<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[The Weekly Fill]]></title><description><![CDATA[The only e-mails proven to make you healthier and happier. Where mind meets body bringing you practical advice that works. ]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MXH1!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b3aad1c-f004-4dc7-88d6-6b8f3faf18ae_500x500.png</url><title>The Weekly Fill</title><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2026 01:47:44 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[The Living Well]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[thelivingwell@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[thelivingwell@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[thelivingwell@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[thelivingwell@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Pro Tip: Live like a Millionaire. ]]></title><description><![CDATA[(It&#8217;s not really about the money.) &#128181;]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/pro-tip-live-like-a-millionaire</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/pro-tip-live-like-a-millionaire</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2026 18:01:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5311732,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/222372232?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3LZk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F026415c9-e40d-4955-a0fd-a9ea927cf15c_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><em>You&#8217;re the problem.</em></h3><p>Not your husband. Not your diet. Not your metabolism. Not your financial situation. And not the Halloween candy &#8220;tax&#8221; you&#8217;re going to claim from your kids.</p><p><em>You.</em></p><p>And I need to explain, <strong>because this might be the best advice you&#8217;ll get all week.</strong></p><p>It&#8217;s honestly been a game changer for me (and I have habitually despised thinking I was the problem). And yet, it&#8217;s been the golden ticket, the life reframe that has changed my daily life.  </p><p><a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-toxic-trait-was-fixing-everything">It&#8217;s also the foundation for story work and my toxic trait!</a> If you don&#8217;t see yourself as &#8220;the problem,&#8221; you&#8217;ll never value how important and critical your story is.</p><p><strong>Here&#8217;s the thing: we&#8217;re really good at speaking what we &#8220;want,&#8221; but we&#8217;re really bad at living it.</strong></p><p>Have you ever questioned the same thing? Like, <em>why are we really bad at doing the thing we know we should do, and even want to do?</em></p><p>Why do you want health, a close marriage, money in the bank, a peaceful home, and a purpose in life&#8230; AND MAKE EVERY ONE SO DIFFICULT TO GET? </p><ul><li><p><em>Why do you intend to eat a baked potato but choose the chips instead?</em></p></li><li><p><em>Why do you crave intimacy, but you choose to pick a fight with your spouse over something as small as how they load (or don&#8217;t load) the dishwasher?</em></p></li><li><p><em>Why do you promise clean eating, but you know good and well, you&#8217;re going to take some &#8220;mom&#8221; tax on your kids' Halloween haul?</em></p></li><li><p><em>You want to be wealthy, but you just spent $300 at Target and can&#8217;t name a single thing you bought.</em></p></li><li><p><em>You want a clean house, but instead you&#8217;re on the couch watching a stranger cleaning her house? (Yes, I agree it is satisfying).</em></p></li><li><p><em>You want to be close to God, but you&#8217;ll open Instagram 40 times a day and don&#8217;t even open your bible once.</em></p></li></ul><p>AND NONE OF THIS IS OUT OF REACH. We just make it that way.</p><p>The answer is&#8230; you. </p><p>You&#8217;re the one putting your desires on a stick and dangling them just out of reach. Sure, the world supports this message by making everything so complicated you assume it&#8217;s true. </p><p>But it&#8217;s not. </p><p>Now, to be clear, you aren&#8217;t necessarily the problem. But the way you choose to go about it is. Your choices are. I say "you" because anytime you work from the problem instead of taking responsibility for it, you become the problem. </p><p>The good news (or perhaps the best news): the problem is often the solution. </p><h3>Meaning you might be the problem. <em>But you&#8217;re also the solution. </em></h3><p>You&#8217;re the one thing you can actually change. Which means you can do something about this very situation, <em>and it can start today.</em></p><p>I&#8217;ve been doing some research lately. Very unscientific research, involving lots of observation, podcasts, book reading, and simply staring at a wall. I&#8217;ve been studying &#8220;highly successful&#8221; people. And I don&#8217;t just mean success by the world&#8217;s standards. I mean people who actually live out health, who live full of joy, who are fully living life.</p><p>And I keep finding the same exact thing.</p><p><strong>They never gave themselves another option.</strong></p><p><strong>It wasn&#8217;t a choice between healthy and unhealthy. </strong><em><strong>It was always just health.</strong></em></p><p><strong>There was no plan B.</strong></p><ul><li><p>They lived as a walker, not to become one.</p></li><li><p>They lived rich, not as poor chasing rich.</p></li><li><p>They lived healed, not in a perpetual state of healing.</p></li></ul><p>They had a choice. Just like you and I do. <a href="https://thelivingwell.com/how-to-rewrite-your-story/">They just chose to live out of the good, not out of what they hated.</a> And my friend, THIS IS THE GAME CHANGER. The life shift. The transformation you&#8217;ve been looking for in that next &#8220;fix.&#8221;</p><h3><em>What I found when I tried it out myself&#8230;</em></h3><p>You might remember, but years ago, I quit health. </p><p>I full-on decided the way of health was making me more unhealthy. So I hard quit. Ironically, I eventually found myself back in the space. I just called it something different. </p><p>But it was the same thing. <strong>Also known as the cycle of insanity: </strong><em>Doing the same thing over and over because we call it something different.</em></p><p>And I think many people find themselves here, attempting health in what feels different because they call it something different, but it&#8217;s the same thing. <em><strong>Chasing a fix for the problem.</strong></em></p><p>And that problem, I think, becomes the greatest distraction to actually living out what you already have.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t until I put this research into action that things really changed. When I stopped living for and started to live from, it became my reality, not just a good idea.</p><p><strong>Like I actually STEPPED into what I had been chasing. I lived it, not chased it. Like I really live it.</strong></p><p>Let me give you some examples, because I&#8217;ve put this experiment through many parts of my life: my marriage, my businesses, my health, and even my faith.</p><blockquote><p><strong>The Nourish Planner</strong></p></blockquote><p>Take the Nourished Planner for instance. We just announced that we&#8217;re not printing the 2027 dated planner. That might be a shock. And a year ago, I NEVER would have imagined this, unless we were done-done. </p><p>How could you stop printing the very center of a business in order to save it?  I don&#8217;t know, but I know it is. And the reason I know it is, is exactly this process. </p><p>My old way would have limped along, struggling, complaining, and <em>trying</em> to attach myself to any solution I could find. </p><p><strong>But when I stopped chasing an idea of success and asked what it would look like to live from already being there, my decisions came from a completely different place.</strong></p><p><em>Now I know what I need to do and I&#8217;m doing it.</em></p><blockquote><p><strong>Here&#8217;s a more relatable example: my health.</strong></p></blockquote><p>A few years ago, I realized I was addicted to healing. The chase became more addictive than living it.