Quick question, and answer it fast, before the polished version kicks in. When someone asks how you are, how often is the answer some version of “so busy”? And when you say it, is there a tiny part of you that says it like a flex? Or is it just autopilot?

For most of my life, I wore busy like a badge of honor. Head down, collecting gold stars, doing every single thing I thought you were supposed to do to be “successful.” And to me, busy meant I was a hard worker. Busy meant I had my shit together. If I was not slammed, I was not on track to be the successful person i wanted to be.

Busy was the badge I wore to prove I mattered. You might be wearing one too?

We are taught that hard work and discipline and doing it all are what get you there. And maybe they get you somewhere (they did for me). But is it the life you want (or still want) if the cost is the well being of your mind, body, family…

A year ago I flipped it. I left a fifteen-year corporate career with no real plan, well, a solid savings, my intuition, and an understanding of my risk and runway. And named the thing I was building Life at Play, which terrified my mom. She called, worried that if people thought I was just playing around, no one would ever take me seriously and hire me.

That is kind of the point, I told her… I have a lot to unlearn and learn about myself. And I think playing around is the best way to do it.

These days I’ve been experimenting with building the life I want first, and the work that funds it second. (I also quit saying “I’m so busy,” and you would be amazed how hard that is.)

So here is the thing I do every quarter. I stop. I pick my head up. I get honest about where I am and where I am going, and I pick a small experiment to get a little closer to who I am becoming. Not from a mountaintop with the answers. From the middle of it, still figuring it out. Chaos and all!!

This last quarter I skipped it, and I felt it. The whole summer had a low, itchy, off-kilter feel, and it took me until now, kids back in school, to clock that I never picked my head up. I just kept going. And let me be real, I need this every season as much as anyone.

So I’m doing it here, out loud, every season, because you deserve a place to actually stop and look too.

Every season I sit down, do my own Pick Your Head Up, and share it so you can do yours. A lot of it is the best of what we do at the in-person Life at Play Days in Serenbe, plus the check-in’s I send everyone who has worked with me one-on-one.

I fill in every answer, real numbers and mess and all, so you are never the only person in the room being honest. I go first, all the way, so you don't have to.

Come along.

Before you start, a few ground rules

Pick a date and protect it. Put it on the calendar like a meeting you cannot move. 60 to 90 minutes, phone down, nobody needs you. This does not work squeezed between drop-off and a call.

Make it a treat, not a task. I’m talking the coziest corner you have, or outside under the trees. A candle, a coffee, a glass of wine if it is that kind of afternoon. Take a few breaths and ground yourself first, one minute works just fine. Then begin. It is meant to feel good. That is the whole point!

Rather be walking? Or talk it out? I have run this with an AI transcriber (like Wispr Flow, Granola or Otter) in my ear on a walk, and had it transcribe what I said while I walk around talking out loud to myself like a crazy person :).

This is for your eyes only. My first time truly looking under the hood, I kept it locked in a drawer, it felt so raw. Years in, I am a lot more open. Write it for you first,then decide about sharing after.

Write fast and sloppy. First thing that pops in, no judging. That first instinct you almost skip is usually the one that needs to come out. This is not hours of homework. Move quick, stay honest, see what surfaces.

Okay, here we go.

1. The Life Check-In (5 min)

A gut-check on your whole life in about five minutes. Grab the full free Life Check-In here. You score each slice of life, nutrition, sleep, money, sex (yep, that one too), all of it, from 0 to 100, and mark whether it is climbing, holding, or sliding. I do this one any time I feel off and cannot name why, and with Greg when we need to zoom out on us. Do not try to get everything to 100. Nobody’s board is all green, and chasing that is its own kind of crazy. You are just hunting for where you are quietly out of whack. That is it.

2. Your core values (15 min)

Businesses get core values. So do you, and yours are more useful. If you have never named yours and feel stuck, here is how. I know, “values” can sound like a laminated poster in a boring break room nobody cares about. Personal ones hit different. Mine are basically a cheat code for saying no: is this a yes to how I want to live, or another “should” I picked up somewhere along the way? If it doesnt align with my values, easy pass. (If you are a chronic yes-person, this one is about to change your life, and I am only slightly kidding.) Already have yours? Check in, still true?

