The Both/And Approach to Life (+ a New Recipe You’ll Love)
Pulled in Two Directions? Your Midweek Reset + Fall Recipe, Ritual & Weekend Action inside!
Sometimes I feel like I’m speaking out of both sides of my mouth—go slow, but not too slow. Let it be easy, but stay disciplined.
Truthfully, a lot of confusion happens here because we’re not great at living in the both/and. We crave black and white, a rule-book, the play-by-play which, honestly, doesn’t exist.
We’re looking for clarity in the black and white, when the real clarity (and the real freedom) happens when we recognize life is best lived in a range of colors.
We have to get good at the both/and.
That starts with opening up to it.
We need to get good at:
Pushing forward and letting go.
Being disciplined and being free.
Both caring for others and caring for yourself.
And sometimes it means digging back into slow because slow is fast.
In more practical terms, relating to the October Refresh. This month, your focus is on the both/and:
Move your body daily and allow for more rest.
Plan meals thoughtfully and stay flexible when life happens.
Focus on outcomes and enjoy the process.
Build healthy routines and remain spontaneous.
I know these have generally been two opposing things, but if you learn to combine them, you’ll find that together they can create a sense of ease with effort that one alone can’t offer.
I know it’s not always easy.
I recently realized why this has felt difficult to me, and perhaps why it feels difficult to you as well. It requires faith. And faith is a lot about letting go of control.
At its root, health is always about faith — living a disciplined life while surrendering the outcome to trust. But it also helps you shift your focus back to what matters — off the destination and back into the action.
I wrote an additional blog post devoted to understanding the paradox of slow and how slow is fast as you continue working on the element of slow this week. It reveals how the law of diminishing returns plays a significant role in this.
Community check-in:
With that said, we’re slowly building some sense of community for the October Refresh! This week, we had a few good check-ins, and tomorrow I’ll be posting my batch cooking plan for the week.
What I’m eating right now:
