“Be patient… as nothing blooms all year”

As fall settles in, it has been interesting to learn about how our bodies shift internally throughout the year. It isn’t random that we crave cinnamon and want to sleep more. It is part of our biology to recognize the shorter days. As daylight decreases, our circadian rhythms change and we are pulled towards warming foods that signal safety.

I certainly have been slowing down & this weekly recap, “My Tuesday Cup” is an invitation to do just that: slow down and reflect on all of the small things that make life feel fun, beautiful, and full. I share what I’ve been reading, eating, and noticing lately and, quite literally, my latest beverage recipe that has been filling my cup.

Changing with the season might look like allowing ourselves a little more sleep, getting outside for morning light which will help winding down easier at night (+ melatonin responds to longer periods of darkness), swapping some cold + raw foods of the summer for warm + cooked meals, choosing warming spices + seasonal produce, changing movement based on energy rather than forcing the exact same routine, and spending more time in a state of reflection and shedding as the leaves fall.

For my drink recipe of the week,

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Coming back to Paris after recent travels, a joy I was unaware I had been missing was stability in sameness. Seeing the people who are a part of my daily routines and returning to the things I know fill my cup…I was reminded that travel may bring a rush, but there is a calm joy in rituals. I am typically someone who craves novelty and I love to switch up my patterns often. I like to order from every cafe, try multiple yoga studios, and rotate the places I frequent, but recently I’ve been valuing repetition. It reduces decision fatigue and leaves more opportunity for connection. It fosters community. When I returned from my trips, the lady who I buy produce from daily asked where I had been. The vintage shop employees remembered what I like and brought me items to try on. I ordered the same tea from the same barista and we know each other’s names.

I had a bit of an epiphany that I don’t need to try every single restaurant on my list, but that it is quite special to know people and be a regular. I do not need to compare and contrast every matcha in Paris, but can go get the one I know I like. (Of course I’ll always be someone that loves spontaneity too ;)

This can also apply to colors we gravitate towards, recipes we make, brands we love, and habits we keep. So for this week’s My Tuesday Cup, I will share some favorites I keep coming back to. This weekly recap is an invitation to slow down and reflect on all of the small things that make life feel fun, beautiful, and full. From what I’ve been reading, eating, and noticing lately to my latest beverage recipe and, quite literally, what has been filling my cup.

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Living in Paris feels like

This weekly recap is to encourage quiet and also to reflect on all of the little things that make life fun and beautiful and full, including my latest beverage recipe and also what has been filling my metaphorical cup.

For my cozy drink this week, I have been having chamomile tea with lemon juice, crushed garlic, and local honey to support my immune system. I’ve been surrounded by lots of people with colds so this every night has been keeping me feeling good.

Here are some favorites from the week:

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Throughout the whole year, taking proper time off and respecting life outside of work is deeply woven into French culture…especially when August comes.

Businesses close and often take company-wide vacations, restaurants hang signs that read “fermé,” and if possible, Parisians escape to the countryside or the coast or wherever they can be with family and friends. Not necessarily for a luxurious holiday, but even just a few nights gathered together. It is often called “fermeture annuelle” or annual closures and good luck trying to get in contact with a French company with any urgency during this time :)

The first summer I experienced this, I was shocked by the number of doors that were decorated with a sign like the below. Coffee shops, restaurants, boutiques, corporate offices, schools, law practices, you name it…closed for weeks!

Coming from the U.S. and particularly the corporate world of California, I was not accustomed to this level of collective ease. People have an understanding that things can wait and aren’t trying to sneak in a couple of emails during every single pause in the day. I too left the city for part of August, traveled to see my people, and it was a time of intentional leisure. Since I was young I have always packed my life to the brim so resting is something I am working on…but it certainly helps when it is woven into culture. The streets empty out, people walk a bit slower, and the collective whole takes an exhale even more than the typical ease within French life.

I have been reminded that rest is sometimes the most productive thing we can do.

We understand the importance of rest with physical exercise and that muscle isn’t built while lifting weights, but while recovering afterwards. The same principle applies with mental work and rest.