</p><p>And I think a lot of us love the chase without realizing we&#8217;ve gotten hooked on it. The new protocol, the new plan, the supplement stack. Each gives its own hit of hope, a feeling of control, until it wears off and we&#8217;re back seeking another chase.</p><p>But I realized this was getting me nowhere, and I stopped and asked, <strong>what if I lived healed instead of for healing? What does healed mean?</strong> When I created the understanding and started living it, GAME CHANGER.</p><blockquote><p><strong>Marriage + Faith</strong></p></blockquote><p><strong>It&#8217;s the same idea for my marriage and faith. </strong>I always needed someone or something to blame, to keep me in a perpetual state of striving. In our marriage, obviously he (Payton) was the problem. </p><p>In my faith, it was time. I never had enough of it<em> (although somehow I always found time for Instagram).</em></p><p>Both of those excuses make perfect sense when you&#8217;re working for something. </p><p>Payton being the problem makes sense when you&#8217;re working for a healthy marriage. But it doesn&#8217;t when you&#8217;re living from one, because a healthy marriage takes two, and I AM ONE OF THEM.</p><p><strong>What I&#8217;m trying to say is, living from moves you out of have to, should, and need to and into simply doing.</strong></p><p>And when you&#8217;re doing, ACTUALLY DOING the thing that moves you into what you want, it is GUARANTEED to work, because it&#8217;s not an if/and situation. It just is.</p><p>IT IS SUCCESS&#8230; and that&#8217;s exactly what my research came back to. </p><p><em><strong>People who are successful are doing the things that move them toward what they want. Every day. Even when it&#8217;s imperfect. Even when they don&#8217;t know. They&#8217;re doing it. </strong></em></p><p>Which leaves me to ask, what would change if you stopped working to become and you started working as if it already were?</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:206944,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/222372232?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!RNAS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8e586eb-7d64-45ae-bf63-6778988af607_1456x1048.jpeg 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><em>Pro-Tip: Live like a millionaire.</em></h3><ul><li><p>Live like a millionaire.</p></li><li><p>Live healed.</p></li><li><p>Live joy.</p></li><li><p>Live like you&#8217;ve been in a healthy marriage for 50 years. </p></li></ul><p><strong>If you lived like it, you&#8217;d&#8230;</strong></p><ul><li><p>Know where your money is and how much you have, so you know what you actually want to buy&#8230; <em>and say no to things at Target not because you can&#8217;t have them, but because you choose something different. </em></p></li><li><p>Show up for your body and feed it and move it daily based on what it needs, <em>not just what your emotions are craving. </em></p></li><li><p>Your cravings would be information, <em>not a problem.</em> </p></li><li><p>You&#8217;d show up for your husband, not to get something from him or to blame him, <em>but to be unified with him.</em></p></li><li><p>You&#8217;d clean your house, not to keep it perfect, <em>but because it&#8217;s part of living healed. </em></p></li><li><p>You&#8217;d stop praying like you&#8217;re trying to earn something, <em>and you start talking to God like a daughter who already has a seat at the table. </em></p></li></ul><p>You might even eat a piece of Halloween candy. Or maybe you&#8217;d leave it and not look back. Not out of spite, but because you&#8217;re no longer someone fighting a war within themselves. </p><h3>Notice, <em>none of these require you to arrive somewhere first. </em></h3><p><strong>They just require you to act like you already have!</strong></p><p>Stop waiting to live like her. Start living like her, because that&#8217;s the only way to become her.</p><p>This isn&#8217;t new, by the way. It&#8217;s the whole Gospel.</p><p>We don&#8217;t fight for victory&#8230; we fight from it. </p><p>You move, not because you&#8217;ve arrived, but because sometimes you have to walk like healed people before you look like them.</p><h3>Test it out for yourself: Live Healed</h3><p>Test it out for yourself.</p><p><strong>What is one area in your life you&#8217;re working for?</strong></p><ul><li><p><em>A healthier body?</em></p></li><li><p><em>A smaller number on the scale?</em></p></li><li><p><em>A better marriage?</em></p></li><li><p><em>A different story?</em></p></li></ul><p><strong>Ask yourself, if you already had that, how would you live? What would it look like?</strong></p><p>I&#8217;m talking practical action.</p><p><strong>Now, GO DO IT. </strong>And then do it again. Notice how that feels.</p><p>If you&#8217;re still struggling to do it&#8230; don&#8217;t worry. There's a gap between knowing what to do and doing it. Even knowing what you want and living it. If you&#8217;re here, I got you. On Thursday I&#8217;m going to tell you why good intentions mean nothing without the fuel to do it.</p><p>But for now, let&#8217;s just take an inventory of your life. And put to rest all the places you&#8217;re chasing a fix when you could just start living as if it is. Because living as if it is, makes it a reality. </p><p><em>I&#8217;d love to know which area you're testing. Share below so I can use it as my example in Thursday's email. </em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/pro-tip-live-like-a-millionaire/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/pro-tip-live-like-a-millionaire/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[My Toxic Trait Was Fixing Everything (When My Story Was the Problem)]]></title><description><![CDATA[What changed when I stopped trying to fix myself and rewrote my story.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-toxic-trait-was-fixing-everything</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-toxic-trait-was-fixing-everything</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:55:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5071534,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/221807577?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tzWS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2acfd211-829c-4a95-8503-125fd4353cf7_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><em>My toxic trait was fixing everything but the real problem.</em></h3><p>I&#8217;ve been blowing up your email with <strong>Freedom Story</strong>, and for good reason. I realized the hard way that all of the time I spent trying to &#8220;fix&#8221; myself was actually getting me nowhere. </p><p>Not because the &#8220;fixes&#8221; were wrong, but because a fix can only take you as far as the story you tell yourself. </p><p><strong>My toxic trait was fixing my body, my life, my marriage, my husband, when none of them were ever the problem. </strong><em>My story was. </em></p><p><em>(Payton is for sure screenshotting that sentence. </em>&#128517;<em> No, you are not the problem&#8230; I said what I said.)</em></p><p>I&#8217;d love to tell you the problem is your husband, or the diet industry, or even you. Because those feel like the things we can fix.<em> But I&#8217;d be lying.</em></p><p>The real problem is your story. </p><p>And when you pick up the pen and edit it, you&#8217;ll be amazed at what changes. <strong>You&#8217;ll start seeing what&#8217;s been right in front of you the whole time. </strong>Not because it didn&#8217;t exist, but because it wasn&#8217;t in your story, so you couldn&#8217;t see it.</p><p>If your toxic trait is similar to mine, <em>like believing you&#8217;re one habit away from being fixed. </em></p><p>Just&#8230;</p><p>One more supplement. One more addition to your jam-packed morning routine. One more walk. One more green smoothie or one more self-help book. </p><p>I get you. I played this game a long time and still fell apart. </p><p><strong>Because here&#8217;s what nobody told me: YOU CAN&#8217;T OUT-HABIT THE STORY YOU KEEP TELLING YOURSELF.</strong></p><h3>The <em>before&#8230;</em></h3><p><em><strong>My story sounded like this:</strong></em></p><ul><li><p>If I rest, I&#8217;ll get nowhere.