Hello, my loves. We are back. I'm so excited to be back. Two weekly episodes. Technically, I meant to be back last week. I'll talk about that and go over what happened, and we're gonna dive into a lot of things today. A lot about solo travel and my trip traveling alone as a married woman and. Yeah, I'm gonna share a lot of things that have happened over the last weeks.
Also. Taking a break, taking a break, taking a break, taking a break. We're gonna talk about that and what else are we gonna talk about? Well, you might have seen, if you follow me on social media, that vitalize is happening. It's in the fourth cohort, which I can't believe. I cannot believe it. Um, it's been building a lot of momentum.
It's been really amazing to have more and more women come through and get excited about the program. I'm so excited about this cohort. I feel reenergized, reinvigorated after. A nice break and yeah, I'm really excited these 12 weeks can be so powerful. The end of the year is such a powerful time, and I will say in case you miss the deadline, the doors officially closed on September 9th.
And if you email me or DM me with the Word podcast and let me know that you're really interested and vitalize. I will do a call with you and see if it's the right fit and if we can add one more person because you are my beloved podcast listeners, and I haven't even talked about vitalize this cohort since.
Yeah, it just happened that I was meant to last week and then I didn't, and then the doors are closing before this episode comes out. As a reminder, it's a 12 week transformational. Course that includes group coaching. So every single week you have 90 minutes with other women and myself, and you get hot seat coaching, but also like really in depth vulnerable conversation and we get shit moving.
Uh, it's a mind body, soul approach. So yes, it's a business coaching program and it's also a deeply healing, holistic, taking care of yourself. Program, and then if you're interested in accessing vitalize and you're like, I can do the group, it's closed. This doesn't work for me, and you're interested in one-on-one coaching and accessing some of the Vitalize videos, then also message me because that is something that I have been having a few one-on-one clients for, which has been really beautiful.
Okay, my loves. Let's get into this episode.
So I wanna talk to you about my beautiful trip. It was so magical. Let's rewind. I was gonna say, fast forward, let's rewind. I decided to take a break from the podcast and. Usually I kind of take a break at the end of the year. Like I take two weeks at the end of the year and then two weeks in August. And this time I was like, I need four weeks off also to recalibrate, rethink about like, what is this podcast?
What do I wanna create with it? I went from doing a lot of solos to then thinking about or having amazing conversations with beautiful guests. And then from there it kinda went into like. A bunch of people reaching out to be guests on the podcast and then it kind of took a life of its own, which is beautiful, and how we got, you know, to over a hundred plus episodes.
And it was really good for me to reassess and be like, wait, what did it, what is it that I'm creating? Let's come back into, um, the driver's seat. Because a lot of times with our business that can happen, right? We can start something and then we get more clients and people are asking for a certain thing, and then we follow kind of the trend or what people are asking for, which makes sense.
It's a beautiful way to also listen to what customers want and. It's good to come back and center yourself and ask yourself, wait, what is it that I'm creating again? What is it that I actually want with this? Where am I going with it? Um, so yeah, that's where we are at. I'm really excited to focus the rest of September on solos and probably, I, I have four topics that I really wanna go through, so it'll probably also be the first week of October and then.
I will go back into having amazing, really exciting guests, uh, for you in October. And then I'll, you'll see what happens after that. Um, so my trip was beautiful. It was generally we with my husband, like to go to Europe together and I say Europe, Europeans are like, Europe is on a country. Yes, I know I'm French and yes, it's not a country.
But the thing is I go to Europe, like I don't just go to France. Um, and I'm very insanely lucky. Um, that I get to do that, but I, the reason is because I did my undergrad in. London or just outside of London and I went with a lot of international people and so most of my really close friends don't necessarily live in France.
And um, traveling through Europe is really easy and you can hop on places way more affordably than you can in the US And so I was able to first spend time in my parents' home, which is like. Such a little safe haven and it feels so good to be there. It's so beautiful. They've done such an amazing place, um, or job with the place and.
It was beautiful to be with all my nieces and nephews and we had so much fun. Um, it was also a lot, and one of the things I will say that I was proud of this year is that I opted out of a few group activities, which for me is not easy, and it was so good to then just have time for myself. Um, I tend to be like, oh my God, we get so little time together.
I need to make the most out of every single second, but then come out of these trips sometimes a little bit tired and depleted, and this time. I just took more time for me and yeah, it was really beautiful. Um, I made sure to move my body every day, whether it was through a yoga. I taught a few yoga classes with my, um, with the girls mainly of, or the woman of the family.
And then we also, I would go on walks or runs or. We actually bought weights, um, to be in my parents' house so that we would have Yeah, weights to work out in and just like little things, you know, just ways in which I keep, it's not routine because I really enjoy not having a routine on holiday. Like I'm really good about having a routine day to day that I enjoy the break.
It's more. These things that really fuel me and feed me and make me feel good in my body, uh, and in my mind and in my soul. So I got to do that, which was great. And we had so many beautiful moments. We got to paddleboard slash kayak under chin, so, which is this beautiful castle that is like a 10 minute drive from my parents' house.
