There are 3 chairs left in this room
Hi friend,
August 1st was yesterday. Did you notice it watching you?
That's the day everyone quietly asks the question—the one you've maybe been asking since day 4 of Dry July: so… now what?
I wrote this week's blog for exactly this moment: The Bridge from July to August—what to do with your 30 days of data.
It has the three questions I walk every client through when a dry month ends—what did the absence reveal, what did you get back that you refuse to give up, and what does your life need so alcohol doesn't have a job anymore? (If you're already alcohol-free, the questions still work—the blog shows you how.) Read it today, before "back to normal" makes the decision for you.
Here in this weekly letter, I want to talk about what comes after you answer those questions. Because there's a version of this work you can do alone in your notes app—and there's a version that happens in a room.
I have to tell you: I am having so much fun planning the first Fall Into You Nashville retreat. I'm an over-the-top hostess by nature—spoiling women is my love language—and honestly, the planning has already been a smashing success, making my dreams come true. The co-creation with my friend and co-host, Deb, feels like divine alignment and the answer to my prayers. Every swag bag detail, every menu decision, every little surprise reveal, I catch myself grinning. And here's a little secret the research backs up: anticipation is half the joy. The planning is as fun as the trip. (Remember when the only thing you anticipated was 5 o'clock? This is what we traded that for.) We'll be having our first pre-event planning call next month.
The root of the retreat is one idea: coming home to yourself.
Not fixing yourself. You were never broken. Coming home—to the woman who existed before wine o'clock, the one who's been waiting all July (all decade?) to be taken seriously.
Here's what the days hold. Morning movement—gentle, not bootcamp; we go soft here. Meditation. Guided conversations that go somewhere real, because a circle of women telling the truth is the fastest medicine I know. Intention setting for the season ahead—this is where your July data stops being a list in your phone and becomes an actual design for your life. A workshop you'll take home with you through the holidays and into the new year. And then, because rest is a skill most of us lost somewhere around 2009: actual free time. Unscheduled hours. A nap nobody needs to know about. A solo kayak voyage. Your first cold plunge. Reading on a porch in the morning light. Yoga nidra to tuck you in at night. Puzzling and puttering. Whatever suits your fancy.
And one day of pure indulgence: classic boutique shopping and a long, lazy brunch—the kind where nobody is watching the clock and the NA drinks are bottomless. You'll be alongside other sober women building lives out loud, including sober influencers from the area whose voices you probably already know. There is also a swag bag involved, and I am not exaggerating when I tell you it is to die for. Save some space in your suitcase. A few surprises that will be revealed in time.
Sobriety is a portal to an indulgent life. I built a whole weekend to prove it.
Why I know this room works: last week my friend Meg, Anika, co-founder of Gruvi, and I hosted an event in Boulder. More people showed up than we planned for, and the notes afterward said the same thing in different words: I didn't know a room could feel like this. When can we do this again? How do we recreate this? That's the room I'm building at the retreat—slower, deeper, and for a whole weekend.
There are 3 spots left.
I keep it small on purpose. Guided conversation doesn't work at a conference scale, and I would rather hold a few women well than forty women loosely. When these three chairs are filled, that's the retreat.
Here's the thing I've watched for years: the women who come to things like this are almost never the ones who feel "ready." Ready is a feeling that arrives after you're in the room, not before. The women who come are the ones who just finished a month that showed them something they can't unsee. They are women who've been doing this for years and yearning to gather with other like-minded souls.
If your body did a little "oh" anywhere in this letter—that's the signal. You've spent years overriding it. This weekend is what not overriding it looks like.
On the fence? Hit reply and ask me anything—dates, logistics, "Is this really for me if I'm only sober-curious?" I read every response, and I'll tell you honestly whether it's your room. No pressure either way; the door is just open, and I wanted you to know before it isn't.
You are not behind. You are here now.
This week INSIDE đźŹ
Hormone Health Masterclass with Elly Young—an integrative and functional nutrition practitioner—recorded just for our community.
- Sunday 8/2 recorded yoga-nidra calming cortisol—a guided deep-rest practice—for that wired-but-tired feeling.
- Monday 8/3 Live Call with Deb - Connection
- Wednesday 8/4 Member Story Share - Natalie
- Thursday 8/4 Live Call with Me—Topic: Hormone Health
XO!
Heather
P.S. Even if the retreat isn't your season, read the bridge blog and answer question one before Sunday ends: what did the absence reveal? One-sentence notes app. That's the whole assignment.
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