Rest is where dots are connected. It improves every corner of our lives. A psychologist friend recently told me that our brains have a default mode network that becomes more active when walking, daydreaming, and resting. It is responsible for connecting ideas, self-reflection, creative insight, and solving problems subconsciously. This is why we often have that “aha moment” in the shower or when we step away from our desks.

If resting does not come naturally, sometimes it takes implementing small rituals that allow for space to let our minds wander and for our nervous systems to settle. You have to essentially schedule in time to do nothing. This summer I had to utilize these to actually change the pace of my life:

• Practicing a weekly digital detox when possible. I have been trying to go one whole day a week not using my phone. Usually from Saturday night until Monday morning (besides for calls) and it is wild what a day with no social media or constant notifications can do for calming the mind.

• Sitting down, preferably outside, and actually enjoying breakfast…not on the go or distracted or standing or just having a coffee.

• Turning off screens early. I love to work, but have tried to truly turn it off by 8pm to allow for the night to be restful and not filled with screen time until bed. I usually surprise myself that I can get the same amount done in a shorter amount of time when I put limits on it.

• “Doing nothing” alongside friends, partners, & family. Be with those people where there is an unspoken ease and recharge.

• Journaling to start the day and reading before sleep. Good bookends.

• Taking morning walks in the sun (I find this is one of my most creative windows).

• Reducing noise. I do not need a podcast or music constantly playing as I walk places, shower, cook, etc.

I have been reminded again and again that when I take time to recharge, I am able to show up better in my daily routines, relationships, and life.

Spending time in nature this August, I kept being reminded of a clear lesson that the earth teaches us too: there are cycles and rhythms. We can see in the ocean, skies, and trees that nature does not hurry…yet it accomplishes everything it needs to. We too can flow.

And after intentional rest…

Thennnn comes ritualizing the transition from summer into fall.

It is called “La Rentrée” or The Return.

In Paris, September brings an energy of possibility. Businesses reopen, friends catch up after weeks away, children return to school, new books and exhibitions are released, and fresh routines are established. It almost feels like a second New Year’s.

Creativity is buzzing through the city. Just two weeks into September, you can feel the shift. Stepping away from constant noise also means returning with more clarity. In a place filled with so many artists and creatives, it seems that people jump back into expression. Today I saw the cafes lined with writers, the Seine alive with painters, and Design Week events happening across Paris. There is an unspoken rhythm that the whole city seems to dance to.

We are cyclical beings and not meant to be in a constant state of noise, work, and rush, but to mimic nature and treat each season differently.

There is a microcosm of this that exists in each day and each month so we can take this balance between rest and creation into everyday life. Setting parameters in my week to do nothing has been one of the most transformational practices for my physical and mental wellbeing. We can create moments to slow down so that we can speed up. We can create habits this autumn that allow for peace and therefore creativity. The more charged we are, the higher quality our days will feel.

In the spirit of setting time aside to intentionally slow down this fall, I will be starting a new series called My Tuesday Cup to encourage people to take a moment…even if for 5 minutes. I will be sharing the small joys of the week that filled my cup: a reflection, a recipe, a book, a design detail, a yoga practice, an item, a moment in nature. A reminder to pause to notice the beauty around. And I love a good beverage, so will also share what is in my cup: a warm cinnamon cacao drink, a coconut water matcha, a hibiscus lemon hydration drink, etc. Would love for you to take a breath with me, practice gratitude, and be purposeful in being a still for a minute :) See you there!

I am ready to enter into this new season of fall with intention rather than exhaustion and remember the importance of tranquility within every day….well rested and well equipped.

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Wishing everyone an autumn filled with so much goodness.

Bisous,

Hannah <3

My notes are always filled with 16 business ideas, my next articles to write, the trip I want to take to Norway, what antiques I want to source at the flea market, the next yoga flow I want to teach, the art piece I will paint next week, how to grow blueberries, and a whole bunch of random things that inspire me.

