I felt like a slug this week. Completely unmotivated, exhausted, and out of beans. I’ve been here many times before (hellooo, Luteal phase), and have gotten pretty good at pulling myself out of it, but this time was particularly hard: My boyfriend was out of town, I was exhausted from the week before, and slammed with prep for some major plans I’ll be sharing more about on Tuesday (!).
As a result, I had to lean extra hard on my resources for pulling myself out of a funk: I dragged myself out of the house for walks, ate nutritious meals, saw friends, moved my body, and sought inspiration elsewhere when I couldn’t generate it myself for myself.
Read on for a few small things I found inspiring and a new way to join our October book club!
I adore
. Her book on creativity propelled me to finish my novel, and when I initiated my own divorce, it was Liz I quoted to my husband when I still struggled to find my own words. Unsurprisingly, I was quick to preorder her latest memoir, All the Way to the River, about her brief, intense relationship with her partner Rayya. It’s a wild book (Jia Tolentino wrote an excellent essay on it) and about halfway through, I found myself repelled by it. When I admitted this to a friend over lunch on Tuesday, she reached across the table, took both my hands in hers, and said, “Leslie, that’s because Liz is your shadow.” Dammit. The moment she said it, I knew it was true. While I’ve never experienced anything quite like what Liz lived through, I’ve also lost myself entirely in relationships and have used partners to scaffold my self-esteem. This week, I dove back in, and now I am dying to talk about it. Here’s how to join—including a new way to connect!Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
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