LIFE LATELY 🍂What I’m Learning, LOVING, & Looking Forward To
Hey hey, friends, and welcome back to The Self Care Sisterhood podcast.
It feels really good to be sitting down for a fresh conversation with you today. We are officially entering my FAVE season here on the podcast.
The ’ber months are here (essentially every month ending in BER). Which means we are heading into the season of all things routines, rhythms, wellness, fall, holidays, and romanticizing our lives. These are the kinds of convos that are my JAM. and I have some really good ones planned for us.
But before we jump into all of that, I thought for today, we could have a good ol fashioned life update.
The summer series was much more structured than my normal episodes. I loved creating it. I learned so so much in the process. And I’m incredibly proud that we made it through all twelve conversations. But I have missed this too. The kind of episodes where I can sit down and just fill you in on what has been going on in my world and in my head.
So today, we’re gonna talk all about what I’ve been learning in this season, what I’ve been loving lately, and everything I’m looking forward to as we head into the final stretch of the year.
Grab your coffee, your water, your walk, your commute— whatever you’re doing while we hang out today—and let’s catch up.
WHAT I’M LEARNING IN THIS SEASON
Let’s kick off with what I’m learning lately and first I want to talk about what it feels like to be on the other side of RECLAIM YOUR SUMMER.
You guys. I think it was sometime in May I first had this idea for the series. That little whisper of “what if I took my I do in my paid coaching communities and brought it to the podcast in a structured series.” And truly when I first though of it I naively thought that it would be super easy. Just take the concepts I’ve taught before —wellness, routines, focus, enoughness, intentionality— and put them together inside a structured podcast series. I’ve created workbooks. I’ve coached women. I’ve led retreats. I’ve talked about these ideas for years.
Surely, I could pull the best of that work together, write twelve episodes, create a workbook, and carry us through the summer.
In my mind it was simple bc I’ve done it before. But in practice, ya’ll. I was wrong. It was a LOT of work. 😅
In hindsight, launching a 12-week podcast series with a companion workbook may not have been my best plan for summer—especially while owning and working inside a coffee shop. But I am so glad I did it. I’m proud that those twelve conversations now live together forever on the podcast. I’m proud that there is a workbook someone can pick up whenever she needs it and walk through at her own pace. And I don’t think I’ll understand the full scope or impact of what I created for a while.
That’s the thing about evergreen work…it continues long after you stop recording. The things you’re doing right now are planting seeds for a future you have no clue about.
I have this tendency and IDK…maybe you too. That I get to the end of something I created. Something that was once just an idea, but didn’t stay that way. It was birthed out into the world. And once I finish I minimize the fullness of what I just created. Ya know what I mean? I complete it, check it off, and start looking ahead before allowing myself to really be proud of the work it took to take an idea and make it reality. Please tell me you get this.
But I don’t want to do that with this series. Which is why I’m leading with it.
It was substantial.
It asked a lot from me.
I finished it.
And I am proud of what we created together.
I’ll be honest. Toward the end of the 12 weeks I started wondering whether I sounded like a broken record. I kept coming back to the same themes: what matters, what supports us, what no longer fits, where our attention is going, and how we return to ourselves when we’ve drifted.
But I reminded myself and I’m remind you, too, that THAT is the work.
It isn’t always sexy or groundbreaking. Sometimes it’s just coming back, ya know? Recognizing that we’ve gotten off track…drifted…and pick back up again. Just bc we KNOW something doesn’t always mean we’re going to live it out.
And I think that became my biggest lesson from the entire series.
Spending twelve straight weeks talking about what it means to reclaim different parts of ourselves—and teaching it in the kind of structured way you might experience if I were coaching you or you came to one of my retreats—forced me to listen to my own words, too.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I had turned reclaiming into another thing I needed to do well.
It wasn’t enough to reflect, become more aware, or begin making different choices. I was still monitoring myself. Looking for evidence that all the pieces had returned. Wondering whether I had successfully reclaimed my light, my focus, my calm, my wonder—all of it.
I had taken something that was supposed to help me come back to myself and quietly turned it into another checklist.
At some point, I knew I needed to put some of that pressure down. I needed to stop checking whether the work had produced the right result yet and allow whatever is developing in me now to develop in its own time.
I had done the reflecting.
I had asked the questions.
I had created the awareness.
I had spent twelve weeks listening to my own teaching.
Maybe the next step wasn’t another action step. Maybe I needed to trust that something could still be happening in me, even if I couldn’t measure it yet. And that has brought me face-to-face with what may be the hardest thing I’m learning in this chapter of my life: HOW TO JUST BE.