When you mix creativity, ADHD, and a lack of structure, it is the perfect storm for not accomplishing the things you deeply desire. Like many creatives, I often find myself stuck between the dichotomy of a life of whimsy and a life that needs order. I have 100 ideas, so I do none of them…or perhaps start 45 of them. Many entrepreneurs and artists that I meet deal with this chaos - it is part of what makes us who we are and though frustrating at times, it allows for dreaming outside of the box and taking the road less traveled.

For years I thought that I was too busy to pursue my passions. Previously my daily routine was characterized by hustle culture. Up early, an intense morning routine, a high-paced corporate job, leaving the office late, another workout, to then start the “night shift” on other work, and repeat. Then I started to slow down. In an effort to step away from a life of hustle culture, I began to step away from structure. My work routine shifted and my identity became far less tied to work and my ego became far less tied to how busy I was. I wanted more spontaneity and joy so I loosened my grip on my habits. This has been fruitful in many ways. By not tracking every health metric, I have begun to feel my best. I have been sleeping more, moving slower, and enjoying the sweetness of life.

I have gone from having a list of hopes, dreams, and projects buried under a life moving at full speed…to finally starting to get clear about my dream life and living it. But it came with an unanticipated realization and a road bump…

As my life started to slow down, I noticed something surprising: the projects that truly excited me did not just start getting done. I was floating. This was because as I was learning to rest more, I was also learning to choose what really mattered to me when my week was not packed to the brim. I was going 100 miles an hour for so long that when I started to breathe I found myself struggling to find a new rhythm. I thought more free time would mean more creating….but the projects we care about the most rarely come with deadlines, right? And that is when I realized that creativity does not flourish with complete freedom but with gentle order that pushes us to work on the things that light us up.

This is not about optimizing life - I think we should do things that are a “waste of time.” Sit outside with no agenda, slow down, and breathe. Just also create space to do the things we really want to do when we zoom out and look at our life.

I’m sure that if you know this feeling of having a business you want to start and pieces you want to make and parties you want to host, yet have not taken action, you know the feeling of frustration and pent up ambition. It comes down to a lack of alignment between priorities and actions. We need a bit of pressure. It is not just more time that is needed, it is windows of dedicated time.

If you want to close the gap between the life you crave and the life you live…here is my advice: get really clear about what it is that you desire and then be willing to create systems that allow you to get there. Otherwise, we can accidentally float through our days and meet everyone else’s expectations for our lives and not live up to our own.

Here’s an exercise for the creative with unplaced ambition:

1. Close your eyes and imagine your absolute dream life in 5 years.

Where are you? What time are you waking up? What are you eating? Who are you with? What projects do you get to sit down and pour into? How do you feel? What emotions are the most poignant? What are you wearing? What are you known for? Who do you impact?

2. Write your answers down. Get specific. Be as detailed as possible.

& be honest…what is a dream of yours you are scared to say out loud? Scared to want, to pursue, to claim, to pray for? What feels too big and too ambitious? Write it down anyways.

3. Now work backwards.

It does not happen all at once but through small daily habits that compound. What will it take to get there? Smaller goals add up. Want to have an art exhibition in 3 years? Commit to creating 1 piece a month. A restaurant? Start cooking 1 meal a week for friends and recipe testing. Figure out when you actually have time and also when you are most inspired. Be intentional. It could be finding stillness on your morning walk, a late night drawing session, writing while your baby is napping, sending messages to the people you’ve been meaning to reach out to every time you want to scroll on your phone, recording voice notes during your commute, Saturday mornings working on your business plan during your coffee…find what pockets work for you. Seemingly insignificant moments turn into momentum.

4. Assign due dates.

It is easy to push things aside that do not have deadlines and that no one else is relying on you to turn in…so create these parameters. Not to add stress, but to create a timeframe for when you would like to finish your product development by or write the article by. A one week project can easily slip into six months. And find an accountability person - pick a friend or acquaintance that knows about these dates…maybe you both have dreams you are working towards. We are wired to seek approval and may work a little harder when someone else is counting on us.

5. Analyze your time. Find areas that you are pouring energy into that do not bring you joy and swap them.

What is one part of your day that you can shift to make room for your passions? Where do you have 30 minutes to give to your dreams? What if Tuesday nights became dedicated creative nights? Take notes throughout your day and really notice how you spend your minutes that turn into hours, hours that turn into days, and days that turn into weeks. How you spend your days is how you spend your life.