</p></li><li><p>If everyone else is okay, then I can be okay.</p></li><li><p>If something is wrong, I need to look deeper and try harder.</p></li><li><p>Who cares what I want? What do you want?</p></li><li><p>I&#8217;ll never get there.</p></li></ul><p>No, I didn&#8217;t always say it out loud. Most of it was a loop repeating inside my head. The space you don&#8217;t speak might actually be the most dangerous place of all. But I didn&#8217;t have to speak it for it to be real. Those things always showed up&#8230; <em>in my relationships, in my work, and in my body. </em></p><p>The hard part.</p><p>Here&#8217;s the uncomfortable truth I had to face. <strong>My story wasn&#8217;t my fault. But it was my responsibility. </strong></p><p><strong>NOBODY IS COMING TO REWRITE IT FOR YOU.</strong></p><p>Not your mom. Not your spouse. Not your friend. And certainly not the next wellness trend. </p><p>As long as you&#8217;re waiting for your circumstances to change, or to find the &#8220;thing that will finally work,&#8221; you&#8217;ll keep repeating the same chapter. Not because you&#8217;re to blame, but because the pen is in your hand.</p><p><strong>NOTE: </strong><em><strong>What has been doesn&#8217;t have to be. </strong></em></p><h3><em>The after&#8230;</em></h3><p>Post-<a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">Freedom Story</a>, my story sounds and looks VERY different.</p><p>Now I see&#8230;</p><ul><li><p>Rest as part of the plan.</p></li><li><p>I can hold my own peace.</p></li><li><p>I have CHOICES.</p></li><li><p>Life isn&#8217;t what happens to me.</p></li><li><p>I have OPTIONS.</p></li><li><p>I know how to regulate my nervous system and nourish my body.</p></li><li><p>I&#8217;m not a project to be fixed. </p></li><li><p>I can love people without carrying their feelings for them.</p></li><li><p>Health is something I steward, not something I chase. </p></li><li><p>My thoughts are a draft, not the finished story.</p></li><li><p>I talk to myself like someone I love.</p></li><li><p>I&#8217;m not stuck. I&#8217;m choosing, and I can choose differently.</p></li><li><p>I can see good things that were there all along.</p></li></ul><p><em>It&#8217;s the same life. Same husband. Same family. Same home. Same responsibilities. </em><strong>AND YET they feel completely different because I&#8217;m carrying them differently.</strong></p><p>So what changed? Not my circumstances. My story.</p><h3><em>This is why I created </em>Freedom Story. </h3><p>Of All the things I&#8217;ve tried, none have been more potent or powerful than editing the story I&#8217;ve believed.</p><p>The Freedom Story workshop teaches you the framework I used to <s>rewrite</s> <em>transform </em>my story. </p><p>In the workshop, you&#8217;ll name the story you&#8217;ve been living in, see where it shows up in your life, and leave with a new story.</p><h3><em>How is it different?</em></h3><p>The Freedom Story Workshop teaches you the exact framework I used to rewrite my story.</p><p><strong>01: It&#8217;s not a diagnosis. </strong>Freedom Story works alongside therapy and medical care, not in place of them.</p><p><strong>02: It edits the past. </strong>The past stays the same. What they say about you changes.</p><p><strong>03: It opens you up to options. </strong>Once you see other perspectives, you see choices you couldn&#8217;t see before.</p><p><strong>04: It&#8217;s a shift into&#8230; not just out of.</strong> It&#8217;s about what you&#8217;re growing into, so you don&#8217;t get stuck staring at the past.</p><p><strong>05: You live it, not just think it. </strong>Real experiences build the evidence you need to hold your new story. </p><p><strong>06: It builds the capacity to hold it. </strong>Your nervous has the capacity for your new story to stick.</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png" width="1456" height="1456" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!75Wi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fab7a4736-1066-4735-8b73-b5e9296da818_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3>Your toxic trait <em>is your clue.</em></h3><p>The next Freedom Story Workshops are live, small, and free during the beta test. Come do the work with me, and leave with a better story.</p><h3>How it works</h3><p>I&#8217;m keeping these groups small on purpose. I&#8217;m looking for people who are ready to do the work, not just read about it. Fill out a short application, and I&#8217;ll let you know you&#8217;re in.</p><p>Online: Nov 9th, 6:30-9:00pm CST OR Jan 6th, 6:30-9:00pm CST</p><p>In person: Dec 12th, 8:00 -12:00pm CST OR Jan 16th, 8:00 -12:00pm CST, held in Vinton, IA</p><p>Cost: Free</p><p>Spots: 25 spots per session</p><p><strong><a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">Save your seat here! </a></strong></p><p>Know someone who needs this? Forward them this email.</p><p>Hit reply if you have questions!</p><p>I&#8217;ll see you inside,</p><p>Alexa</p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I stood naked in front of the mirror for months (here’s what happened)]]></title><description><![CDATA[The most life-changing before-and-after you&#8217;ll never post (or shouldn&#8217;t because you&#8217;re naked...remember)]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-stood-naked-in-front-of-the-mirror</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-stood-naked-in-front-of-the-mirror</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:58:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qEnh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F00c44c2e-8c2d-4b27-acb1-bd775adb0a11_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This might sound crazy, but I think one of the best litmus tests for the health of your <em>whole life</em> is standing naked in front of the mirror and paying attention to what goes through your mind.</p><p>I know it sounds like I&#8217;m in some radical naked era and rightfully so. Between this and the <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/nude-sunbathing-taught-me-this-and">nude sunbathing piece</a>, I get why you're concerned. But this naked phase actually started a few years ago, when I got curious about my story. </p><p>And I&#8217;m not just <em>&#8220;talking about it but not doing anything with it&#8221; </em>curious. I was so far at the end of my rope that all I had left was something that sounded too basic to work and too good to be true.  So I went headfirst into story work, to understand the story my body had been living out, and whether shifting it was really a thing.</p><p>Spoiler: IT IS! Game changer. <em>Life changed. </em></p><h3>Full Disclosure: <em>Story Work Isn&#8217;t What You Think</em></h3><p>Let me be clear, because there are a lot of ideas floating around about <a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">story work. </a>Unfortunately, many leave out some critical and very necessary steps that make all the difference. </p><p><strong>Story work is NOT about writing a brand new story.</strong> That doesn&#8217;t work, nor is it the point. Honestly, trying to write a new story keeps you stuck in comparison and imitation, living out someone else&#8217;s highlight reel (and feeling really bad when it doesn&#8217;t work for you). </p><p><strong><a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">Story work IS about editing the story you already have. </a></strong></p><p>Sure, I might be a little obsessed with it. But only because of all the things I&#8217;ve &#8220;tried,&#8221; this is the only one that has stuck. And it didn&#8217;t just stick. <em>It changed my entire life&#8230;</em> not just my health. </p><p>Unfortunately, most people are living out a story they were shown, not what they were made for. </p><h3>My Naked Mirror Experiment (that proved my story)</h3><p>You know I love a good experiment. And yet nothing has terrified me more than this one. I think I'd rather have cold-plunged in the Arctic (<a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-rated-every-weird-health-hack-ive">and I rated cold plunging a 3 out of 10 on my list of experiments</a>). </p><p><strong>At the same time, there&#8217;s no faster way to confront the story you&#8217;re telling yourself than looking at your naked body in the mirror. </strong></p><p>The first time I stood there, I knew what would happen. <em>Nothing good.