Since mine are locked, I did a spin this season and wrote our family rules instead. More on that, and Greg’s genius childhood ones, in my answers section.

3. What does a good, successful life mean to you right now? (10 min)

The big one, and the one that surprises people most. Two ways in, do one or both. Big picture: what does a good, successful life mean to you right now, not the ones from five years ago? Then get granular and walk one perfect ordinary day. What are you eating? Where are you? Who is there? What are you doing at 10am, at 3pm? How do you feel in your body?

ok now notice… your ideal day is secretly telling you your definition of success, just wearing a disguise. Do yours match?

4. Your girl crushes (or guy crushes) (10 min)

The fun one. Write down the people you are low-key obsessed with. Not the ick jealous, why-her kind of noticing, the good kind, the ones who lift you up, inspire you. Or you are infatuated with but never stopped to think… why? Get curious.

Then get specific: is it how they move through the world, what they have built, their whole aesthetic, the way they treat the barista? Then look for the patterns. Mine told on me before I had any idea: every woman I was crushing on had built something of her own. I wanted in those rooms. So I went.

Your crushes might just be a map to what you really want. Read the map.

5. If you were 90, looking back (5 min)

Fast forward. You are 90, tea in hand, comfy shoes on, looking back on this exact season of your life. What do you hope you did with it? And what are you so glad you finally stopped putting off?

6. Your unhinged dream (5 min)

My favorite, and the one you might want to skip. DON’T! Your most ridiculous, unrealistic, slightly unhinged dream, the one that makes you go “lol, no.” Write it anyway.

Yes, especially that one. Nobody is reading this but you.

7. Your one experiment for the season (10 min)

And the whole point. Pick ONE small thing to play around with this season that nudges you toward the person you just described. One. Not a list, not a five-year plan, not a whole new you by Monday. And when I say play, I do not mean frolicking through a meadow with bunnies (though if that is the dream, go be free). I mean a tiny, low-stakes experiment pointed at the life on your mind: a coffee with someone already doing the thing, offering to help a friend with it for free, one class, one small test. The smallest real step that counts.

Here is why it works: every little step shows you something you could never see from the couch, and it builds momentum, so you are not frozen at the bottom of some terrifying leap. You are moving. You get to feel what that life is like on a regular Tuesday before you bet the house on it. Clarity comes from the doing, not the thinking.

So, what is your one experiment this season? Tell me in the comments. And tell me what you're wrestling with this season. I read every one, and it's how I know what to help with next.

Leave a comment

A quick note: Normally the second half, where I fill in every answer from my own real life, numbers and mess and all, willjust be for paid members. This first one, I am handing you the whole thing, free, as a taste of what these are.

How I answered these this quarter

1. My Life Check-In

Fast and honest, no rounding up to look good.

• Nutrition, 70% ↑. I’ve been a “healthy eater” for most of my life, but I did indulge this summer, and I will be real, the vape pen or glass of wine has been getting more play than usual, which has sent my late-night snacking up with it.

• Body and movement, 60% ↑. Lower this season err years with kids. I am active with my family but I am lacking a consistent workoutt (even my normal consistent walks have died with the summer heat). The goal now that the kids are back in school is one class a week, and two walks every week. Hit that and I am a solid 80 which feels great.

• Sleep, 100% →, baby. I am extremely skilled at this one and it’s a huge priority for me. I’ve always felt like I should have it listed on my resume. I know big brag ;)

• Stress and nervous system, 70% →. Kids, at the early stages of starting Business and trying to figure out how much money to invest into it vs pay myself are my main stressors today. + Greg has been stressed at work lately and that ripples through all of us, but I fell okay about where it’s at. 4 years ago this was around a 15%, so I’ll take 70% any day.

• Relationships, 90% →. Rock solid. Amazing friends, great family, good people. couples therapy paid off in big ways, and I’ve been very focused on a small number of close relationships lately and just feel very held by them all.

• Purpose and direction, 95%→ on a good day, 30%→ on a bad one. I think that is just building your own thing from scratch. Some days I feel unstoppable, some days I am crumbling and doubting it all. The funny part is I keep circling back to what I set out to do at the very beginning. I just apparently have to take a few wrong turns to find my way back to myself.

