writing style. A captivating, insightful and flowing take on materialism and the alternative way to distance yourself and live authentic life. It takes a lot of courage to take this route and keep on going. But when after a while you meet your grinding friends and see the look on their faces, you know you made the right choice to abandon that boat. Keep up the good writing and greetings from Vilnius.
Thank you, Tomas!
Yes, Jenovia! Preach!
“The refusal to think that rest is a privilege and not a right. That if we take breaks or move at a slower pace, life and the world will pass us by.”
— I relate to this so much. I recently took a break from ‘all the noise of the internet’ and I found it disturbing how concerned I was that it was going to pass me by if I didn’t return soon. In defiance of that feeling I actually stayed away longer than I had planned, but it still gets me that it’s even a feeling I had, like the lies our society tell us run so deep that they’re hard to shake even when we know they aren’t true.
Thank you for fighting the good fight and for writing about it so beautifully. :)
Thank you!! So happy you took a pause and so happy you’re back!
And yes, the lies run so deep 😵💫 I have to remind myself often than I would like not to listen and forge my own path in this capitalistic chaos that we live in.
You are making an attempt to describe an experience that is indescribable. And I love it. Bizarre and glorious, you say.
I think relating it to childlikeness in your article about 'going back to the beginning' helps one understand what you are talking about. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and share your thoughts, Susanna ❤️🔥 Bizarre and glorious are my favorite aspects of life.
Mmmmm. Jenovia, this is beautiful—the deep searching braided with honest eyes and a heart of hope. To the soft living then. Maybe it’s soft like tender, like gentle, like flexible, in the what can bend doesn’t break sort of way. Thanks for these beautiful words.
Thank you, Holly! “What can bend doesn’t break.” YES! 🙏❤️🔥 You said it brilliantly.
wow I really just wrote a poem about returning to the beginning a few hours ago. (will publish tomorrow.) I have often been frustrated at how once I feel that i have reached a certain level of healing or growth, then another level suddenly appears before me and I feel like shouting (and sometimes actually do shout) HOW MUCH MORE HEALING DO I HAVE TO DO? and you're right, the quiet voice says, "as much as it takes." this post really resonated with me, thank you for sharing.
Oh, I love that. What divine timing!
I feel the same way at times. Like, MORE?!?! There is MORE??!! I AM TIRED! I DON'T WANNA! But then I heed the quiet, loving voice, take a deep breath, and continue. So, I'm here for the shouting. Shout, scream, banshee wail. Get it all out so we can remember and return to who we have always been. Those feelings of frustration are so important to express.
I see returning to the beginning as less of taking a wrecking ball to an edifice and more disrobing ourselves of the layers of falsehood that we've been clothed in since childhood.
But, either way, whether it's using a wrecking ball or it's the stripping away of falsehoods, there's a true self beneath that is fighting to become free. And that self never stops fighting for freedom, so why not let it win?
“More people are turning away from counterfeit ambition and turning towards natural human living”
This.