I use the word “learning” very generously here because I do not think I’m particularly good at this yet.
You guys know I am a planner. I know how to set the goal, make the vision board, write the list, create the action steps, and work backward from the outcome. I know how to look ten steps ahead and begin building toward whatever I believe is waiting for me there.
What I don’t always know how to do is live inside a chapter before I understand where it is going.
And honestly, I think some of what I’ve called “being present” this year has also been me protecting myself from looking too far ahead.
Because looking ahead means asking what I want. It means allowing myself to imagine something different. And after a season when so much of what I wanted didn’t happen the way I prayed, planned, or worked for, I haven’t always wanted to enter that conversation.
I stopped making the vision board.
I stopped writing down all of my desires.
I stopped beginning every morning by looking directly at the gap between the life I have and the life I thought I might have by now.
There has been some acceptance in that. I have learned to live more fully inside what is here instead of constantly measuring it against what isn’t.
But if I’m being completely honest, there has probably been some guarding, too.
I don’t want to return to the devastation of trying to force my way into a future that may not come. But I also don’t want to stop being a person who hopes.
So when I say I’m learning how to “just be,” I don’t mean that I have arrived at some peaceful, enlightened place where I no longer want anything.
I mean I’m learning how to live inside the life I have without requiring it to immediately reveal what comes next.
And that is hard for me.
What does my creative work become?
What is my long-term role inside Crave?
What do I want the podcast to grow into?
What should I be building?
What is the next goal?
What is the next version of my routine?
Where is all of this headed?
And right now, I don’t completely know. I’m trying to let that be an honest answer instead of treating it like a problem I need to solve.
Another thing I’ve been leaning into this season and learning to accept is that I still haven’t found a daily or weekly flow that feels completely natural in this chapter of my life. As the woman who taught other women routines, that has been really unsettling for me. Routines have been such a significant part of my work and identity. I’ve taught them. I’ve lived by them. I’ve created journals and frameworks around them. And now that my own routines don’t really fit anymore or work the same way —and I can’t immediately build the new perfect version— it’s just bee rattling me, ya know?
A big AH-HA I had this summer was realizing that the life and work I had before Crave are not simply waiting for me to return to them. Any “comeback” from here I started to realize will actually look like an entirely new chapter or launch.
And right now, I don’t completely know what that looks like.
This space. The podcast. It’s the one thread I have continued carrying with me as I figure out what’s next. And for now, I’m trying to let that be enough bc I think life is asking me to BE HERE before I BUILD from here.
Again. This. Is. Hard.
These things I’m learning — how to take my own advice, how to offer myself grace in the journey, how to be present in life without always rushing to the next goal or thing — it’s all just hard. I’m grieving versions of me I didn’t want to say goodbye to. I’m having a hard time guessing what the future will hold (or even goal setting if I’m being honest). And. Hear me on this. I’m going forward any ways not knowing where the path is taking me. I’m doing both. And I want that to be fuel for you too as we head into a fresh season. It can be both. You can be grieving a previous version of yourself. You can be guessing what you think the future will look like. And you can go anyways. So often I think we get stuck bc we just stop moving in the face of uncertainty or derailed plans or identities we’ve had to lay down. The road ahead can seem so foggy bc we can’t see where it’s going. So we pause. We wait. We hold back. But I want you to know that you just have to keep going. In the grieving you keep going. In the guessing you keep going. Bc that is the tension of growth. That’s what makes it so uncomfy.
One of the clearest examples of this tension I have in my own life now is in something I’ve been carrying a lot of guilt and shame around.
I’m gonna be really honest about something…
Me—the person who teaches vision-board workshops, who has helped rooms full of women create their boards, and who has personally used vision boards for years—did not make one for 2026. I have carried so much shame around that this year. Every time I think about it, there’s this little voice reminding me, “You’re the vision-board girl. Shouldn’t you have a board?”
But I just couldn’t do it, ya’ll. I couldn’t make one. I couldn’t look at one. And I think I finally understand why.
My 2025 vision board felt like it had been hijacked. Has that ever happened to you? The goals and plans got hijacked in front of your very eyes?
Opening a brick and mortar business last year changed the entire structure of our lives. So many things I had pictured for my work, routines, creativity, finances, and home either didn’t happen or couldn’t continue in the way I believed they would. And I teach women to look at their vision board daily so doing what I teach I forced myself to stare at a future that most likely wasn’t gonna unfold any time soon. And with that I built so much anger and resentment.
