ONE YEAR LATER, WHERE I AM NOW….

Welcome 2024. Fresh Thymes closed one year ago. How it ended and where I'm going

Wow. It's been a year since the dream died. I’m finally ready to share the real and raw parts that I had to break from last summer as I knew a hard pivot to closing and stopping all the things was in order. Dismantling piece by piece all I had created.

It’s taken all of last year for me to process how the best and most exciting professional decade of my life came to an abrupt end, and what those extreme changes have done to my psyche, my nervous system and my life. And where that is taking me now.

I could go into all the terrible details. I could rant about how screwed up the system is, how the City of Boulder let me down, could care less about a treasured community institution, and owes me thousands of dollars. How the whole system is rigged against the untimely closing of any small business going smoothly. The injustice. I could go on and on. But I won’t. The thing is, that’s not where the story is, and that’s no longer what’s important. 

I’ve been deepening my self-awareness to better understand and make meaning of it all. I needed to go inward to find out, as I loved my business and my community deeply. You all know that to be true. I’m passionate about connecting people with the beauty, deliciousness and intelligence of what nature provides. I knew if I was to continue in that direction, I needed to learn to do it more sustainably for myself. While I am still deep in transformation and contemplation, I am compelled to share more about this journey. As actually, unknowing, unplanned and unseen, I had already stepped into a new chapter of my life on a dark evening in February of 2021…

I mark my time by healing chapters. I fully research and initiate each new healing direction, led by fascination, interest and deep inner guidance. Interestingly, this new chapter was initiated by another force seemingly entirely separate from myself.  And that force was slowly revealed to me once I could pull back the covers of despair I was nestled in. Slowly, as surely as spring sends new life into the world, I began to connect the dots between what happened when a healer/bodyworker queried me in her office that fateful day in February of 2021 to what happened that dark December night when I walked away from my business and where I am right now as I write this. 

That bodyworker, that intuitive, asked me a puzzling question at the end of our first session. As I was leaving, she asked, “what does it feel like to walk around without your head connected to your body?” What? What does that even mean?  I thought she was nutty. However, that question continued to roll around in my head. I mean, really, anyone could clearly see how connected I was to my body, right? My body was my vehicle for attaining health and I was always riding the early adopter wave of wellness modalities. I thought I was super connected to my body. I mean… wasn’t I? 

That question began to drive me crazy and thus began my quest to determine what connecting my head to my body meant. Is that something you can you actually feel ? Is that even a thing? Does this even matter? Is she right?  I initially thought this was one of my many sub-hobby random rabbit holes like quantum energy and nootropics - separate from my professional life.  Quite the contrary it turns out.

That initial question led to the sub-hobby rabbit hole that enlarged significantly to engulf me in a new life path. Though I had no idea I was even on a new life path until last summer.  In retrospect, that path has had many stops on this new healing road since 2021. Those stops led me to closing my business, discovering my body, releasing lifetime and generational trauma stored deep within, plant medicine and my soul's calling. Incredibly, that’s true. 2023 was a very, very difficult year. Though this path is still challenging and unfolding, I would like to share the journey with you, in hopes to inspire new healing connections for you. 

Before I begin the first chapter on “How the Hell I Got Here”, let me express my deepest gratitude that so many of you are still so connected to me and desire to eat my food, cook my recipes, hang out with me and generally interested in where these ups and downs are taking me. I’m grateful you’ve hung with me as I learn new things. I am humbled and grateful for the trust and interest. 

How The Fresh Life will evolve in the next year:

My postings will rotate to include foundational health things that we all need to be reminded of, or connect more deeply to. It’s a foundation ya’ll. Nothing great get’s built on a shitty foundation. Additionally, my postings will rotate to include: 

• FOOD of course. Never ending food. Ya’ll know that. 

• MEET YOUR INNER GALAXY - the microbiome, why this matters, how this changes everything we have since understood about us, our inner selves, how we relate to the world around us, digestive diseases, autoimmunity  and all about Fecal Transplant Therapy - yes I did that in 2018, with profound effects on my wellness.

• HEALING THROUGH PLANT MEDICINE - Most importantly, the chapter I’m now living and sharing, as it is the most disruptive yet. Posts to include: what healing through plant medicine looks like, trip reports and lessons learned from the Universe.

• WHERE THAT PATH IS TAKING ME: I'M MOVING! Legit. My freedom from a brick and mortar business is taking me on a traveling and deep healing year. I need to step away from Boulder. I will be living in Costa Rica and Panama, beginning in a few months, immersing myself in food, culture and healing.

• VIDEO!  I am so excited to start posting videos of the adventure, but that feels like later when I actually know what I’m doing. I’m excited to explore new food and healing customs and share them with you.

Anyone interested in more in person interaction? So many of you expressed interest in joining me in Ikaria, Greece this year for a getaway exploring the island and learning about food and wine from local producers. I will be sending a short survey soon to gauge interest in a late summer retreat. Anyone interested in the Blue Zone of Costa Rica?  I know it’s a lil late to plan, but I”ve had so much else happening, I haven’t been able to wrap my head around it until now. Give me a shout out if you are interested!

If you aren’t a paid subscriber yet, please consider supporting me and The Fresh Life and I share my perpetual healing path in hopes of inspiring yours, my love of natural food and wine and opportunities for us to be together in person.