For me it meant starting small and then making big shifts. I added in quiet time & journaling to my morning routine instead of checking emails while I ate my breakfast so I could start to define my priorities. Then it meant allocating 20 minutes of writing each night instead of 20 minutes on Instagram. Then it was signing up for yoga teacher training and using my weekends to learn and saying no to a few plans. Then things started compounding and it meant switching careers and moving from California to Paris. I left an analytical sales & corporate commercial real estate career for a creative career. I spend far more time pouring into my artistic endeavors. When you realize what you want, it makes it easier to say no to things you don’t.

I will always be wired to be imaginative and easily distracted, but now I have the ability to use force to be able to flow.

Imagine this life of yours where your values and actions and joys are aligned. Now also imagine 5 years down the road and you still have not taken any action or pursued the things that you know you are meant for…it does not feel good. Do not let distractions get in the way of the art you know you are meant to create. You are allowed to go after the things that keep you up at night and inspire you. It just takes setting time aside to chase these callings. It is not to have a scarcity mindset with time but to have an abundance mindset that you can spend it doing the things that add goodness to this world.

Anything good is paired with effort. In order to have a life that is filled with sweetness, it takes work: a healthy body, a flourishing garden, strong relationships. The nectar of life takes dedication and so does being creatively fulfilled.

The power of delayed gratification is a lesson I continue to learn and relearn.

We get to choose our hard. It is hard to wake up earlier but it is also hard to start the day feeling rushed. It is hard to work on personal projects after a long day, but it is also hard to feel like you never went after what you really wanted.

There is a bit of a quiet grief in choosing a pursuit and sticking to it, but also a freedom in finally choosing something to pour into with intention. You can always pivot. You do not want to look back and realize that you never set yourself up to go after the things that light you up. It is never too late to start no matter your life stage, age, or schedule - share your work, take the dance class, write the book, move cities, perform at an open mic night, start the company that you can’t stop thinking about, sew the outfit, plant the garden, host the party, audition for the role, and put time into your craft. Pursue it for the sake of creating or for the sake of excellence.

Make time for yourself. Take your time. Share your gifts with the world.

Create space for curiosity, joy, whimsy, and freedom so that future you can look back and know that you kept promises to yourself. I still am figuring out what my callings are and think that I will be figuring it out for my whole life. What I do know is that the more time I spend acting with intention, the clearer picture I have.

Get specific about what you feel deeply called to, create structures and systems that allow you to work on these passions, and have fun creating the life you want.

With so much love,

Hannah

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My days here are measured not by my productivity, but by my degree of presence.

There are tangible emotions that come from travel and these feelings are what we yearn for. We long for the versions of ourselves that emerge when we finally take the trip. Or idealize a time when we finally can take the trip.

So ask yourself: What emotions do you feel when you travel? What version of yourself are you able to step into? What are you wanting to escape from?

Here’s what I would guess: you are not trying to please others as much, you are eating what sounds best on the menu, you turn your phone off, you are not consumed by work, you are experiencing newness, you are spending quality time with a person/people you love, you are sleeping a bit more, & you are able to exhale.

Perhaps the day you dream of looks something like this: you wake up slowly and spend your morning wandering around, stopping into places you’ve never been. You go on a hike to the water, take a dip, and start reading that fiction book you’ve been meaning to crack open for 6 months. You put on your linen outfit and it hits your warm skin and you waltz to a late dinner accompanied with a street performer playing the trumpet. You order the pasta, tell stories with your friends, and have a 3 hour conversation because you can’t seem to get the check. You dance under the stars and are filled with a sense of reconnection to yourself.

Dissecting all of these acts, they make us feel alive, relaxed, present, and grounded. And the good news is…all of these emotions are possible to experience wherever you are - even in the midst of a busy life filled with a lively career, or a family, or all of the “obligations” of life. We do not need to wait until we are on a summer vacation to feel this spark.