</em></p><p>I saw every flaw and even made up a few along the way. At one point, I even decided my knees looked like saggy eyelids. </p><p>Like,<em> how do knees look like tired eyes?</em> I&#8217;m not sure, but mine did. </p><p>Obviously, I wasn&#8217;t kind to myself, and I knew I wouldn&#8217;t be. But the assignment wasn&#8217;t to rehash the hate. It was to understand it. To drop the judgment and simply notice it. </p><p><strong>I quickly learned I had spent a lot of time trying to hate myself well. </strong></p><p>I&#8217;d spent years in baggy clothes covering up what I hated, avoiding cameras to stay small and, like most self-hate, wrapping it in an imitation bow of self-love by calling it humility. </p><p>I did all of the things I thought I needed to, not out of love but to become loved. </p><h3><em>The Turning Point</em></h3><p>Here&#8217;s what finally hit me: <em><strong>Hating myself well only ever led to more hate. </strong></em></p><p>Every diet, every workout, every &#8220;good&#8221; choice made from that place just gave me more reasons to fall short. I was striving to do everything I thought I was supposed to, without ever stopping to ask whether any of it was actually working. </p><p>If any of it was actually helping me feel the way I wanted. </p><p>No surprise. <em>It wasn&#8217;t. </em></p><p>Because I was working for love. And when you&#8217;re working for love, the only thing you&#8217;re left with is hate. </p><p>I&#8217;m not really a black-and-white person, but there really isn&#8217;t a middle ground between hate and love. It&#8217;s either or. Two sides of the same coin. <strong>And what you choose changes what you get. </strong></p><p>Here&#8217;s a small and cheesy example. Take a salad, for instance.</p><h3>Same Salad. <em>Different Story.</em></h3><p>The same salad eaten from two different stories creates two very different experiences. </p><p>A salad eaten from punishment and a salad eaten as nourishment are not the same salad. Yes, it&#8217;s iterally the same salad. But it creates two very different outcomes because <strong>the </strong><em><strong>why</strong></em><strong> and </strong><em><strong>way</strong></em><strong> you eat it changes how your body responds. </strong></p><p>If you&#8217;ve ever attempted to eat really well and see zero results, this is the answer you&#8217;ve been chasing.  </p><p><strong>Health isn&#8217;t just WHAT YOU DO. It&#8217;s actually HOW YOUR BODY RESPONDS to what you do. </strong></p><p>How your body responds comes back to your story. </p><p>Eating a salad as punishment creates a body war, where your body has to protect you from, i<em>ronically,</em> yourself. But a salad eaten as nourishment is simply just care. </p><p><strong>The difference isn&#8217;t what you&#8217;re doing. It&#8217;s why. And your body can tell. </strong><em>It always can. </em></p><p>That&#8217;s also the point of the mirror. It helps you understand what your body already knows. What side of the coin are you living in? </p><h3>The part I couldn&#8217;t have predicted&#8230;</h3><p>When I finally let myself love my body, form where it was, as it was, everything shifted. It wasn&#8217;t about doing anymore. <em>It was about stewarding.</em> It wasn&#8217;t about changing.<em> It was about shifting. </em></p><p>I stopped asking, <em>&#8220;What do I need to do to become okay?&#8221;</em> and started asking, <em>&#8220;What does my body need to thrive today?&#8221;</em></p><p><strong>It&#8217;s working from love, not for it. And that is a COMPLETELY different way to live. </strong></p><h3>My Before-And-After:</h3><p>So here&#8217;s my before-and-after. Don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;m not sharing photos. Just the commentary. The good stuff. The stuff we hide behind the image is THE STUFF that really matters. </p><p><strong>My before:</strong> Saggy knee eyelids. A c-shelf I hate. Cellulite. Dread. Hate. </p><p><strong>My after: </strong>My body is really freaking cool and really freaking beautiful.</p><p>That&#8217;s a small picture of how I see my body now. And I don&#8217;t say it to boast in myself, but truly because I&#8217;m boasting in the one who made my body. Who made your body. </p><p><strong>The details and the uniqueness of the human body blow my absolute mind. </strong>And in every wrinkle is a detail. In every scar is a memory. In every inch is a body that has lived, <em>and I&#8217;m seriously so grateful for it. </em></p><p>And can I be honest? <strong>My after never once said skinny.</strong> Because who really said skinny is in? I&#8217;d argue the determining factor that skinny is the metric we need to chase came only from people living out self-hate. </p><p>I&#8217;m not &#8220;skinny,&#8221; and YET I really love the way I look. </p><p>That doesn&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m not working to shift my body. I am always in the business of building strength and healthy structure. As I think we all should. </p><p>But can we be clear? <strong>THERE IS A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between hating yourself well and loving yourself while still desiring to change. </strong></p><p>That&#8217;s the part we get backward. We think love means settling, so we hold back until we&#8217;ve earned it. </p><p>But love isn&#8217;t the reward at the finish line. <strong>It&#8217;s the FUEL. </strong>The changes that actually last come from caring for something you love, not from fighting something you hate. </p><p><em>And I think that&#8217;s the best before-and-after you could ever get. </em></p><h3>Your turn: <em>The Naked Mirror Challenge.</em></h3><p>I&#8217;m not asking you to do anything I haven&#8217;t done. It will be uncomfortable. But it&#8217;s also powerful. And yes, you have to commit to a couple of months. Don&#8217;t stop at one time, because you&#8217;re just going to fuel the story you hate. </p><p>If you&#8217;re going to do this, you have to really do this. </p><p>Remember, a story that took years to build doesn&#8217;t get rebuilt in a weekend. Even if you can edit it in a weekend <a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">(if you want to edit it, I can help you here). </a></p><p>ONLY IF you are willing to commit to months of naked mirror standing, follow this plan.</p><p><strong>Month 1: Notice.</strong><br>A few times a week, stand in front of the mirror for 60 seconds. Don&#8217;t fix, argue, or spiral. Just notice what you say, and write it down. (Yes, even if you&#8217;re making up flaws like saggy knee eyelids.) This is your old story in its own words.</p><p><strong>Month 2: Question.</strong><br>It&#8217;s the same mirror but with new questions. Instead of noticing, now you&#8217;re getting curious. <em>Is there a different way to see this?</em> Not a false-positive way. Just start looking for another way to see it. You&#8217;re opening up to options.  </p><p><strong>Month 3: Speak.</strong><br>The third month, start speaking what you want over your body. Speak truth into it. Every time you stand naked in front of the mirror, say one thing out loud. &#8220;I see strength.&#8221; &#8220;I see radiance.&#8221; &#8220;I am glowing.&#8221; It will feel awkward. Do it anyway. If you&#8217;re struggling to see the good, thank it. &#8220;Thank you for carrying me today&#8221; counts.</p><p><strong>Month 4 and beyond: Steward.</strong><br>Use your naked body as a reminder to care for it. Use it as fuel to steward your life in a way that nourishes your body. Feed it, move it, rest it,<a href="https://thelivingwell.com/fall-capsule-wardrobe-on-a-budget/"> dress it for the life you actually have.</a> That&#8217;s the evidence that makes the new story stick.</p><p><strong>A few ground rules:</strong></p><ul><li><p><strong>Lock the door.</strong> Nothing ruins a naked-mirror moment more than a kid barging in to ask when supper is. It&#8217;s awkward for them more than it is for you.</p></li><li><p><strong>Skip the fitting-room lighting.</strong> I&#8217;m convinced it was designed by the enemy. Use natural light when possible.