Hi friend,
Thank you for being a compassionate witness to me. I hope you are offering yourself that same love and observation. Let's talk more about this in the upcoming weeks, okie?!
I sat in my first board meeting last week and had one of those moments where your whole story catches up with you at once.
I officially joined the board of Living Kindness, a Wisconsin organization that brings people together through nature, creativity, mindfulness, and authentic community—supporting people working on their own well-being and families loving someone through a hard mental health or substance use journey.
Wisconsin. My home state.
The same place I once white-knuckled through happy hours and kept my drinking polished and private is the place I now get to show up and help families heal. I used to hide there. Now I serve there.
Full circle doesn't even cover it.
And this isn't a someday-we'll-make-a-difference kind of board. We are making an immediate impact—real programs, real families, right now. I left that first meeting buzzing (the only kind of buzz I chase these days). I'll be there in person to host a fun sober social on September 26th from 6 pm to 9 pm. Save the date!
Some more good news
I'm now an approved meditation teacher on Insight Timer!
My first meditation is up: Befriending Your Anxiety. Not fixing it. Not fighting it. Befriending it—because anxiety softens when we stop treating it like the enemy.
You can follow me HERE—it's free, it's ten-ish minutes of us breathing together, and there's more to come.
What's coming up this week
This week we're journaling.
I've heard, "Writing is clear thinking." And my own words: "I write so I can hear myself think." There is so much noise out there telling you what you want and who you should be. The page is where you find out what's actually true for you—in your own handwriting, in your own words.
Here's the week:
- Sunday — This week's yoga nidra meditation: The Page Is Waiting and Masterclass Journalling for People who Don't Journal drops live INside
- Monday — Book Club "Live Naked AF" with Deb
- Wednesday — In-real-life event in Boulder with Anika, founder of Grüvi (come say hi and sip something good!) Join us for FREE; grab a ticket HERE.
- Thursday—Group Connection call with me; let's talk about writing and hearing ourselves think.
Grab a notebook. I know you've been collecting them and keeping them blank because you told me so, LOL! It doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to be honest.
Join INsider (first week free) HERE. There are lots of new faces; you won't be alone as a newbie! You'll be welcomed in on the spot.
And one more thing—3 spots left
I just saw The Odyssey (3 hours!!), and one scene followed me out of the theater. When Telemachus, son of Odysseus (played by sober icon Tom Holland), is learning to fight, he discovers something backwards and true: making himself vulnerable is his greatest strength. The openings he's most afraid of are exactly what give him his best chance of winning.
I sat there in the dark thinking—that's it. That's the whole thing.
We spend years armored up. Performing fine. Drinking to soften the edges of being partially known. And the thing that actually changes us is the thing we've been avoiding: letting ourselves be seen. The place I fully cracked open (in the best way) was on my first sober retreat at 4 years alcohol-free. My advice would be to not wait so long.
That's what the Fall Into You Retreat is for. Ten women. Two hosts so you're fully taken care of. Three spots are left—one went just last week, and the private rooms are already gone. Come to DTD camp and bunk up with us on a quiet cove with affordable queen-bed accommodations.
And a heads-up, because you're on this list and I want you to hear it first: on August 1st I'm opening these last spots to a much wider audience. Right now it's just us. Saturday it isn't.
Payment plans are available, too — don't let the number be the thing that keeps you home.
October 15–18. A quiet lake outside Nashville.
Here's what I keep picturing:
Coffee on the porch while the mist is still on the water. A hike through full fall color (you know how I feel about fall colors). A morning in Nashville doing the boutiques-and-brunch thing—shopping, gal pal time, zero hangover. Then back to the lake for sharing circles, mindful movement, and yoga nidra. Great food you didn't have to cook. A puzzle on the table that somebody is always drifting toward. Endless NA drinks that feel fancy, not like a consolation prize.
And a couple of surprises I'm not allowed to tell you about yet. (I'm terrible at keeping secrets, so this is costing me.)
And underneath the fun — the sharing circles, the quiet mornings, the women who get it without you having to explain — you'll be doing the brave thing from the movie. Showing up unarmored. Being seen and known and finding out it was your strength all along.
You come as you are. You leave with confidence, restoration, and the kind of transformation that doesn't wear off on the drive home.
There will never be another retreat exactly like this one—this lake, this October, this particular circle of women. Fall only comes once a year, and this group will never gather like this again. If your gut did a little flip reading this, that's worth listening to. Grab your spot HERE before August 1st, when the doors open wide. I'd love for it to be you.
One question for you
Here's what all three of these have in common: none of them existed in my life when I was drinking. Not the board seat, not the meditations, not a lake full of women choosing themselves.
What might be waiting on the other side of the thing you keep putting off?
Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.
XO!
Heather
P.S. Here's the queen room with 3 spots left. We will have planning calls prior to the retreat so you will already be known before you walk through the door. The quiet lake we'll be on (kayaks and possible cold plunge). Morning coffee on the porch. Shared meals, snacks (charcuterie, obvi), and limitless NA drinks around this table. Laughter, tears, and guided conversation around this fire.
Come. I want to know you and share myself too.
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