So I present to you:

A Guide to Savoring Everyday Life:

1. Redefine pleasure as something that is essential

   When did we come up with the idea that pleasure is guilty? We are designed to rest, to enjoy, and to find goodness on the daily. Life is meant to be experienced. This allows us to get out of an optimization mindset and into a peaceful regulated state. Plus, being at ease allows us to show up better in every area of our lives. Read fiction, eat the scone, dance in the mirror.

2. Gather and let it linger

   Back to the 3 hour conversation because you can’t seem to get the check….I realized that I was in the habit of finishing my meal with others and then wrapping up and saying goodbye. I actually love that it is hard to leave a dinner in France. It has been the catalyst to asking just 1 (or 5) more good question(s) to a friend and letting go of my need for efficiency. Just allowing for the conversation to drift. Usually the best laughs have been at times when I was on hour 4 of spending time with someone and we were hypothesizing and telling stories about the most random topics with our phones away. So, set time aside to be around your favorite people without being in a hurry.

3. Walk and wander

   Not for a step count, but for the sake of enjoyment. When you experience life on foot, you are able to notice more, especially when there is no specific destination. And of course, walking is linked to creativity, stress relief, dopamine, and other positive benefits that we feel during travel. Not every city may be walkable, but even if it means switching up your daily path and exploring a new neighborhood or parking in the furthest spot at the restaurant.

4. Set the scene with intention

   Make small adjustments to your space to feel peaceful and beautiful. Lean into the art of the table. Use your special linens and make a place setting even if it is just for yourself - like you arranged to be there. Hotels or places we stay on trips are not filled with clutter and a clear space allows for a clear mind.

5. Get dressed for your life

   Rather than saving your favorite dress for your next trip, wear it to the grocery store! Life is the special occasion. Something I admire about French fashion is that beautiful clothes are part of everyday life. Buying 1 nice item that you will have for decades > following every trend. Put on your favorite outfit. Prioritize natural fibers like linen, cotton, wool, and silk.

6. Eat foods that are in season

   There is something special about allowing seasons to shape our lives and recognizing that not everything is available at all times. It pulls you back into the present when you take a bite of that juicy peach in the middle of July. Part of the sweetness is knowing that it is fleeting. We begin to associate summer with our favorite hydrating foods like fresh tomatoes or cool watermelon. This encourages us to savor each bite and notice the flavors of the special meal that is in front of us and bring presence and intention into how we consume food.

7. Say yes to the unfamiliar

   Novelty wakes us up. When we travel and do something we have never done, it evokes a feeling of aliveness, but we can try something new on a regular Tuesday evening. Change creates new neural pathways that allow us to cherish memories and expand our mindsets and beliefs about ourselves. Of course we will remember the time we tried a salsa dancing class or learned how to make spaghetti from scratch for the first time. Be tourist in your own city! Take a dance class, go to the museum, try a new hike, eat at a new local spot.

You do not need to travel far to embody these values. You do not need to wait and keep dreaming of “one day." Enjoy today. Of course there is a natural rhythm to life of work and rest and not everyday will have the itinerary of a vacation, but we can integrate the same peace and enjoyment into every week, wherever we live. Even if that means setting aside 10 minutes to enjoy a tea outside before starting the day.

In my last piece, I wrote about the group of French ladies who gather at the cafe outside my apartment in Paris. They are not stressing over if their pastry and coffee will spike their blood sugar or if they are hitting their morning protein goal, but just being present with their friends, sitting in the sun, and laughing. We can all embrace this sense of pleasure - it does not need to be reserved for a trip or a vacation. Enjoyment is not frivolous but is part of a life well lived.

& I will say it again, true wellbeing comes not from constantly thinking about wellness, but occasionally being able to forget about it!

Perhaps this Euro Summer is not about where you are, but remembering to inhabit your own life and stop treating joy like something that is reserved for another time.

We do not need to chase permission to experience pleasure, but we can weave it in to our everyday, ordinary + extraordinary life.

If you’d like to follow along, I’ll be sharing reflections on wellbeing, design, yoga, food, hospitality, and the art of savoir-vivre. I’d love to have you here. Thanks for reading <3, Hannah

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Wellness has always fascinated me - it has been a staple in my life for as long as I can remember. But after recently moving back to France, I'm beginning to wonder if true wellbeing comes not from constantly thinking about health, but from occasionally being able to forget about it. I am relearning what it actually means to be well.