</p></li><li><p><strong>Don&#8217;t do it right after scrolling.</strong> Friends, the internet is a liar, and almost everything is filtered to look different than it actually does. We don&#8217;t need to heap on more comparison than you already have.</p></li><li><p><strong>If it&#8217;s pulling you somewhere dark, pause.</strong> Remember, this isn&#8217;t meant ot harm you but to build you. If you&#8217;re going to a dark place, stop, seek help, and speak it out loud. Tell someone you trust and then come back to this when you&#8217;re ready for it. </p></li></ul><p>At the end of each month, reread what you wrote in Month 1.<strong> I promise, that&#8217;s the best before-and-after you could give yourself!</strong></p><div><hr></div><h3>Struggling with self-love <em>(especially as a Christian)?</em></h3><p>This was honestly my biggest hang-up with self-love. I thought it was selfish, but God showed up for me and taught me something different. </p><p>In this week&#8217;s podcast, I invited someone who shares this so well, <a href="https://thegirlnamedblake.com/">Blake Guichet</a>, on the show to talk more about self-love, asking the questions:</p><ul><li><p>Is self-love even biblical? </p></li><li><p>Why are self-hate and pride closer cousins than we think?</p></li><li><p>What humility is (and isn&#8217;t)?</p></li><li><p>What does submission and surrender look like?</p></li></ul><p><a href="https://thelivingwell.com/is-self-love-biblical/">LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE. It&#8217;s one of my all-time favorites. </a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://thelivingwell.com/is-self-love-biblical/" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png" width="1456" height="455" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:455,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:194142,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://thelivingwell.com/is-self-love-biblical/&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/221644811?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iRrB!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5531894f-dbb3-4524-87de-d2ff47a46aae_1600x500.png 1456w" sizes="auto, 100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><h3><em>Are you up for the challenge?</em></h3><p>What are some sneaky ways you think you&#8217;re living out self-love, but it&#8217;s actually just imitation or artificial? </p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-stood-naked-in-front-of-the-mirror/comments&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Leave a comment&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-stood-naked-in-front-of-the-mirror/comments"><span>Leave a comment</span></a></p><p></p><p><em>And if you want help editing the story underneath it all, that&#8217;s what we do inside the Freedom Story Workshop. It&#8217;s done through small groups, online and in person, and is free through the end of the year. </em></p><p><em><a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-storyhttps://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">Apply here!</a></em></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Rated Every Weird Health Hack I’ve Tried]]></title><description><![CDATA[Some worked. Some really, really didn&#8217;t. I rated my backdoor approaches to everything, I&#8217;ve experimented with.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-rated-every-weird-health-hack-ive</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-rated-every-weird-health-hack-ive</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2026 16:08:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4058152,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/220716663?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dO2y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4861ad55-e50e-4f91-ac4c-65693b7e7b41_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em><a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/">Yesterday&#8217;s advice received a mixed bag of opinions. </a></em></p><p>To help me sleep this weekend, I decided to share a few thoughts that are a bit easier to chew on. I'm not taking back what I shared (that ungrateful list was a game changer for me), but I want to give you permission, even a nudge, to go through the back door. To see it differently. To think outside t&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-rated-every-weird-health-hack-ive">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Spent $600 on a Gratitude List and It Didn’t Work]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why I Quit Gratitude Lists (And Made an Ungrateful One Instead)]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-spent-600-on-a-gratitude-list-and</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-spent-600-on-a-gratitude-list-and</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 20:53:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png" width="1456" height="1456" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5582100,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/220384091?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dvtO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0e5b2d0c-4763-485a-8cd2-c82d9e0116ec_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><em>Who makes an anti-gratitude list? </em></h3><p>The audacity, am I right? And yet, because I feel the need to highlight all of my hidden health secrets <em>(like <a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_1456,h_970,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_center/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png">nude sunbathing</a>),</em> here we are.</p><p>I don&#8217;t want my words to get twisted. <strong>This isn&#8217;t about being ungrateful</strong>. The anti-gratitude list has actually made me 1000 times more grateful. </p><p>Here&#8217;s the thing. I used to make grat&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-spent-600-on-a-gratitude-list-and">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Got Peptide FOMO? (Me too)]]></title><description><![CDATA[PSA: You can still lose weight naturally.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/got-peptide-fomo-me-too</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/got-peptide-fomo-me-too</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:25:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4222710,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/219291890?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!54iX!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13129427-d44f-4093-bba6-8e8ac63786eb_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Can I admit something a little embarrassing?</em></p><h3><em>I have peptide FOMO.</em></h3><p>Which makes no sense, because it&#8217;s completely out of alignment with me. I don&#8217;t even want it. And I don&#8217;t even believe in it for myself. And yet here I am, watching it play out in real time and feeling something tug at me anyway.</p><p><em>Do you feel it too?</em></p><p>It&#8217;s like all of a sudden everyone is skinn&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/got-peptide-fomo-me-too">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The 3 Words From My Mom I Hated (That Also Saved My Life)]]></title><description><![CDATA[Stop feeling guilty for feeling okay.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/the-3-words-from-my-mom-i-hated-that</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/the-3-words-from-my-mom-i-hated-that</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:32:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ebb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4398873,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/218193480?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ao8x!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Febb44ddc-a3e9-4350-858f-8c5a89d3c8d8_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I was in a really dark place. <em>Again. </em></p><p>You know the place where the hopelessness gets so heavy that your mind starts wandering somewhere it shouldn&#8217;t. </p><p><strong>And my mom looked at me and said the thing I hated most:</strong></p><h3><em><strong>&#8220;Don&#8217;t go there.