Um, one afternoon I got to just go shopping in one of the little towns with my mom. And yeah, we just, like, I made granola, my parents love the granola that I make and it's not easy to find granola without sugar. Um, and so I like baked granola. We also, it's, it's a big preparation for all of us to be together for this long.
So we split up meals who does what? I don't think I mentioned this, but there is 18 of us, um, that are together. We're not only under one roof because my oldest sister, uh, did get her own place a few years ago with her family nearby. However, all the cousins like wanna sleep together all the time. So it's, we're we're basically 18 people under one roof most of the time.
Uh, so it's a lot, you know, with, with just that many people comes. A lot of expectations, a lot of emotions. Um, yeah, and I feel like obviously triggers come up because being with family, I think it's normal and I always feel like I learn so much about myself in spending this much time actually in the book letting go, the pathway to surrender, which is.
A book that I highly recommend if you haven't read it. They, um, David Hawkins, the author, talks a lot about how he went on a personal development journey to India and every time he would meet like a guru or somebody that you know. An elder, somebody that was offering like a Dharma talk or advice, he would ask like, what advice do you have for me?
And every single one of them would say, go home. Go home. Go home. Because he had escaped a certain situation. And actually what he needed to do was face it, head on at home. And I do believe that a lot of healing comes from going back into the tribe, not necessarily staying there, um, but just having these moments of time that help us understand.
Plus with personally how I manage it is also tied with like therapy coming back from it so that. Yeah, I can help process and integrate and understand all the things that have happened. Um, I also, so this year, um, my husband Sez had a big, big, big camping work trip, and he wasn't able to come at the dates that my whole family was there and.
For me, just the way that the vitalized cohorts were working out and the whole family coming, it was like this was the time that I could take vacation between my two cohorts and uh, and also be able to go when everybody is there. And so at first, obviously I was super bummed. And also this is something that we have really instilled in our marriage is that we.
Each take time for ourselves and that we are happy without each other. And it feels really strange to say this out loud because in some weird ways, I just think that I am not around a ton of people that experience that and that talk about experiencing that. And. For me, it's a really important part of our relationship.
Like yes, we love being with each other. Yes, we have amazing groups of friends together and we do a lot together. And also it's really beautiful to spend time apart. And actually right now he is in Florida with his family who lives there and he's loving it. And we just had a conversation today where he was like, yeah, at first I like.
I felt a little guilty for like, loving it and, you know, and I was like, enjoy. Like, it's, it's so important for us to be able to have our space and time, um, especially as we're still on the journey to try to have a family, which I will not talk about today, but this will definitely be a solo. Probably next week will be like a fertility update and decisions we're ready to make and all the things, but I'll keep it for next week.
Um, and so yeah, I was able to spend this much time with just my family. And then I was able to go to Spain to see some of my besties. We did undergrad together in London and it was so much fun. Um, we had rented this like a little like suite as a part of a villa, and we had zero idea, at least I had zero idea that we were gonna be able to have access to like everything of the villa except the villa.
Basically, it's like the big house. And then we had like, uh, you know, like a one bedroom suite as a part of it. And then they gave us access to an outdoor kitchen and a beautiful infinity pool with view of the sea. It was. Insane. Literally insane. If you're ever in Javier or in Costa Lanka and you wanna go there, DM me and I will send you the Airbnb link because it was super affordable for having access to like all of the villa amenities basically.
Um, so that was so beautiful. It was beautiful to. Yeah, like move slowly, eat delicious foods. One of my friends also had her baby there for the first time, so we like experienced what it was like to add a little baby to the group and it was really, really beautiful. I also love Spain. Um, there was a part of me that felt even more at home in some parts of the trip in.
Spain in terms of the Spanish culture versus the French one, which was interesting for me. Um, I think we all know that the French culture is not the most positive and service oriented, and it's actually kinda hard for me to like go home and see that because it makes me sad, um, that that's a part of my culture that I don't love.
There's a lot of the culture that I do love. Um, but yeah, that was like an interesting little moment and realization. And then afterwards I went to Copenhagen for the first time. Um, I have two really good friends also that live there that I had not visited. Um. One of them who, yeah, it was just really important for me to be there and we shared such beautiful moments and had such a good time.
Copenhagen is such a cool culture. Like I, if you haven't ever been there, there's a big, like sauna and cold, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Like jumping in cold water. I'm blanking. Ice dunking. What is it? I'm blanking on the name. Um. There, which is really cool. Like basically in the middle of the city in Copenhagen, there's a lot of like built in places in the canals where you can just jump in and swim.
And I found that such so cool, like you could see, 'cause I went there, people were working, it was during the week, but people were taking time like at lunch and just, or after work and just like jumping in the water. Obviously it was still summer and you know, the water's like cold, but it's not freezing cold and.
It was sunny and all the things, but these are things that people do year round, obviously not as much in the winter. Um, some people do that, others don't. Uh, winter bathing, I think it's called. But it was really cool. I love traveling so much for how much it opens up my perspectives and it like teaches me new things about myself.