5 years ago, in 2021, I studied and lived in Paris and experienced the same sense of levity and energy that I have been feeling these days. Upon moving back to California in 2022, a whole host of health issues set in again. I quickly found myself doing “all the right things” but still experiencing persistent issues that made me not feel like myself including hormone imbalance, migraines, inflammation, ovarian cysts rupturing, PMOS, thyroid disease, along with mold poisoning, etc.

Now I am back, living and working here in France, and at an astonishingly quick pace, I am starting to feel healthy, glowy, and grounded in my own body again. If you’ve experienced this feeling of things finally clicking into place after years of questions, you know it makes it you want to cartwheel through a grass field and skip down the street smiling at everyone on your path. Some people may call this “getting your spark back.”

I'm not claiming that croissants are medicine or that lifestyle alone can fix every health challenge, but the speed at which I have started feeling better forced me to ask questions. Upon reflecting, I am realizing that it is not about my location, but about the mindsets and daily habits (or lack thereof) that I hold here. It surely helps that certain ingredients are limited in France compared to California, but I believe that it is about the small perspective shifts that have clicked into place.

Overall, my nervous system is calm.

It sounds counterintuitive to do less and feel more, but it is because I am just present in my body rather than consistently focusing on it. I have let go of the notion that I can heal through willpower.

There were times in San Diego where I was trying it all to feel my best: weekly acupuncture, loads of supplements, daily red light, lymphatic drainage plate shaking at the crack of dawn, avoiding all seed oils, microplastics & receipts, no gluten, dairy, or refined sugars, 6:00am pilates before work, 10,000 steps daily, tracking my sleep, air filters, water filters, and all the other hacks, tips, and systems…you get the point. And still feeling sluggish, unaligned, and disconnected from my body despite having the “perfect” routine.

Stress from thinking about wellbeing was not prioritizing wellbeing. I was reading books, watching documentaries, and listening to podcasts obsessively. Over time, that awareness became its own silent source of stress.

Knowledge is power, but it can also create the feeling that every moment carries consequences that I wish I wasn’t so aware of - like the blue light coming from the LEDs in the grocery store or the polyester in my favorite bikini.

This wellness culture of hyper-vigilance meant that throughout the day, questions constantly ran through my head: How was my sleep? Is this food inflammatory? Is my cortisol high? Each question may be reasonable individually, but together they created a state of continual surveillance.

Here, things have been different. Every morning, a group of French ladies gather at the cafe outside of my apartment. They are not stressing over if their pastry and coffee will spike their blood sugar or if they are hitting their morning protein goal, but just being present with their friends, sitting in the sun, and laughing. I have begun to adopt this same freedom to enjoy again.

And while I still wholeheartedly believe in the power of making intentional decisions for my health, it looks a lot different now. There is a sweet spot. It truly is a privilege to have a body and mind healthy enough to carry me through my full life.

I've always been drawn to the small rituals that make life feel beautiful - food, movement, design, community and am prioritizing these things that light me up. I am taking dance classes again, meeting new friends from around the world, waking up with the sun rather than before it, and taking the time to write, create, and enjoy a long lunch amidst a work day.

I am grateful to be in an environment that encourages me to think less and live more. No longer trying to optimize my life, but practicing savoir-vivre, the French art of knowing how to live well.

France has not given me all the answers I have been searching for. It has just reminded me of what I instinctually know. Food is meant to be enjoyed. Rest is productive. Pleasure matters. High quality ingredients can be felt. We are wonderfully made & designed to heal. The body is not a machine that needs constant monitoring.

And maybe the greatest lesson has been that wellbeing is not something I have to earn through perfect habits - it is something I can create by being fully present in my life.

There is so much I am learning right now, and this is just the beginning.

If you'd like to follow along, I'll be sharing reflections on wellbeing, design, yoga, food, hospitality, and the art of savoir-vivre. I'd love to have you here. Thanks for reading <3

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