When January arrived, I honestly wasn’t ready to create a new board because I was still carrying the one I hadn’t gotten to finish. In my mind it was like “I should just change the year at the top and reprint this bc I didn’t DO anything.” Do you hear that? I didn’t DO anything. Ya’ll. We built a coffee shop from scratch. But that’s the tricky thing. It wasn’t really on the board. I mean it was…but in my mind it was this little thing we’d do on the side.
Part of me believed I would eventually get back to my work and flow. I thought the things on that board were simply delayed and that if I held on long enough, I could return to the life I had planned. I couldn’t fully imagine a new future because I was still waiting for the old one to come back. And I don’t want to say I’ve learned how to “surrender” this year…bc that’s not really the right word. But I think I’m learning to accept that life looks different than I had planned and now I get to sit and live in it and be present for it.
What I keep leaning on in this season is maybe the vision isn’t wrong. Maybe my timeline that I’d attached to it simply couldn’t account for the life we built.
So hear me on this. I still believe deeply in vision boards. I believe there is power in naming what we want, putting an image to it, and participating in creating it. But a vision board is not a contract promising that every image will become real within the year printed at the top. Our lives are so much more nuanced than that. I’m sure your year has contained pivots that your board could never have predicted.
Delayed dreams don’t mean denied, abandoned, or failed. Sometimes a vision remains important and waits until we have the resources to return to it. But again, we can’t just stop. We have to keep going.
And in this season for me, it’s very much about allowing life to unfold. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped participating in it. I still make choices surrounding my best self. I still wake up and get intentional around what matters. I wait. In in that waiting there’s always a series of smaller decisions that eventually cause you to wake up and realized something has changed. Something has shifted. But you can’t there if you don’t move even in the waiting. It’s what I like to call “waiting well.”
I can participate in the life I have, make the next choice available to me, and allow the larger vision to reveal itself in time. And the same is true for you.
WHAT I’M LOVING LATELY
#1. IN MY WELLNESS
Which brings me to the things I’ve been loving lately even when life feels uncertain. Let’s start with my wellness and some of the things I’ve been leaning into and loving this summer.
I don’t think I’ve actually shared this publicly yet, but I’ve been using a new app called LADDER and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Not an ad. Just me sharing what is working for me.
For the last few years I’ve been pretty devoted to the Peloton app. Peloton has been part of so many different seasons of my wellness journey, and I still love it. I use Peloton for my runs (they have amazing outdoor guided runs), spin classes, yoga, stretching, and meditation.
But when my elbow finally started feeling ready for more consistent strength training, I realized I wanted more structure than I was getting in my current Peloton strength routine.
I wanted a progressive program.
I wanted to know that the workouts were building on one another.
I wanted a split I could follow without searching through classes and piecing the week together myself.
I started doing a little research and landed on The Ladder App and have been loving it.
Each trainer has a team and I joined Team Align with Coach Sasha. They break their training into 6 week series with 2 week deload weeks in between and so far I’ve completed one full round and am heading into the next training series as we speak.
After dealing with my injured elbow for about a year and a half it feels so good to be back inside a progressive strength-training rhythm. It was insane how weak my body had gotten. Especially my glutes. I 100% had sleepy glutes. And I had to be mindful of any movement patterns that I couldn’t comfortably do. Modify, avoid certain exercises, and work around pain. But now I’m progressively building strength again, and I feel like I can trust my arm so much more than I could before.
The split gives me the structure I was craving and I love knowing that each week is connected to a larger training plan.
Speaking of split…what I’m leaning into these days is what I’m calling a 3/2/1/1 which includes 3 days of strength training each week (one full, one upper, one lower body), 2 days where I do a form of interval traing and that’s where I still use Peloton for runs and rides. And then one day of yoga and one day fully off. I’m also trying to look at my step count a little more now that I’m coming up for air from the first year of opening the shop and even though I’m on my feet a lot more these days than I was in my previous work from home life, I feel like I’m taking less steps. Back in the day I was aware of this so I had a pretty solid walking routine either before or after my work day…so I think the next level is finding a new rhythm of that in this season.
And lastly as it goes with wellness, I’ve been implementing a few new supplements more consistently into my routine.
Creatine. Magnesium Glutamine. And a few drinkable swaps for owning-a-coffee-shop problems. As far as the creatine and magnesium IDK yet if there are any results worth noting but I’m sticking with them bc I know for my age (early 40’s and possibly perimeno) these are really good supplements to support my brain, my bones, my muscle recovery, and my sleep. All things I want to tend to as I age well.
