Favorite Things & February Recap 🩷
Welcome to March, amazing humans!
Ok, I’m gonna say it: I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S MARCH. We are just cruising right along into 2024, now aren’t we? I hope 2024 has brought you abundance, joy and some really fun moments so far! If you’re new here, yay, hi and I love you! If you’re not new here, yay, hi, I love you! 😉 This is where I share my monthly personal and business recap, as well as a few of the things I’ve discovered that I’m loving at the moment. If you’d like, you can always share below your thoughts or things you discovered this month that you are also loving.
Personal Update:
February 2024 tops one of my favorite months of my life, falling just short of the month I spent in New Zealand in 2017. I know, that’s big isn’t it?!
We started this month off with a whirlwind trip to Disneyland with our nieces, and let me tell you, we made some incredible memories! We rode Big Thunder Mountain 🚂 in the pouring down rain ☔️, I made myself sick doing too many simulator rides with the girls 🤪, and randomly ate the best quesadilla I’ve ever had 😋. Being in Disneyland reminded me of being a young girl when my family and I would visit California and stay with my Uncle Aaron and Aunt Shirley in their two-bedroom rambler in Long Beach. Disneyland has changed a lot over the past 30 years 😅, but I loved spending three days in what felt like my old stomping grounds, reminiscing, and feeling like a silly kid again 🤸.
Just when we were starting to get back into our weekly routine at home, we were off again to Leavenworth, WA for my 40th birthday celebration, just Kyle and I. We stayed at The Post Hotel which offers 7 different saunas, two cold plunge pools, two hot tubs, a foot bath and an indoor/outdoor pool with a glass door. You are encouraged to stay in your robe the entirety of your stay and truly allow yourself to relax. Y’all know how hard this is for me to do, but I did it! I didn’t open my computer ONCE 😱 It was an incredible, luxurious trip filled with lots of tears, laughter, and delicious, fancy food. I’ve shared openly about my thoughts and feelings about turning 40 and I have to say, I’m still feeling a little uneasy about it 😣 I’m giving myself time to grieve my youth (as ridiculous as that may sound) and step into this next phase of my life with full confidence and ownership 😎 - I keep hearing how wonderful your 40s are and I hope y’all are right!
As I write this, I have officially started school! 🏫 That’s right, I am going back to school to get my Master’s in Clinical Counseling at Capella University and will be a licensed therapist in just 3 short years. This decision has been one of the most transformational I’ve made in my life, and one I haven’t taken lightly. I’m ecstatic and a wee-bit apprehensive. Yet, at the same time I know wholeheartedly how good this will be for me, my career and my dreams moving forward. It’s been 17 years since I attended traditional school and I’m praying my brain slips right back into writing papers using APA formatting and critical thinking. Fingers crossed! 🤞
Lastly, I am so happy to report that I am staying consistent with my writing and The Connection Project is moving right along. Slowly but surely I am creating a more solid writing structure and, with the help of my amazing writing mentor Megan Hayes, I am improving my craft. As bad as I want to put a timeline on this book project, I know that will only feel like a thousand pounds of pressure and, historically, that’s never worked, so I’m giving myself grace and flexibility with this one 😮💨
Biz Update:
The pivotal point for me when making the decision about going back to school was a conversation I had with my therapist. I was telling her how nervous I was about balancing the love of my life (work 😜) with school and family, and how I wanted to keep growing my business - but how!? 😬 “I’m nervous I won’t be able to continue growing my business while in school. What if all my hard work goes to waste?” I said in our session a couple weeks ago. She looked at me matter-of-factly and said, “going back to school is growing your business, Ashley.” BOOM. Immediately, all the pressure I was feeling about continuing to grow my business and excel at school disappeared. She was so right. I know this education is going to open up doors for me and attract in some incredible opportunities. And, I will be able to support you all even more with the tools I’ll be learning!
So, although I’m continuing to operate my business as usual, I’m going to be really, really intentional about what I create and where I spend my time and energy, especially over the next few months as I get my feet wet and start to get a better understanding of how much time school will require. The Year of Awakening Journaling Community as well as my 1:1 Empowerment Coaching clients will continue to be my focus. I also have a couple other really exciting things planned for the coming months, including a 108 day Happiness Habits Group Program (The 108 Day Happy As Fuck Journal is getting a makeover and becoming a program!), an evergreen course about creating a Soul-nourishing morning routine and a retreat happening in November!!! If you’re not already on my list, make sure you join here to be the first to get all the details, discounts and goodies 🎁
I’ve been working with a couple amazing ladies around SEO, copy and marketing strategy and I’m super stoked to be developing more consistent YouTube content in the coming months. I LOVE teaching and connecting with all of you in real time and I want more of it! More info coming next month, but for now, make sure you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel right here.
2024 (and 40!) is already shaping up to be a pretty expansive year for me and Unique Holistic Happiness. I’m so excited you’re here to expand together this year. I am so grateful for each of you!
Things I’m Loving:
I’m only about 100 pages in, but The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté is turning out to be a much more captivating book than expected - especially for being over 500 pages long! I also feel like it’s really telling that this book has roughly 4.5k reviews and is 4.8 stars. Pretty impressive.
As a birthday gift to myself, while in Leavenworth at this cute little plant shop, I found this Awakening Intuition Oracle Deck and I have been loving it! Plus it fits perfectly into my focus as I enter my 40s.
I may have already recommended this book, but I read it in January and I’m already on my second time reading it - The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest is an amazing book about self sabotage and I couldn’t recommend it more!
Better late than never?? 🤞😆 I’ve been focused on my skincare routine, and I have been loving these Grace & Stella eye masks.
Speaking of skincare! Mario Badescu is by far my favorite skin-care line - I’ve used them since I was like 20 years old! And this Drying Lotion will zap any zit overnight without over drying your face! This is huge for me, especially being a sensitive skin girlie, nearly anything and everything irritates my skin 😅
March Journal Prompts
So, amazing human being, how was your February? I know 2024 has been off to a rocky start for some of us. I feel compelled to remind us all - including myself - that life is a little whack sometimes, and you have the power to make choices that alleviate some of the suffering you may be feeling. These little bumps are just that, little bumps in the road and this too shall pass 🙏
Here are a couple prompts if you’re struggling:
What are my feelings teaching me these days? What are they showing me and / or helping me to learn? What empowering actions can I take to support myself right now?
Here’s a couple prompts for if you’re thriving:
What are my feelings teaching me these days? (because positive emotions teach us things too!). How can I keep this momentum going this month? Where do I need to focus?
I love you all and I hope you have a light, bright, happy March 🌸