&#8221;</strong></em></h3><p>Not, <em>&#8220;you poor thing.&#8221; </em></p><p>Not <em>&#8220;that&#8217;s so unfair.&#8221;</em></p><p>Just don&#8217;t go there. Don&#8217;t let yourself spiral. </p><p>I literally wanted to scream, because I&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/the-3-words-from-my-mom-i-hated-that">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[October Story Edits]]></title><description><![CDATA[My intentions and story-change to make October one of the best months of the year!]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/october-story-edits</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/october-story-edits</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:58:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4950731,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/218203741?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oqMR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ec6e4c9-548f-4db3-8d59-03989ddee247_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I was extra spicy in September, from talking about <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/nude-sunbathing-taught-me-this-and">nude sunbathing</a> to <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/chemtrails-emfs-parasites-and-vaseline">chemtrails, parasites,</a> <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/ai-removed-her-freckles-and-i-removed">problems with aging,</a> and <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-unconventional-strategy-to-feeding">my controversial post on feeding teenagers.</a> And I&#8217;m having more fun than ever. Partially because I&#8217;m finally stepping into owning my gifts, maybe for the first time ever.</p><p>For far too long, I&#8217;ve lived as a shell of me, attempting to exist &#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/october-story-edits">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Chemtrails, EMF’s, Parasites & Vaseline]]></title><description><![CDATA[Less fear, more energy: my take on the health topics everyone's asking about]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/chemtrails-emfs-parasites-and-vaseline</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/chemtrails-emfs-parasites-and-vaseline</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:35:03 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3715589,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/217248430?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41qS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F65965cae-dcff-4a3e-91e7-93dbf253a83b_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m thinking about starting a parasite cleanse and wondered if you had any experience?&#8221;</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>&#8220;What are your thoughts about chemtrails and EMF&#8217;s. I&#8217;m actually so terrified by what&#8217;s going on in the world and just need some peace of mind.&#8221;</strong></em></p><p>I&#8217;ve gotten an uptick in these questions lately. Whenever someone asks, I assume many others are wondering the same thing and just aren&#8217;t asking. And because I&#8217;m not short on opinions, I&#8217;m always happy to share them.</p><p><strong>Here&#8217;s the deal: I don&#8217;t really believe the stereotypical &#8220;hype,&#8221; or rather, &#8220;fear.&#8221;</strong> At the same time, I love a good conspiracy theory. So I&#8217;m giving you both my actual thoughts, backed by my own research and experience (because a parasite cleanse almost killed me), plus my conspiracy that is about chemtrails, but at the same time, not.</p><p>I also threw in the Vaseline thing, because I just really need you to know something about Vaseline. </p><p>I know this post might ruffle some feathers, but my heart is to cut down your fear. The fear we&#8217;ve built into the health space (and the stress of trying to be clean) is hurting us. It&#8217;s having the exact opposite effect of what we hope. </p><p>If you want to be well, you have to come to your place of peace with these topics, and that starts with understanding the root of all disease. </p><p><strong>Keep reading to get:</strong></p><ul><li><p><em>The root of all disease (it&#8217;s so simple we like to overlook it).</em></p></li><li><p><em>My views on parasite cleanses (and the health-influencer who almost died from one).</em></p></li><li><p><em>The chemtrail and EFM conspiracy, and what I actually do about them.</em></p></li><li><p><em>My thoughts on Vaseline (the question no one asked, but you need to know).</em></p></li><li><p><em>The bigger problem may be what you think is &#8220;clean.&#8221;</em></p></li></ul>
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          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/chemtrails-emfs-parasites-and-vaseline">
              Read more
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      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[My Unconventional Strategy To Feeding Teens (do you agree)?]]></title><description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m coming in hot with this one. Because I think we&#8217;ve really missed the point. Spoiler: It's less about the food and a lot more about you!]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-unconventional-strategy-to-feeding</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-unconventional-strategy-to-feeding</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:32:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_2400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png" width="1200" height="1200" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;large&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:1200,&quot;bytes&quot;:4439810,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/216909421?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-large" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lg_9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bbdf0c3-8705-4a3c-9789-75b75949b628_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Life is CONSTANTLY humbling me. I swear, just as soon as I share or teach something, I get humbled on the back end. <em>Making me ponder if I really know anything at all. </em></p><p>It&#8217;s probably why I&#8217;m most skeptical of people who have it all figured out. Because if they do, friends, I&#8217;ve got a lot of holes in my life. </p><p>I think about this often. When you share work o&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-unconventional-strategy-to-feeding">
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      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Ai Removed her Freckles (And I removed my filter)]]></title><description><![CDATA[One school photo, one furious 13-year-old, mom-rage, and the line I think we all just crossed.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/ai-removed-her-freckles-and-i-removed</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/ai-removed-her-freckles-and-i-removed</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 17:36:39 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2260877,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/216324492?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTqW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14695d5b-ccf9-4f7b-8dd7-f27154a44dc7_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Apparently, I&#8217;m getting a little spicy here. <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/nude-sunbathing-taught-me-this-and">Boobs in the sun and now this. </a></p><p>I promise, what&#8217;s happening here was a culmination of events that led me to scrap what I originally wanted to share today (we&#8217;ll save that for next week) and land here instead. Because WE&#8217;VE GONE TOO FAR. </p><p><em><strong>And somewhere along the way, we missed the point entirely. </strong></em></p><p>This week, one &#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/ai-removed-her-freckles-and-i-removed">
