1-1-1: you're not wasting time
read about how to navigate seasons of slowness and self-growth, with a hard-hitting journal prompt about finding balance.
april, 2025
edition 72.
I’m currently under a heated blanket and wrapped up in three layers of jackets even though it’s 12c in london because I have a chill in my body I can’t get rid of. unfortunately I think this is my body telling me to slow down, especially since I was on top of many many mountains (!!!) this weekend.
sometimes I can get really caught up in the rat race of life and I forget that you can’t be running on full speed at all times — even though I really really want to be. it’s moments like this, under a warm blanket, where I remind myself that slow progress is still progress. I’m not worse off because I’m not ‘making the most of this weather’ (which is statistically likely to come again, especially since we are fully in spring ! now) or doing a lot with my day (again, I just hiked a mountain, and now I’m doing work) or just living my life like a full-time influencer is.
so hello :) from a very sleepy very chilly gal :) who is writing and reflecting today on how moments of pause are good for ya and they’re not time wasted. maybe it’s time to take my own advice a little more seriously :) :)
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you can expect one email from me every week containing:
one quote that has been inspiring me
one journal prompt
one piece of advice*
* = if you want to submit a question for my upcoming emails, you can find the form here.
podcast
there are tons of guest episodes on the podcast from 2024 that are worth checking out — listen to them here <3
one quote
“time will pass anyway, so I might as well use it to become someone I’m proud of.”
—jude fredman
one journal prompt
what does “balance” between social life, health, and work look like for me right now — not ideally, but realistically?
(explore your current capacity and what you actually need most in this season.)
one piece of advice
“how do you put your social life on the back end to focus on your health and work without feeling guilty/like you're losing time with people?”
if I may, let me answer this question with a short story from my life:
I was 20 when I went into inpatient treatment in another state for 35 days. it was the summer of 2020, when COVID was still an uncertainty and the promise that ‘things might be normal by the summer’ was still plausible. I, like everyone else, was home for the summer, and anxiously awaiting the green light from my college to return in the fall (which it never came). to put it bluntly, I needed the extra support from inpatient treatment, but part of me was too afraid to spend 35 days of the summer holidays working on myself. what if the COVID bans lifted and life went back to normal and I was stuck in arizona for five weeks while my friends were tanning on the beach in southern california?
spoiler: I did it anyways. throughout that whole experience, I had to remind myself that time spent working on myself is not time wasted.
my family told me that the right people would understand my decision, and while I didn’t believe them at first, they were right. once I explained what I was doing and why, my community showed up. over the five weeks, I got handwritten letters from my college friends, care packages from my family, and a few stolen facetime minutes saying hi to my dogs back at home. when it felt like I went on pause, the world still spun around me, but I wasn’t forgotten. my close circle made me feel included and supported while I took time for myself.
if you’ve ever disconnected in the way I had to for treatment (or like when I backpacked for a month with no phones), you realise that whatever you’re missing out on “in the real world” isn’t all that important. maybe you’re not in tune with the latest piece of hot gossip or the newest album from your favourite artist, but it will always be there when you decide to resurface. people will keep you in the loop and recap you like “and that’s what you missed on glee!"
furthermore, the experience you’re going through is hardly comparable to being ‘put on pause.’ (I know I keep referring to it this way but, when you’re in it, that’s what it feels like. now that I’m out on the other side, I can acknowledge that it’s not…) you’re growing and learning and experiencing new things that you get to share with your people once it’s all over as well. just as you’ve ‘missed out’ on what’s going on outside, they’ve missed out on what went on for you. it’s special to sit down and debrief an intense situation with someone you love — and what a joy to be able to do it twice.
ultimately, taking time for yourself is a sliding scale and only you can determine what that really looks like in your life. maybe it’s not 35 days with limited phone time in a different state like it was for me. but maybe it is. as long as you know that doing the work early is worth it (as you’ll be reaping the benefits for years to come) and that your community will back you during this period, there is no reason not to take the leap.
reading updates
currently reading: maybe you should talk to someone by lori gottlieb, into thin air by jon krakauer
finished this week:
n/a
reading challenge: 12/50
if you want to keep up with my reading throughout the week, this is my goodreads :)
discount codes
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Runna: personalised running training plans — katieeu for 2 weeks free
lululemon: my current list of favourite things
enjoyed this edition?
until we meet again,
katie