Quiet thoughts, small realizations, and the spaces in between. These are my written pauses — the moments when I step back, notice, and try to put shape to what I am learning along the way.
The pace of technological progress still catches me off guard sometimes. My phone can now detect early signs of illness days before I feel anything — and it’s been right four times in the past year, flagging everything from a coming cold to something more serious. The hard part? Actually listening to it and getting ahead of things before they spiral.
Have you also experienced this?
I haven’t picked up a fictional book in a while, but I have been listening to audiobooks for several weeks now. I know there is a difference between reading and listening.
Depending on what I am doing, I prefer to listen to an audiobook while commuting on the bus rather than reading a book. But if I were in bed (or getting ready for bed), I would prefer to read a book.
How about you? Are you a dedicated page-turner, a headphones-on listener, or do you switch between both depending on the moment? I’d love to know!
I was asked the other day how I was doing. I responded as I normally do, with an emphatic, “I’m doing great.” Several have asked me this on that particular day. And I could tell that some were skeptical of my response. Or perhaps they weren’t doing as great as me.
I get it. When the news is bad or unexpected, shock and discouragement usually follow.
I am healthy. Everyone I care about is doing fine. The world continues to spin. Ultimately, this is what is important to me. And I thank my friends for their concern and let them know that I truly appreciate them.
Sometimes things don’t work out in the moment. But eventually they do, and sometimes in ways I didn’t expect.
I have always eaten white rice. I still do today (before 4 pm). Brown rice is actually better for me. So why don’t I eat brown rice?
Habit.
And because that’s what we ate for generations. It’s what we know. What I didn’t know was that brown rice, back in the day, was harder to store and became bad faster than white rice. So for economic reasons, it was better to have white rice.
I plan to eat more brown rice, especially when it’s available. For the nutrients, fiber, and magnesium that I need. Because why not?
Which do you eat?
First thing in the morning, before things start happening, I will spend about 20 minutes free-writing in my journal to get whatever is on my mind onto paper. This really helps me clear my mind before the day starts. And I have found that this helps to reduce stress and anxiety. This is the real magic for me and why I like journaling.
I experienced a spike of anxiety the other day, right around the moment I finished a job interview. It lasted about a day, and it took me even longer to figure out why it happened in the first place.
It wasn’t from a lack of confidence in my ability to do the work. It was having confidence, and possibly being wrong.
It was imposter syndrome.
And it’s probably true. But I will show up anyway and will do the important work that needs to be done. If the opportunity is given to me.
I started this blog, not because it’s my job or because I need anything from anyone else. I started this blog because I can.
And it does surprise me that, even though my last post was a month ago today, I still have readers. Patient readers.
Thank you.
I am grateful for you. For reading this. And for whatever reason, you stick around.
Thank you!
*I started this blog on my 50th birthday. And since then, I have written 15 blog posts. Not quite what I expected, but, then again, I am not certain I was expecting anything.
In the past, I dedicated every non-event weekend to making candles and melts. Sometimes I even found myself pouring on weeknight evenings when I really should have been unwinding and preparing for a good night’s sleep.
My approach was to pour based on what was selling—which made sense at the time—so I’d be restocked for the next event.
Eventually, I started to burn out (pun intended).
Now, I’m taking a page from my “prepare for a huge event” playbook and applying it to an entire season. Instead of reacting to sales week by week, I’m planning in advance what I’ll sell each quarter and determining quantities for each product. Then I order materials specifically for those seasons, open my planner, and schedule the production days I’ll need. That’s it.
The goal is to sell out by the end of each season, make adjustments based on how things went, and then plan for the following year.
In a way, I tested this approach during the last quarter of 2025. It was born out of necessity—I needed to plan ahead of new tariffs and shipping increases. Now I’m applying what I learned to this upcoming year.
So far, I’m finding this much more manageable.
This past week, I took the leap and bought a used cargo van for our business. Mike and I had been talking about it for months, and I finally pulled the trigger. The timeline was surprisingly quick—we went shopping on Monday and drove it home on Tuesday. I was amazed to discover it has more technology than my RAV4!
Every time I use the van, I’m learning something new about it. My favorite recent discovery? There are locking devices built into the doors to keep them from slamming shut. You don’t know how grateful I am for this feature—after having rental van doors slam against my shoulder multiple times, this feels like a luxury.
Finding Koji 