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      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The habit I never planned on telling you about...]]></title><description><![CDATA[I never really envisioned myself telling anyone about my nude sunbathing experiment that turned into a habit. But here we are.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/nude-sunbathing-taught-me-this-and</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/nude-sunbathing-taught-me-this-and</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2026 19:50:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4489314,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/216016102?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!gB27!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F171085fa-f4e1-41ce-82c6-40bc162050a7_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I never really envisioned myself telling anyone about my nude sunbathing experiment that turned into a habit. <em>But here we are. </em></p><p>I also never imagined how strong the pull would be to bathe my boobs in the sun. It&#8217;s like a weird instinct takes over when the sun&#8217;s out and you just want to take off your shirt. Obviously I have restraint. <em>I said it was an urge, not a reality. </em></p><p>But it goes to show how much my body craves it (more on how my biology has actually changed below). This post is about so much more than nude sunbathing. It&#8217;s actually about the story I&#8217;ve created about my body, and how that story has rubbed off on my girls.</p><p>That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m giving you all the details about how sun on my naked skin changed my perspective of my body. And it even changed something in my kids, which is the most shocking part of this whole experiment. </p><p><em><strong>Honestly, I think this is a conversation we need to have more of. </strong></em></p><p>Serious question (and this might be too far, but&#8230;): <strong>If we&#8217;re not allowing our kids to see our naked bodies in safe spaces, how are they learning about their changing bodies? </strong><em>They&#8217;re getting it somewhere.  </em></p><p>Now, I know how some of you might feel about talking about nude bodies. And I promise, this isn&#8217;t a sexual thing&#8230; although we&#8217;ll talk about that. Because this is a &#8220;sensitive&#8221; and vulnerable post, it will be subscriber-only. </p><p><strong>Here&#8217;s a quick look inside this post so you know what you&#8217;re getting:</strong></p><ul><li><p><em>Why I started nude sunbathing</em></p></li><li><p><em>The pattern interrupt it created in my story about my body</em></p></li><li><p><em>The changes I noticed in my body/breasts (I feel weirdly like I need to impart some professionalism here </em>&#128521;<em>)</em></p></li><li><p><em>The creative ways my husband has kept this practice alive</em></p></li><li><p><em>Contemplating living in a topless society (joking&#8230; mostly)</em></p></li><li><p><em>Talking about bodies with my kids &amp; the changes I&#8217;ve noticed in them</em></p></li></ul><blockquote><p><em><strong>Note: </strong>Please proceed only if you&#8217;re willing to keep an open mind and have a friendly conversation. If you&#8217;re here to pass judgment, please note that you&#8217;re wasting your time. </em></p></blockquote><p><strong>Here&#8217;s the thing: </strong>This conversation isn&#8217;t really out of character for me. It&#8217;s more me than how I&#8217;ve shown up here. And I don&#8217;t want that anymore. I&#8217;ve played small and secure, when naturally I&#8217;m kind of spicy. Or, better said, I&#8217;m actually really curious. </p><p>AND even more than that, I think it&#8217;s important we have/create safe places to talk about such topics. Because not everything needs to be sexualized, and even if we&#8217;re having conversations about sexual things, that doesn&#8217;t mean it automatically needs to be vile, gross, wrong, or objectifying.</p><p><strong>SEX IS NORMAL. So is NAKEDNESS. </strong></p><p>Unfortunately, our world has just distorted good things and made them bad, and now we are living in a world of extremes. </p><p>I get it. As someone who was hurt at a young age by our oversexualized world, that distorted my reality for a really long time. <a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">After doing work to heal that story</a>, I&#8217;ve realized not everything needs to be, or is, sexual. Even if our world swings wildly between oversexualizing and undersexualizing, completely missing the middle ground where things are just normal, safe, and pure.</p><p><a href="https://thelivingwell.com/freedom-story">My own freedom story</a> has led me here&#8230; talking about the things we need to talk about without feeling weird about it.</p><p>My experiment with nude sunbathing was nothing other than pure. <em>So let&#8217;s get into it, shall we?</em></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/nude-sunbathing-taught-me-this-and">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Crappy Health Stories I’m Over (Part 2 of 2)]]></title><description><![CDATA[The stories we inherited, and the plot twist for each one.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/crappy-health-stories-im-over-part</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/crappy-health-stories-im-over-part</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:42:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png" width="1456" height="1456" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/df002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5175000,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/215062881?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!wgxt!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf002750-b54c-46a3-90be-37153e11fc77_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/confession-dont-hire-me-to-coach">Yesterday, I told you why I suck at being a health coach. </a>Not because I&#8217;m bad at helping people; I&#8217;m just back to problem-seeking and fixing. Because what I really believe, the problem was never the problem. It was just information. And most of what we call a problem is really just a product of an old story controlling the narrative. </p><p>Anywho&#8230; today I wan&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/crappy-health-stories-im-over-part">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Confession: Don't Hire Me to Coach You ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Confession. I suck at telling people what to do, and here's the health crisis that taught me why.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/confession-dont-hire-me-to-coach</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/confession-dont-hire-me-to-coach</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:13:48 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4468590,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/215044029?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WiZO!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff89782b7-df7c-441d-86d3-e1cc4dc4a0ef_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3><em><strong>Diary Confession: I suck at being a health coach. </strong></em></h3><p>Strong language, I know. But it&#8217;s the truth. I&#8217;m terrible at telling people what to do, and I&#8217;m even worse at convincing myself it would work if I did it.</p><p>For a long time, I chalked that up to just being <em>&#8220;bad with people.&#8221; </em>But in most cases, I&#8217;m not. I love people and deep conversations. Village is part o&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/confession-dont-hire-me-to-coach">
              Read more