And as for as the drinkable swaps let me tell you…at this point in my life there is caffeinated sugary drink approximately three feet away from me at all times. There is always another drink I could make, another flavor I could try, or another little boost available when I start feeling tired.
Last year, when we had just opened Crave and I was trying to stay afloat inside that transition you better believe I was absolutely going for the second drink. Sometimes even the third. I was drinking more coffee and consuming more sugar than I really wanted because I was using those things to override how tired I felt. This year, I’m trying to approach it differently.
Some of the swaps I’ve been playing with in my day include RYZE mushroom coffee, Cure and LMNT for electrolytes, and Clean Simple Eats supplements (like Clear Protein or even their preworkout that also has L-Theanine in it so it isn’t so jittery). Just options that are benefiting my body in better ways as far as hydration, protein, and ingredients that help with focus and clarity vs give me a quick jolt and crash.
But honestly, one of the biggest changes has simply been choosing not to make the second drink and acknowledging that tired means my body is talking to me.
I can feel tired without immediately deciding that I need to caffeinate my way out of it.
Sometimes I need water.
Sometimes I need food.
Sometimes I need to fresh air or to move.
Sometimes I need to lie down.
And sometimes I’m a little tired because I work inside a coffee shop, own a business, create a podcast, manage a home, and live a full life. Another latte isn’t always the missing answer. Sometimes it truly is the extra sleep in the morning before kicking off my day OR taking the nap so I can recharge midday. I’m working hard to savor the rest instead of waking up and immediately making myself feel guilty for taking it. I heard something recently that said if you were thirsty, you would drink. You wouldn’t feel bad for it bc you know your body needed it. And the same is true with rest. If you’re tired, take the nap. Set the alarm later and skip the morning routine.
That is actually part of a larger routine shift I’ve been experimenting with - not having a 3 hour morning routine where I cram in ALL the things before I begin my day. I’ve been sleeping later and moving more of my workouts into the evening. The workout has become a really helpful bridge between the workday and dinner. I can finish whatever I’m doing for Crave or the podcast, change clothes, move my body, and let the workout help me transition out of all the roles and responsibilities I’ve carried during the day. Then I can shower, make dinner, and move into the evening. It actually makes so much sense for the life I’m living now.
And it still feels uncomfortable.
Sometimes I wake up in the morning and have space before I need to be somewhere and I genuinely don’t know what to do with myself. My instinct is to fill it. Optimize it. Decide which project should live there. And if I don’t have the book or the journal or the structured routine, the kind of shame I’ve been carrying has been really hard to manage.
I spent so many years with a deeply established morning routine that open morning space feels disorienting. So even sleeping later and allowing the morning to unfold differently have become part of learning how to be. How to let this season just unfold as it needs to.
I’m reminding myself just like I remind all of you that a routine is supposed to support the life I am actually living. Not the one I wish I had or that a previous version of me thrived in.
#2. IN MY HOME
Okay let’s talk about some fun things happening in and around home life. First of all my baby boy Frankie turned ten this summer. TEN YA’LL.
I seriously don’t understand how that is possible. There are so many chapters of my life wrapped up inside that little red weiner dog. He’s moved with us multiple times, watched our lives change and evolve, shift and grow. He’s been there through different homes, different businesses, and different versions of me. I literally can’t remember life without him and I literally don’t want to image one without him. I made this reel for his birthday that said something about how we’re 42 and 10 now but at one time we were and then it went thru all the years and iterations of us and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it over and over again. That puppy I brought home when I was 32 and how he’s just been my ride or die for all these years. Ugh. I love him so much.
I know anyone who loves a dog understands the combination of joy and heartbreak that comes with these birthdays. You’re so grateful to celebrate them and you would also like time to stop moving immediately. So we celebrated our little old man. I love to call him George Clooney bc of how grey he’s getting. But we celebrated him with dog ice cream and all of his fave things.
I have also been consuming a lot of good stories at home this summer both in books and shows. And since I’m always looking for good recs I wanted to pass along mine to you.
I’ll warn you up front about my television choices. They are usually based on some sort of documentary, true crime, or mystery. Of course with a little bit of uplifting in there, but if you’re more of a true crime junkie like me than I got you.
There’s a series on Netflix called The Bombing of Pan Am 103. It’s about a 1988 plane crash that happened over Lockerbie, Scotland and it was so good. Heartbreaking, obviously, but it gave me so much insight into the investigation and the scale of what happened. I truly didn’t even know about that crash or the media behind it bc…hello…I think I was four. But it was super good.
