Hey there, my friends!
Before I say anything else, I just want to say thank you.
Your messages, your kindness, your prayers...every single one meant more than you know. I’ve read them all, sometimes through tears, and I’m just so grateful for this community we’ve built together.
If you read my last email, you know it’s been a heavy season around here.
Loss has a way of shaking things loose...priorities, plans, even the way you measure “success.”
And just when I thought I couldn't hold any more emotions...life kept rolling right on.
We had Isla’s dance recital this weekend...a blur of sparkly costumes, curling irons and little tap shoes and me holding back tears in the dark, trying not to think about all the “lasts” that sneak up on you when you’re not looking.
School’s winding down, too.
End-of-year projects, permission slips, field days, packed lunches that no one eats, backpacks stuffed with art projects I just can't throw away.
It feels like it's all happening at once.
And standing in the middle of it, I feel like I don't even know where to look.
There’s so much beauty. So much noise. So much life.
And if I’m honest, part of me just wants to freeze it all.
Bottle it up before it slips away. Because it will.
It always does.
The emails can wait. The posts can wait. Even the business goals can wait.
But the little hand slipping into mine after the final bow?
The crumpled paper “I love you” card pulled from the bottom of a backpack?
The sticky kiss on my cheek before bedtime? Those moments won’t wait.
And somewhere between the sadness and the schedules and the sparkly bows, I realized something...
I don’t want the old version of success anymore.
Not the kind you can screenshot.
Not the kind you can brag about in a caption.
I want the kind you can feel when you’re standing in the school gymnasium, clapping until your hands hurt because your baby just danced their little heart out.
The kind you live. The kind that lives with you.
Maybe you’re feeling it too.
Maybe life feels louder than usual.
Maybe you’re stretched thin between being who you are and everything you’re expected to be.
If you are, I just want to say:
You’re allowed to want something different.
You’re allowed to step back and breathe.
You’re allowed to pick yourself...not your to-do list, not your next post, not your inbox. But you.
You’re allowed to do something this week just because it makes you feel alive.
Not because it checks a box. Not because it makes you more productive. But because you matter.
Your heart matters. Your memories matter. Your one beautiful, messy life matters.
And no number of likes, sales, followers, or milestones will ever be worth missing it.
So this week, I’m challenging myself...and you, if you want to join me... to choose one thing just for you.
Something small. Something real. Something that reminds you that you're a human being, not a machine.
Maybe it’s leaving the laundry for the morning and going to the coffee shop by yourself.
Maybe it’s pulling your kid out of school an hour early to go for ice cream.
Maybe it’s sitting on the porch with your dog and letting the sun set without checking your phone.
Whatever it is...choose it. Choose you.
Because life is happening, whether we’re ready or not.
And the best thing we can do isn’t to catch up...it’s to show up. For the dance recitals. For the last days of school. For the random Tuesdays that turn into memories you’ll miss someday.
For ourselves.
Less chasing. More choosing.
And all the space we need to live the life we actually want.
Amber xo