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      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Made Peace With These Things (Now I'm Annoyingly Fine)]]></title><description><![CDATA[5 Things I Stopped Trying To Fix... and how much better it made my life.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-made-peace-with-these-things-now</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-made-peace-with-these-things-now</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:32:41 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ab295262-1c41-4d02-adc2-575f63d5aa65_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png" width="1456" height="1048" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1048,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2294329,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/214032007?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Sjre!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3cfb0197-89bc-4215-ae2d-518c3a5094cf_1456x1048.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Last week, I shared a message from my friend. Maybe we need to start a new series,  <em><strong>Life Advice From Friends</strong></em>&#8230; Isn&#8217;t it wild how wise they can be? I firmly believe we all need people in our lives who are close enough to know us, but also outside our situation enough to keep us on track.</p><p>Friends are great pattern interrupts. Spiral stoppers. And that&#8217;s why&#8230;</p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/i-made-peace-with-these-things-now">
              Read more
          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[My September Story Edit]]></title><description><![CDATA[Instead of focusing on how it went, what if you started naming how you want it to go? Here&#8217;s how I&#8217;m editing my September.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-september-story-edit</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/my-september-story-edit</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 18:29:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:6392573,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/213043658?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!oZU8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8238d0c-78a0-425a-be3c-1ccb4e1cd34a_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>One of the greatest story edits I made in my life was the understanding that, on this side of eternity, life wasn&#8217;t a chase to a destination. It was an opportunity to show up, live, and grow. </p><p><strong>Life is always a verb, not a noun. </strong></p><p>I was recently listening to a podcast, and the guest (<a href="https://zachbushmd.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorp4WSqybTlVDyZTTTsiXgL2V3nzthoVbZn65ttLUZbzbLT-UhQ">Zach Bush</a>) said, <em>&#8220;Trees aren&#8217;t &#8220;trees&#8221;; they&#8217;re treeing.&#8221;</em> </p><p>I know that soun&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everyone's on Peptides. Here's Why I'm Not (Yet) ]]></title><description><![CDATA[It's not about the peptides. It's the story. Plus, ten things I&#8217;d 100% invest in again!]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/everyones-on-peptides-heres-why-im</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/everyones-on-peptides-heres-why-im</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:26:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5804785,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/212906525?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-eBl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcf9d9b40-b8eb-4d9b-8a8b-22bf2a75e6b9_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I would be lying if I didn&#8217;t think about trying peptides, because I&#8217;d be lying if I told you I was 100% content with where my body is. I&#8217;ve made so much progress, and yet <em><strong>why is it that our desires are always for more?</strong></em></p><h3>Thoughts on peptides have been living rent-free in my head. </h3><p>It&#8217;s not just the results people are getting. It&#8217;s also the fear of missing o&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Kitchen Magic: How I Maximize The Food I Buy ]]></title><description><![CDATA[I Haven't Thrown Away Food in Months and I'm Barely Trying!]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/kitchen-magic-how-i-maximize-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/kitchen-magic-how-i-maximize-the</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2026 19:16:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:6126643,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/212890716?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6Whb!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F90e274f1-8462-4ccd-8ce3-c4ce064497cf_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>We all have different strengths. For instance, I&#8217;ve realized some people are really good at organizing their cupboards and drawers, and some of us aren&#8217;t.</p><p>One of my friends brought this to my attention. In her words, and I quote, <em>&#8220;I realized we&#8217;ve been friends for a long time, and I never opened your cupboards before. So I just did.&#8221;</em></p><p><em>&#8220;Annnnnnnnnd???&#8221;</em> I re&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[REAL TALK: Why did we stop loving getting older?]]></title><description><![CDATA[can we bring back the love of aging (again)?]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/real-talk-why-did-we-stop-loving</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/real-talk-why-did-we-stop-loving</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:30:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_2400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png" width="1200" height="1200" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;large&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:1200,&quot;bytes&quot;:3655764,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/212010413?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-large" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!NAKW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3d92ca27-9f4a-4660-9a2f-2dad5d84ab79_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I met a new friend the other day. I say friend lightly because we talked for maybe <em>four minutes max.</em> But I&#8217;ve already decided we&#8217;re going to be friends.</p><p>It started because I may or may not have unintentionally eavesdropped on their conversation and overheard her friends say,<strong> </strong><em><strong>&#8220;I can&#8217;t believe you&#8217;re going to be 80.&#8221;</strong></em></p><p>This made me whip around so fast I nearl&#8230;</p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hills I’ll die on… curiosity heals + my mid-life pause and life redirect ]]></title><description><![CDATA[my diary of not living for, but living from.]]></description><link>https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/hills-ill-die-on-curiosity-heals</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/p/hills-ill-die-on-curiosity-heals</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Alexa Schirm]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2026 19:23:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset image2-full-screen"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_5760,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:false,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;full&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:5091435,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://theweeklyfill.thelivingwell.com/i/211874967?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:&quot;center&quot;,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-fullscreen" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!b3Cl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04af838c-39e0-4103-a37e-95cb070bf724_1600x1600.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The summer I took a pause. I fully embraced the in-between.</p><p>I&#8217;m talking about letting weeds grow where I thought I needed to rush to finish the landscaping because I still don&#8217;t know what I want the landscaping to be. Buying the &#8220;on-trend&#8221; monochromatic shorts and tank outfit even though I&#8217;m not fully sure it&#8217;s my look (and I&#8217;m also not sure my legs are &#8230;</p>
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