Also on Netflix they released a new documentary series following the 4 college students in Idaho that were murdered. It’s called The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare. This series has newly released video and audio from the event and it gave me so much more insight—and honestly, so much more heartbreak—around that crime and the lives involved.
A couple things on Apple we got into and loved this summer. First up Cape Fear. Ya’ll so good. A little “have to close my eyes” for me at times bc I can’t watch too gorey of things, but the story was wild. It’s based off of the old movie but the story is very much modernized. And then we are big Silo fans. So a fresh season started this summer and we are all about it. Oh…and Ted Lasso is back. You can’t forget about that. Love love LOVE Ted Lasso.
Okay and one other good one. It’s not new, but it was new to us and so so good. It’s a series on HBO called The Night Of and it follows a true story of a young Pakistani boy who was accused of murder and I don’t want to spoil anything but it’s just really good.
So that’s it for shows. Let’s chat books bc I’ve also read some really good books this summer.
Favorite favorite FAVORITE character and book this summer was hands down Mad Mabel. Everyone needs to read Mad Mabel. It’s one of those stories that goes back and forth between past and present. Today she’s a spicy 81 year old and in the past she was accused of murder as a child and it’s something that’s followed her around. But she is HILARIOUS and I found myself laughing out loud while reading which isn’t something that happens that often. So so good ya’ll.
I kicked off the summer reading The Women. It’s a book about Vietnam but from the female perspective of the nurses who went to war and what that was like coming home. It was SO good. I always said I wasn’t a historical fiction person but man Kristin Hannah writes in such a way that you just crave to know more. I read The Nightingale by her earlier in the year and also SO good.
Mid summer I finally devoured Demon Copperhead and I absolutely see what all the hype is about. It’s a LONG book and this one took me most of the summer to get thru and I had to do some more “fun, simple, mindless” reads when I finished, but when you’re ready for a good book — grab this one. It will have you rooting for the main character and also extremely heartbroken at how unfair life can be.
And as far as growth based personal development books, I’ve kinda taken a pause from them. IDK but this year I’m just having a harder time getting into them or feeling like they are speaking to me right now in my current season. One I did pick up this summer that I read in a week and loved was The Perimenopause Survival Guide. If you are feeling like you just aren’t the same in your body as you once were this is an awesome read and I highly suggest it! It will validate you and it will also speak to solutions back by extensive research and doctor who is in the trenches with you.
So that’s a little bit of what I’ve been loving lately in my wellness and in my home. I’ll be sure to link the books in the show notes for ya’ll!
WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO
Okay. Let’s finish off today’s catch up with all of the things I’m excited about bc this next stretch of the year is my absolute favorite. I love to plan ahead the memories I want to make so that the season doesn’t just “go by” but is lived out intentionally. A few things I’ve got going on:
My mom is turning 75 in October so I’m flying to Michigan to celebrate with her.
We also have a fall Disney trip planned.
September officially kicks off Trot training season and fall running which is delightful.
And we’ve been working really hard this year on making our backyard a vibe, so I’m looking forward to cooler evenings when C and I can actually enjoy it.
I’m ready for the fire pit, a glass of wine, and ending the day in our little backyard sanctuary.
And then beyond that… there’s FALL EVERYTHING which I love.
Pumpkin and apple scents and flavors.
Looking forward to Trader Joe’s seasonal items.
I’ve been quietly planning our Halloween costumes and a big party for that day at Crave.
Picking out pumpkins for the porch
Crockpot chili.
Thanksgiving food.
The tree going up on November 1.
Gift giving.
The sun setting earlier and the coziness that brings.
The electric fireplace coming on for vibes even though we live in Florida.
The thing is…fall changes the emotional texture of ordinary life. But we have to ALLOW it to do so.
IDK what it is about this time of year but the shift makes me want to participate in my life and I hope you are starting to feel that (and plan for it), too.
I’m also really excited about where we are going here on the podcast. It feels like a return to our normal weekly conversations, but I also know I am returning as somebody different.
I don’t have a perfectly defined new chapter to report back to you. I have things I’m learning, things I’m loving, and so much I’m looking forward to. And for right now, that feels like enough.
I would love to know what you are learning, loving, or trying right now—and what you are most excited about as we enter the ’ber months. Come find me on Instagram at @inspirebeautybritt and catch me up on your life too. I love you so much. I’m forever and always rooting for you. And I will see you right here next week on The Self Care Sisterhood podcast. 🖤
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