Welcome to Trippy Monday’s, where I go over 3 things that caught my attention from this past week. Enjoy!
(1) I’ve had a hectic week being back in Chicago trying to see all my friends and do all of the things I wanted to do, and I’m just generally exhausted. I was stressing about getting this newsletter out on time because I had a wedding on Sunday, and yesterday was one of my friend’s birthdays. I realized, however, that I was putting this unnecessary stress on myself, and that I can choose not to. So that’s exactly what I did.
Nothing bad is going to happen because I’m sending this out a day later than I normally do. Life sometimes gets in the way of the things we feel obligated to do, and that’s okay. It’s up to each of us to realize how we handle these situations and then choose to respond to them in healthy ways.
Now that I’ve been back in Chicago for almost 2 weeks, I’m incredibly grateful that I’m living in Denver. I still love Chicago and all of my friends here, don’t get me wrong, but my life in Denver is much more conducive to what I’m trying to accomplish in life. Glad I got to spend this time here, but I’m very excited to go back home.
(2) I did a breathwork session over zoom with one of my friends, Jonathan Schecter (who I had on episode 32 of my podcast). This was my first experience with any type of guided breathwork since my ayahuasca retreat back in September. I’m not sure what my expectations really were going into it, but it was much more transformational than I anticipated, in the best way possible. About 20 minutes after we got started, I dropped into a psychedelic-like state. My hands started tensing up, which is very normal during breathwork, and my body got super hot. Then I started sobbing and releasing all of this energy that was clearly stored in my body.
Quick little side note as well, I started having this really painful tension in my back last Monday. Then the pain started wrapping around my left chest area too. It would feel better each morning but then come back at night. I had no idea what to do about it, but it was very unpleasant and starting to get in the way of doing things.
After breathwork, the pain went down considerably. It was still there and still is at the time of writing this, but it feels different than before. It’s a lot more manageable, and I believe it’ll continue to get better. I had anticipated right when it started that it had something to do with tension or stress stored in my body, and that seems to be correct. I continue to be amazed at the different ways the body reacts to stress and tension, and how we are able to release that stress and tension.
(3) I went to my first-ever wedding (as an adult) on Sunday and had a wonderful time. Two of my friends from college got married at a beautiful outdoor venue in Lisle, IL. I also got to see some of my old friends from college I hadn’t seen in a bit. The energy at the wedding was just so happy and filled with so much love. I could really feel it around me, and I’m excited for my friends to continue to cultivate their love for each other.
My parents got divorced when I was about 2 years old, so I never grew up with a good idea of what marriage or love looked like. I’ve had to unlearn a lot of my ideas surrounding partnership since I started my healing journey because it was never modeled to me in a healthy way. I’m continuing to form my own thoughts and ideas about what healthy relationships look like, and I look forward to seeing how that plays out in my life moving forward.