And I also love traveling alone. Like I love traveling with my husband and it, we don't need to do everything together. And when I travel alone, I get to do it my way also with my friends, right? Like if he had come to. You're up this time around. Either we like wouldn't have seen the same friends in the same way or, yeah, it like he's more, I'm more of like a walk around, get to like, feel and smell and breathe and taste cultures.
He's more of like, wants to go to the museums and like the certain sites and things and so it was just really nice to go at my pace to do what I wanted. Um.
And yeah, to, to continue to cultivate this interdependence because actually before we left or before I left, we had just gone to Tahoe. I don't think I've talked about this on here, have I?
We had the most magical time in Tahoe. It was our third year. Oh my God, that's crazy to say out loud. Yeah. Third year wedding anniversary. And it was so beautiful. We had the best time. Um.
Yeah. And so it was really, it wasn't easy to leave like I was, there was a part of me that was sad to not see him 'cause I left for two and a half weeks and like, when you have your whole life together, it's a long time.
Um, and it was really good. Like it was really, it was great. And then I came back, it definitely wasn't. Easy coming back for a lot of different reasons. Um, and I think one of the things is because when you're like so used to having your own dynamic as a couple and then you each go like your separate ways and have your dynamics again and then to come back and you're like, oh, right.
We have like a way of working. But what I love about that is that it reminds us who we are deeply at our core and then what we choose to bring back into the relationship and.
Yeah, the like new perspectives and things we learned separately and like then the new ways of working together again, it's just, yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
Very beautiful thing. A few other reflections that came, um, during my trip. One, because of everything that's happening in the world right now, I had a big.
Reflection around the difference of being an expat versus being an immigrant, and how I've grew up as an expat because of, I mean, really because of the way that my dad was sent for work, right?
It was like expatriate contracts and like, that's how it all happened. Um.
But with everything that's ha and, and it's comes with a lot of privilege and beautiful experiences and, uh, and easefulness versus, you know, what we're experience Ian seeing in the world of seeing so many immigrants that are working so hard, um, to be.
Fearful in any, in a place, in, in the place of where they're living. Um, yeah, I don't, it was just, um, it made me, because today I would consider myself more of an immigrant than an expat in the us. Um, and.
I don't know that I have that much more to say, but it just provided me with like an identity shift, which I think is created depending on the way that, on the lens that you look or on On, yeah, on the lens that you have towards a certain situation.
And yeah, it's just been interesting. Um.
Anyways, it was, I don't know that I have that much more to reflect. Um, it's also like obviously a heavy topic and I know can be triggering and I'm just sending love. And then the other thing that came and that was very present to me was seeing how many friends like returned to their roots.
Whether it was, again, because I went to international school or you know, my girlfriends that I saw in Copenhagen, um, originally I met in San Francisco, and I feel like there's a lot of people around me that are choosing to go back to their roots, whether it's their roots, like where they grew up and are from, or their partner's roots.
And it really surprised me actually, um, not in terms of like their decision or any judgment or anything, but in terms of like the amount of people who around me in the last few years have gone back to their roots and.
What's weird for me is that I've never fully had fruits anywhere. Having, in case you haven't heard this before, I've moved around my whole life.
Um, but yeah, I think.
There is something that happens in your thirties and maybe especially as you're like starting to build your family and think about building family and settle down or, or different life events that happen that make you realize the importance of family.
Um, that yeah, have made a lot of people around me make that decision and it's an interesting thing to think about and.
You know, not that we don't think about, oh, should we live somewhere else? Um, because it is a thought that comes with living in a place as pricey as the Bay Area.
Um, and I really do believe that you can build community anywhere because I've experienced it my whole life.
Um, and also like I saw how beautiful it is, right?
To have family so close to have people you love so close. Um.
So, yeah.
I'm curious though, like, are you living close to your roots of origin and did you always, or if you're going back, what is the reason for going back? Um, I would love to have a conversation like more and to hear more perspectives. Um, yeah, it sparked curiosity in me and understanding or in seeing this, um, and who knows where we will be long term.
For now, we're really happy in the Bay Area and I don't think we're gonna move anywhere, at least not in the next three years. We'll see. Um, but yeah, it definitely gave me a lot of.
Reflections on, I think belonging and like, do we feel like we, can we belong anywhere? And does family have a tie to that? Um, yeah, I'm curious.
Tell me what you think. I would love to hear it. I just want to make these solos short and sweet. I wanna thank you for listening, for being here. Welcome back. I'm so excited to be back. And if you enjoy these episodes, please rate and review, share the episode with somebody. It makes literally the world of a difference in terms of downloads, in terms of just visibility, um, or share the real on social media if you see it.
I would be eternally grateful. I'm also doing a lot more with the Unlock Your Vitality community. So if you're just looking for a space to have a beautiful group of like-minded women that can exchange and share with you, I would love to see you. In our monthly calls, um, in the chats on the community board.
We just had a few new members start a podcast and share it on there. It's really, really beautiful to see how community can be built online and with people that I've literally never met in person, which is so crazy, but I feel like I know so.
My loves. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening, for being here, and next week's episode will be on fertility because that has been a rollercoaster of a journey, and I'm ready to share a little bit more with you all.
I love you. I'll see you next week. Bye.
