From the Inbox: These are select letters I’ve sent to my email list — shared here as a slow-growing archive of thoughts, seasons, and transitions. If you would like to receive all future letters, join here.

Hello friend,

I never send back to back emails. Like, ever.

But I really feel so ready to share these additional pieces because they feel like the adjacent piece of the puzzle I shared yesterday. If yesterdays puzzle piece was an edge piece (and it definitely feels like an edge!), then this is a middle piece. That gooey center that makes everything feel whole and complete.

March has been the month of deep pain and profound insights and now that we're a week away from the end of it, I am finally feeling peace and kind of like I'm standing in the chaos after a storm just picking up the parts of what's left and figuring out where to go from here.

Here's the thing, I've had a lot of profound insights come through this month. Many consisting of how past-trauma has caused triggers in my every day life and caused me to create a story in which I breathe it to life in my present and the future. We don't need to get alllll into it today, maybe another time I'll share the specifics, but not only have I had the insights as to why I react and believe certain things, I've also watched as these triggers have come up all month long manifesting in my current reality, giving me pause to realize how f'd up it all is and how this is not who I want to be. Like at all, at all. Yuck!

And it's so frustrating to see it happen and then realize why you were triggered and then have to back-pedal and be like ‘sorry I freaked out like that, my nervous system was convinced you were about to hurt me, so I thought why not blow this up myself so you don’t do it and hurt me more than we need to?'

Gross. I hate it. No thank you. It needs to stop now.

So I decided. As I've already proclaimed several times ‘it was the end of an era and the start of an age’ this is my chance to actually re-invent myself. Past stories? Traumas? They can stay in the past (yeah, I'll still have to work on my triggers, but I'm just happy to be aware of them so I can even work through them!) but also who I show up as. How I dress, my hobbies, the money I make, the way I communicate, etc. etc. etc.

I've spent some time pondering what the new age of Sheri looks like. And I landed on a girl who has a simple uncluttered life. A satisfying and high paying career. A core group of local friends that I can laugh, cry, and share life with. My hobbies include: weekly shopping the local farmers market, befriending all the vendors and learning their names, growing my own herbs or veggies, spending a quiet Saturday morning reading at a local cafe, taking French lessons, an occasional weekend trip into the city, pilates and yoga classes, picnics in parks, cozy nights in, once again becoming a subscriber to the NYT Food column (and getting access to their incredible plethora of recipes!), and spending so much comfort time in the kitchen, barefoot, dancing around to jazz music on vinyl, while I sip and taste my way through whatever dinner, dessert or cocktail I'm playing with.

Contemplating all of this made me feel this connection with this next version of myself. She's not hustling. She's not working a million side gigs to make ends meet. She's not monetizing every single hobby or action in her life. I don't even know if I want to paint anymore. Or vlog. Truly I kind of want to delete all of social media, or at least scale way back. Maybe it's just a pause before resetting or maybe it's just the way forward.

Within this dream of French lessons, I realized there's a lot of the way of life of the French that I'd like to capture the essence of. The slow unfurling of life. The simple pleasure of enjoying food and company. Unhurried. Simple yet classic fashion choices. (Sure there's a lot I won't adopt, like the excessive smoking, but getting to build-your-own-life means getting to pick and choose 😉).

To feel into this new persona I want to radiate, I started reading books about Parisian life to get better acquainted.

I really loved “How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are: Love, Style, and Bad Habits” by Anne Berest. A compilation of essays and thoughts about what it means to be a Parisian woman and what they will and will not do. Insightful, funny and a super quick read!

And right now I'm about 50% through “Dinner for One: How Cooking in Paris Saved Me” by Sutanya Dacres. A memoir about an American woman who falls in love with a French guy, gets married and divorced in Paris, and then uses cooking to find her joy again after ending up at rock bottom. It's definitely interesting and you know I love me some kind of Julie and Julia story, so here I am. We've yet to get to the cooking and healing part, so tbd how much I like this book in the end but as a girl who feels like everything is crashing down around her and wants to rebuild her life in a way that has her spending lots of joyful time in the kitchen, I am on board.

There's a few other books I've got my hands on but I haven't read enough to share about them yet. It's just really helping me adopt the French mentality of slow days and enjoying life.

There's a school that teaches French lessons not far from the new dream apartment I'm manifesting. And I believe their next set of lessons should start up around the time of my move. (Depending if they still run in the summer or not).

And I can't help but think of me in my cute new outfits, learning French, buying local veggies, and cooking the most amazing meals while dancing around to some random old vinyl I found at the thrift store that feels so deeply Sheri-core.

It is giving me everything I need to keep going, to keep believing, to keep scheming. Nothing has felt this right in a long time. So I'm leaning as far in as I can. It feels like it's just on the other side of this weird dream I'm currently stuck in. Like I'm going to open my eyes and be exactly living this life. Lost in a book on the train back from the city, ready to return to my apartment where I just baked the most incredible lemon cake with fresh blueberries.

PS - In this next iteration of my life, it is an absolute must that you come visit me. I will cook for you, we will have movie nights, go for strolls along the river, and dance around the living room. I'll even teach you a little French. Let's start now, with my new favorite French phrase I've learned ‘Il faut vivre’ which translates roughly to 'we've gotta live!' as a response to anything you might consider holding yourself back from for any number of possibly valid reasons but still, we've gotta live, friend!🤗

PPS - “With Love, Meghan” on Netflix is also a perfect vibe match for this new version of my life. If you haven't watched it but this email sounds like comfort to you, check out that show. I'm only 2.5 episodes in but I really really love it.

This email was sent to subscribers on April 24, 2025.

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Epiphanies & Dreams: Pt 2