the permission of a playground

an intermission

This afternoon I attended the first call for the Lyric Threads Lab facilitated by

KP Kaszubowski

. I feel so inspired already! And honestly so in awe of the incredible group of people I’ll have the opportunity to write alongside for the next six weeks.

We settled into the virtual space by previewing works we’ll be diving into, toured the incredible Notion hub KP has so carefully curated for us and got to know one another more through the sweetest series of introduction questions.

My favorite was listening everyone respond to the introductory question of “what are some of your places?” Soaking up fellow cohort member’s stories of how they ended up in the geographical places they currently reside, the places that make them feel most alive/whole and the places they long for was one of my favorite ice-breaker questions I’ve ever participated in.

When asked what we are most looking forward to about the cohort experience, I surprised myself by sharing “I’m looking forward to having a space to process more private and intimate topics that I haven’t been able to explore within my newsletter.”

I don’t know if I have fully acknowledged the impact of the publicness of writing a newsletter to you, each week, dear reader. And where I feel so grateful for the trust I have built with you over the past seven months, I can feel there are more private corners I am needing to crawl inside of for this season.

I am craving time and privacy to write about the life-changing moments of living in the hospital with Taj and adjusting to an entirely new life since coming home.

I am approaching the one year anniversary of my Autism/ADHD diagnosis this month and want to see what wants to be expressed there.

I am accepting and embracing different parts of my queerness that want to be celebrated through writing.

I am moving through new phases of grief that once felt unreachable after losing my Auntie Anne almost 10 years ago.

a fill-in-the-blank permission slip from me to you <3

I’m so excited to give myself the full permission slip to explore and unfold within this poetic playground KP has cultivated for us. I am not sure what will come of this container, and that’s part of the fun.

In order to give myself the space I need most creatively right now, I’ve decided to take an intermission from writing weekly intention-of-the-week newsletters. And so, here I am closing the curtains to explore the space between the acts.

I’m curious what permission slip do you need to give yourself right now? What playgrounds will support your next chapter of self-expression? And where are you experiencing an intermission in your own life?

With Love,

Jenna

P.S. I’ll be back in your inbox at the end of this month with the Dear September audio workshop and will look forward to sharing an update with you then!

P.P.S. If you missed Dear August and still feel some loose ends needing to be tied up, go ahead and listen here!