Hey Reader,
I know I said I was gonna write an email to you every day… but like everything else in our lives and businesses, that’s ever-evolving, and we always have the right to change our minds!
(This is my way of admitting that I got lost in blog-writing and website design land yesterday, and by the time I remembered I needed to write this email, allll of my brain juice had been drained from me completely.
So… sorryyy (but you get it, right?))
Anyway, when we last spoke, I shared that, in December, I decided to take a “sabbatical” from my business.
And after walking away, I entered what I can only describe as a creative cocoon.
I spent the next few weeks truly just chillin’.
It helped that it was around the holidays, but this period of stillness continued even throughout January.
For the first time in as long as I could remember, there wasn’t a lot of productivity happening in my life—I was on sabbatical, after all.
And I was exhausted.
Deep down, I knew I needed a real, true break.
To stop hustling, chasing, or filling the space… to spend a while just listening—so I did this how I knew best.
My favorite place in the world to be is around water, so I went to the beach, kayaking, fishing.
I found a few local ponds, lakes, and nature trails.
I became nearly addicted to my daily hot girl walk (gave myself an injury from going so hard at this, a story for another time).
I picked up my watercolors again and started a brand new, blank sketchbook.
I took a few classes on surface pattern design and discovered that not only was I pretty good at it, but I really, really enjoyed it.
I went treasure hunting at thrift stores and antique markets.
I busted out my sewing machine and flipped and altered tons of clothes that no longer fit either my body or my vibe (this made me feel super capable, btw. Sewing is kind of a secret superpower!).
Bit by bit—at a pace that felt excruciatingly slow—I started feeling a little more alive.
Then, one day, a dear friend asked for my help with her marketing.
Nothing crazy, just figuring out her email program and talking through her funnels and offers and things.
A little bit later, I joined a free writing challenge to work out the novel idea that had been living in my head and notes folder for months.
Soon after that, another friend asked me to come on as a writing coach for her online program.
I took a week-long camping trip totally off-grid with my husband, which went a long way in recharging my soul and filling my cup.
Slowly, but with shocking momentum, I felt the return of my creative spark.
Then, I joined a book club called the Creatrix Collective.
We started reading The Artist’s Way, and within the first week, I was overcome with an unexpected level of clarity.
If you’ve read this book, you know it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
It digs deep into you, unearths your most pervasive limiting beliefs, and asks you to face some seriously tough questions about your creative self.
While it sounds excruciating—and again, definitely not beach read material (though I have read it at the beach 🧐)—
I’ve found it to be less artistic boot camp and more of the gentle and loving kick in the ass I desperately needed to get back on track with my true self.
Because an annoying yet impactful side effect of this work?
Once you see all those creative blocks, limiting beliefs, and nasty thoughts about yourself… you can’t unsee them.
You have to either choose to work on them, or choose to let them linger.
And I don’t know about you, but when faced with obvious self-flagellation, I can’t really allow it to go on.
I have to respect myself more than that.
Going through The Artist’s Way, especially doing it with an incredible group of totally badass creative women, has given me the gift of clarity around what actually matters in my work.
Not what should matter or what the business gurus say should be my priority—or even what my previous expectations said I should be doing…
But what genuinely lights me up.
And for me, these days, that’s:
- Being absolutely obsessed with creating two new journals—that practically flew out of me—one, an idea that’s lived in my notes app for over 3 years, and another born from the daily habit I’ve been dedicated to for over a frickin’ decade
- Writing my adorable, kick-your-feet, choose-yourself romance series with super fun & campy renaissance faire vibes (some days the words flow like froyo. Other days… not so much. And that’s okay!)
- Redesigning my digital space to reflect who I am now and who I want to become in the future, not who I thought I needed to be to deserve love, respect, and success. This looks like designing cute products with my writing and artwork on them, writing helpful blogs, and sharing the digital resources that have helped me grow tons of brands over the years.
- Using my hard-earned writing, marketing, and business skills to build my aligned businesses and a life I’m genuinely in love with, and to help those I love build theirs
And for the first time ever…
I finally feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
In my next email, I’ll share more about what all of this means for you—including the only service offering that exists in my business now.
It’s something that’s probably more aligned than anything I’ve ever done before. I’m so excited to be offering it.
Until then, I’d love to know:
What’s the creative practice that helps you reconnect with yourself when you’re feeling out of sorts?
Hit reply and lemme know!
ttyt,
Baylee
P.S. If you’ve been feeling that creative pull lately but aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend trying out the morning pages from The Artist’s Way—just three pages of stream-of-consciousness writing each morning.
You can type or write them longhand, whatever works for you. If you type, I’d just set a timer for 30 minutes and then get started writing.
It’s truly been a transformative practice for me, I cannot recommend it more.