leading with joy
Planner Profile With KP Kaszubowski
This week I caught my reflection in the post office window while dropping off a big pile of 2025 planners and had to do a double take!
I realized….I’m doing it again.
….I’m making and sharing and sending these planners…again! For the third year in a row. It’s happening. You’re doing it!
Sometimes it can feel like we’re just moving through life, checking off days in our planner, ya know? Then, all of the sudden the season we were excited for is HERE. And we’re inside of it.
There are so many steps to producing these planners it can be easy to get lost in the mix of it all. I’m grateful my reflection caught me by surprise so I could arrive back in the moment.
I’m grateful to feel the joy of hearing the Cha-Ching! sound on Etsy every time someone places an order. I’m grateful to whisper a little prayer into every planner when I’m doing the final spiral coil, infusing it with intention. I’m grateful to watch weekly spreads I designed from scratch turn into a product that will be with people for 52 whole weeks!
Today, I’m so excited to keep celebrating the planners by sharing another profile. Today we get to hear from
!KP is a dear friend who has taught me so much about prioritizing joy in my life — simply by being herself. Simply by being curious and open and excitable. I love how openly excitable she is. It’s a good reminder for us all, to allow excitement.
KP came into my life many years ago as a friend of a friend but then boomeranged back in a magical way when she became my Mental Wealth Method student during the pandemic.
I remember towards the end of that cohort we all celebrated her as she prepared for her next adventure off to grad school in Washington state, where she’d dedicate two years to writing poetry.
She’s an incredible writer, astrologer, filmmaker, and college professor!
Not many people chase language the way KP chases language. She prioritizes writing every single day. She’s disciplined but she makes discipline to a craft feel fun!
She’s currently writing a book that will 100% hit the NYT best-sellers list in the coming years. And she is always making magic with her husband, Marty, as they operate their company Two Scoops Productions.
Like…what? Talk about following your joy!! KP is a pro at turning her joy’s into things that pay her. The ultimate trick for making life not feel like work.
I hope her shares inspire you to lead your life with joy. To be kind through the discipline. To measure life by the softer moments rather than big deadlines.
With Love,
Jenna
Planner Profile:
Name?
Pronouns? she/her/hers
What do you do? I’m a Writer, Consulting Astrologer, Filmmaker, and College Writing Instructor
How can readers connect with you? Hang out on IG @kpkaszubowski , subscribe to my substack, or book an astrology reading!
What color is your current planner? Yellow!
How long have you been using the DSWL planner? Two years :)
How do you define self-love? I understand self-love as holding the belief that pleasure and joy create stability in my life. And, when I lean into what feels good to me, I inevitably feel a sense of structure and calm because of that. So, self-love is not putting joy and pleasure off, but leading with it.
Where are you right now in your self-love journey? I am currently working on a novel written in stanzagraphs that was started way back in 2021. Often, I feel frustrated for how slow this process is but I keep showing up to it. I let myself enjoy each new passage, knowing that the completed manuscript is a testament to my discipline. I think in the past I would rush through these long projects and allow myself to feel poorly for how slow progress was made. But now I adopt discipline and going at my own pace as an expression of self-love. My self-love journey involves me easing my way through these long-term desires without speaking poorly to myself as I create.
How has the DSWL self-love planner supported you on this journey? It is so helpful for me to look back on my weekly intentions, accomplishments, desires (unfulfilled or not), and appointments. I can clearly see my progress with overcoming really challenging seasons and jobs -- it's this planner's emphasis on self-love, mood, and tracking memorable moments that feel more in line with how I want to look back and remember my year. For example, there were three months this year where I had a particularly challenging time with my hormonal and physical health. Almost every day my mood was "okay :(" or "bad!" Looking back, I can see when things began to improve and I see connections to practices I adopted at that time, too, that I am not sure I would have noticed as part of the reason why my health improved.
What is your favorite prompt or section within your planner? I loved being asked to choose which character I've always wanted to embody! I wrote "CJ Cregg" from The West Wing and I feel like I carried her dedication to honesty and her health into my month.
What prompt or section has surprised you the most? Being asked to choose a memorable every day was so important to me. Because the line is short, it also helped me practice choosing a concrete image or interactions. When I was teaching this year, I often chose an interesting and heart-warming moment I witnessed between my students. I am sure I would have lost those memories if I didn't write them down!
Have you ever participated in the beginning of the year activity where you write a letter to your future self? If so, have you experienced opening the letter? I did. To be very open, when I received last year's letter earlier this year, I saw that I desired so much for myself that I didn't even get close to experiencing or achieving. I felt down on myself for how little progress I made towards those goals. But this experience showed me that I was aiming for too many external successes... I was looking outside of my life to fulfill what I needed to do internally. It helped me see that I am happy in my day-to-day despite failing to realize most of my dreams. And so the letter I wrote myself for this year was much more connected to my emotional state and my relationships. This... is so important to me, to see this realization reflected back to me from MYSELF through time. I am so grateful to Jenna for this incredibly powerful gift she offers through mailing letters back a year later.
What’s one way you’re taking care of your future 2025 self currently? I am lifting weights, getting the best sleep available to me, prioritizing making deeper bonds with my communities, and reading the novels I've wanted to read for YEARS :)
What would you say to someone who is considering buying the 2025 DSWL planner? I would say this planner has helped me gather the more nebulous data I needed in order to really assess if I was living the way I wanted to live. Simply tracking memories and moods alongside my daily tasks has shifted my quality of life monumentally. And focusing myself with a weekly intention, too, has really helped me structure my weeks in ways that support my emotional health and my relationship with myself. I didn't see how hard I was on myself until I looked back at my 2023 planner and I proactively curbed this habit this year with more heart-centered goals and intentions. I want this for you too <3
Thank you so much for taking the time to read KP’s Planner Profile. If you’re a DSWL planner user and would like to fill out a reflection of your own to share in the coming weeks, you can fill out this form.
Tell us what memorable moments you’re holding onto this week in the comments below!
Another Passing Notes Episode Drops This Wednesday!
Recording these bi-weekly podcasts for you have felt like whispering secrets to a best friend at a sleepover. Like cracking off half of a Kit Kat bar to share. Like sitting at the edge of a pool while we dangle our feet side by side.
I’m going to be using episode three as a space to celebrate my 8 year anniversary of choosing to stay alive. Someway, somehow I am already at the EIGHT year mark since my unalive attempt 8 years ago. I don’t speak about this publicly very often anymore, but it’s of course a very big part of my story. I wrote about it last year (here on Substack) in relationship to my autism and ADHD diagnosis. Each year, I arrive to the anniversary with new perspective and new insight.
This year I’m arriving with gratitude and a deep appreciation for all that I’ve experienced over the last 8 years…Magical moments that I almost missed.
This private podcast is for paid subscribers only. The paywall adds an extra layer to the vulnerable heart-opening, Kit Kat sharing content I’ve been unraveling with you. Consider supporting this work by upgrading to paid before Wednesday to catch this special episode!