October 2023 Stand-up

A month of many lives (and essays)

I think pumpkin spice lattes suck. I’m generally not a latte person to begin with, but every year at the beginning of autumn I order myself a pumpkin spice latte so that I can join the masses who are thrilled that they’re back in season. And every year I’m reminded why I don’t like them. They leave a weird, sticky icky texture on your tongue. They’re too sweet, and never “spiced” enough.

Friends, this has felt like the longest October I’ve lived. Not in a bad way, but in a holy-shit-i-can’t-believe-i’ve-done-all-of-this-in-one-month way. In this newsletter, I’ll cover:

• Quick life updates

• Is this what it feels like to have someone to live for?

• Summary of what I’ve written

• Ear candy and good reads

• Planning and plotting for next month

The updates

• I ran my second half-marathon earlier this month! And despite my training pace this year being at least a minute slower than my pace last year, my finishing time was 10 minutes faster than 2022. My sister, her husband, and my best friend ran it. We had a great time and no one got injured. I left the race feeling excited and energized for next year, and have a pretty ambitious finishing time goal.

• I’m starting yoga teacher training in a week. For this 200 hour course, I’ll find my way to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Years ago, this is where I hung out for a month, working remote and going to Spanish school for 5 hours a day. This time, I’ll go to a different village than the one I was staying at before. I don’t know what my online habits will be like during this time, but I think I’d enjoy a slight decrease in writing and publishing cadence…

• Because of Write of Passage, I’ve been publishing every week. It’s wonderful and I’ve been enjoying the rigor, the feedback, and the community, but I do feel like taking a step back from writing to let it all sink in might benefit me.

running 13.1 miles is really THAT fun!

I’ve always wanted to be wanted somewhere

December of 2019 was the last of my university studies. In January 2020, I set out for Guatemala on a one-way ticket with the plan to eventually make it all the way to Argentina. I had no time frame for this, and since I was working online, I had no fixed income or budget concerns, either. My family simply accepted the fact that I would not live at home or be that involved with their lives. My friends, having attended a university that sends students away on 4-month co-op periods every semester, were scattered all over the place.

I should have been excited, and sometimes, I was. But a lot of times, I felt a bit sad and overwhelmed. I wished someone would want me somewhere so that the fate of my travels didn’t rely on me, myself, and I.

Now that I have a partner, a solid group of friends, a bustling community in town, and my partner’s family close by, leaving for months at a time feels less exciting than before. The list of things I’d miss out on in Canada only grows to be longer. I’m thankful, and I’m exploring what this shift in priorities means for me.

My boyfriend is competing in a powerlifting meet in January. I normally take off from January to at least the end of March to escape the winters here. And while my boyfriend would literally never ask me to change my travel plans for anything, I can’t help but feel like I just want to be here for him. He’s nothing short of essential and instrumental to making my half-marathon go as smoothly as possible. Last year, as I neared the finish line, he told me he got a bit emotional. He loved that he could see all of my hard training finally come to fruition. I just want to do the same for him. Maybe it means that I spend an extra 3 weeks in Canada during the darkest, coldest, wettest month of the year.

Things I’ve Written

I’ve published every week for the last 3 weeks. Here’s a quick guide to what I’ve written in case you missed it:

• The prompt in my writing course was, “What’s a frequently asked question you receive?” and in responding to my FAQ- Why do you travel so much? I wrote about the wonderful Sammy— equal parts unhinged, supportive, smart, and unequivocally herself. Read Chapter 2: Sammy.

• The next prompt was, “What’s your call to action?” and I wrote about dating other people, and how my non-monogamous relationship now is ions more loving than any other monogamous relationship I’ve been in before. Read You should Date Other People.

• And most recently, the prompt was, “What’s something you have a unique viewpoint on in the world?”. I took this time to write about victims of sexual assault and my experience with it. Read There’s No Right Way to be a Victim.

• This week, I’ll respond to the prompt, “What’s something in your world or the world that’s changing?”. You can subscribe to Open Roads to get it right to your inbox.

Ear candy and good reads

• I’ve been preparing for yoga teacher training by adding to my traphouse yoga playlist. The vibe is slow, moody, bassy, and contemplative.

• One of my favorite podcasts, Modern Love, has recently made a shift. Instead of having the author of the essays read on there, they put out two episodes per essay: one that is an interview with the author, and one that’s an essay itself. An episode I really enjoyed was one that featured Deanna Fei’s work, an essay called “What Does It Mean to be a Kept Woman?”

• My boyfriend and I have recently started listening to the audiobook for Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey. We both wish we could combine the audiobook with reading the memoir, too, but are enjoying the change in pace. It’s wonderfully entertaining and inspiring so far.

Planning and plotting for November

I will literally have 2 days off in the entire 25 day long yoga teacher training. There’s not much to plan and plot for, besides having an open heart and mind with this training. I’ll cap off the month by heading to Panama to meet up with my boyfriend for a little week long vacation— yes, a true vacation. Neither of us will be working. A first, for our relationship.

Tell me what you’re reading, what you’re eating, what your holiday plans are! I want to hear from you.

With so much love,

Julie