5 Things Inspiring Me As Society Collapses

Full Moon Reflections

Remember Scrappy and Fluffy from last year’s kitten adventures? Here they are all grown up! 😭 Brother and sister to my boys.

Managing the collapse of society as we have known it is a lot. There are so many feelings, so many expectations, and so many moments of debilitating despondency. I know, I know, “Don’t let them win!” I’m trying not to. Really and truly, I’m trying. Instead of divulging every insecurity and fear I have, I am going to focus on the positive, not in a toxic way, but in a productive way. Despite EVERYTHING, I am still finding inspiration from many sources, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

1. My Business

Running my group coaching, despite it being a very small and intimate duo, has been amazing. There has been genuine connection, insight, and reflection that comes from each of us. I am working on the May opportunity and will post it soon.

Receiving feedback and updates from people who have received Year Ahead Readings. Knowing that my work is something you check in on after I send it has been so validating and uplifting! Thank you for sharing those stories with me! If you have ever received a reading from me and want to leave a testimonial, feel free to comment, DM, or email!

It is the Full Moon tomorrow. If you’d like a 3-card spread, you can sign up for one here. I also have a manifestation card pull available.

I also have some other odd jobs that I do including tutoring through a company, and while the money is an actual slap in the face for my credentials, the families that I have been able to connect with make up for it. This gig also allows me to pay my student loan payment and the cats’ bills each month (they have better health insurances than I do haha).

I am also working with 3 of my favorite creators right now as well on some really neat collabs. All of this together is amounting to between 500 and 700 dollars per month, and while it’s nothing I could live on by myself, I am lucky to have a little savings and a partner who is happy to support me in my ventures and my year off to rest my body from the abusive work environment of the last 5 years.

2. Junk Journaling

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that my journaling game was on point for a few years, not a stick out of place. I have fallen out of that in an intense way. Consuming reels about unique junk journals that are well-planned out and a little more scrapbook inspired than just junk has me back in my journaling era.

I was watching lauratcraft, and I absolutely adored her Lemon Bar Recipe page. This spread in my Creativity Journal (by

Unearthing the Gift

) is about the French Onion Soup Rice I made this week. I also made an amazing fish curry this week as well. I love how this turned out. I love both of the recipes, and I want to document the inspiration that came from them. I don’t want an entire journal devoted to this, but I am taking the 4 last pages where the monthly reflection goes to put 4 loved recipes in.

My partner and I went out last night (which is why this post is a few hours late) to a Simpsons Trivia, and it was… Be nice… I’m finding it… It was A LOT. The guy who runs it has no idea how to use a mic, and I was immediately overwhelmed and felt the need to rip my own skin off. LUCKILY!!! We happened to be at a table with Boggle. So I played Boggle and dissociated into the world of words. My little brain was so very happy. I saved a coaster and my scrap of words to put into my weekly tracker, and it’s not a full spread of junk journaling, but the elements are there. I truly have been so inspired by this journaling style.

3. Cooking

In March, I decided to give Violife cheese a try. It reinvigorated my love for food and eating. Y’all, I hadn’t had cheese since 2014. That first quesadilla? I about cried with joy. They’ve now raised the price $1.50/package so we’re back to no cheese, and my 6 slices of gluten free bread are $7 again so absolutely no bread. No cheese. Only better for me foods… nasty.

That being said, I have been trying to be very intentional about my protein intake because I can feel a noticeable difference in my focus, brain capacity, and energy when I am intentionally eating for protein, and that means I need to get creative with the recipes because a bitch is picky!

I tried this amazing curried fish recipe this week. It called for cod, but I used pollock because it was $5 instead of $25! We’re picky, laden with food allergies, AND poor. The curry was everything I wanted it to be. We put it over red chard, mushrooms, onions, and rice. We gobbled it up. It was a lot of protein, and it was lean, healthy protein WITH some green veggies. What more could anyone ask for?

I then got it into my head that we absolutely NEEDED that French Onion Soup Rice. Listen, we DID, and it was delicious, BUT I can barely cut a single onion before I’m blind and almost chopping off my digits. This required FOUR. FOUR ONIONS to be sliced. I didn’t know if I would make it. I kept just running to open windows hoping that I would regain vision long enough to finish prepping the damn meal.

This meal has no protein in it, but I added in some diced up pork chops, and it was a great addition to the recipe. Here’s the thing about recipes: they’re guidelines not the be all end all. HAVE FUN when you cook. Imbue your food with intention, with love, with joy, with gratitude. Notice the difference in the taste of your food when you come from a place of gratitude and intention.

4. Gardening

Y’all, this is the year for gardening for me! I of course planted on the most beautiful spring days. The weather is no longer cooperating, and the slugs have unearthed my potatoes to use them as a snack. It’s fine. It’s cool. I did not go into this with huge expectations. I grew up on a quarter acre farm. I know how much failure goes into gardening. That being said. Having plants that I get to grow, that can potentially feed us during this turbulent time is incredibly inspiring.

If you can’t garden, try walking around outside and admiring others’ gardens. Being outside in an intentional way, AND experiencing the outdoors in an intentional way while inside has been very inspiring. When the big spring rains come, I don’t close the windows. I open them wide and welcome that fresh, cleansing rain into my home.

5. Reading

Ok, I am going to be honest. I have been struggling to read and stay engaged with my books lately. I usually read 7-10 books per month. It is the middle of April, and I’m only on my 4th… one of which I DNF’d.

BUT!

In general, I find reading (audiobooks in particular) to be very inspiring. The last book to really inspired me was The Wild Robot Protects. As I listened, I wanted nothing more than to build an entire unit or 3 around this book. There is so much that can be done. Science, of course, and because they talk about conservation and pollution, it can be done at older grades for students who have lower reading abilities. Research on habitats for younger kids, specific animals, etc. There is a lot of good tier 3 vocabulary. You can talk characters and character relationships. Everything about this series is amazing. This book is especially wonderful. I think it’s my favorite of the three.

The boys are about to celebrate their first birthday. I am so proud of how healthy and happy they are. My little librarian and dumb bro jock, haha. (The librarian is actually the dum-dum, and the bro jock is frighteningly intelligent.) Celebrating one year of watching kittens become cats is an honorary inspiration mention!

In this time of fascism and societal collapse, what hope, inspiration, joy are you grasping on to? I’d love to hear what is inspiring you!