• Work and career, 50%→. Big dreams, barely started. I like to act like I am not in a rush to grow, and arrive. That is a lie. I am. My ambition runs hot and I am practicing being okay right where I am, because this scrappy part is probably the best part. but it would also be very nice to have consistent, repeatable income coming in… but we are just not there yet.

• Money, 20%↑ (up I hope). The lowest number on my whole board. I have always been a consistent, steady high earner, and this is the first year I am not. Which, said out loud, makes total sense, but also fucks with my mind the most. You do not build something from zero and fall into money right away. A lucky few do, and if I am being fully honest, I quietly hoped I would be one of them, the strange anomaly who cracks it fast... But I did not even have a paid offer or way to work deeper with me out in the world until five months ago. So a six-figure first year was never realistic.

  Knowing that does not stop it from getting to me. About once a month I have to sit with the discomfort and stare it dead in the face, because money has started to feel like a little ticking time bomb, my quiet worst fear being that the income does not follow and I do not get to keep doing this thing I love. Then I remember why I started, put my head down, take the next step, and trust the money will follow.

  Here is something I didn’t realize until today. A few years ago I had the exact opposite problem: plenty of money, and a daily “can I really do this same soul sucking song and dance again?”, the sunday night scaries were STRONG. I flipped the whole thing on its head. Now I love my days and I am sweating the money. But freedom is one of my core values, and freedom needs both, work I love AND money coming from it. So I keep returning to the grounding truth: I worked hard for a safety net exactly so I could afford building years like this one, right at the start of building something, and trust it will come together when it is supposed to.

• Joy, fun, play, 90% →. I have been protecting this hard, and even buried in kid and a house renovation chaos I amlaser-focusedd on making sure it all stays fun.

• Sex and intimacy, 70% →. Earlier this year when I first did this activity I was shocked to find this was at an all-time low and I had zero awareness around it. We have been putting real attention on it. I will not lie, a few of my fairy smut books have been putting me in the mood and giving me some new ideas (wink).

• Spirituality, 65% →. Strong last year, still present, but I have let the daily practice slide. I have aspirations of getting it back, even just a daily 5 min meditation goes a long way for me.

2. My core values

Freedom, joy, kindness, growth. Locked, and they have been for a while. like 5 years

• Freedom sits at the top, and it is the one that pulled me out of my old career. It is four things for me: money (enough to do and afford what I want), time (deciding how and when I spend my days), community (who i surround myself with) and place (where I get to be while I do it). Here is what I did not see for years: I had the kind of freedom money can buy, but almost none over my time (9-5, 5 days a week) or location (strictreturn-to-officee rules). That gap is what finally got me to leave. What I want now is to work and live when I want, how I want, where I want, andhave enough in the bank to spend it on the people and experiences that make a life. Turns out there is a lot that goes into freedom…

• Joy is the one I refuse to treat as optional. Even in a life full of kid logistics and to-do lists, I am protecting the fun, because a life that is not fun is not a life I want.

• Kindness, if you spend five minutes with me, I want you to walk away lifted, like you could take on the world. period. That is the person I want to be for my kids, for Greg, for my close circle, and for you. (I know I inherited this one from my incredible mother, I’m not sure what her values are but I know kindness is at the top). Also if you are not a kind person… I ain’t got time for that.

• Growth is simple. I always want to be learning. I do not do stagnant. If I am not growing and learning, I get itchy.

Since my values haven’t moved in the last 5 years, I decided to take a different angle with this question and apply them to our family and house rules. One night Greg wrote out the ones he grew up with, from memory, and they were so good we printed them and hung them on the wall where everyone can see. His are the practical, slightly bossy kind: if you open it, close it, if you make a mess clean it up.

Reading his made me want a lighter, sillier, more us version to turn into art and hang on a wall for all to see. So I am painting one (inspired by Jordy Rose). Still narrowing to 5 or 6, but the running list:

Be kind.
All are welcome.
Go outside.
Come as you are.
Laugh daily.
Quit on a good day.
Breathing is your superpower.
Be helpful.
Big feelings (and farts) o.k.

3. What a good, successful life means to me right now

Success right now is making money that funds the best most alive version of my life I can imagine while working hard on something that helps people become the greatest version of themselves. It is being someone who does not get lost in the sauce of life, who lives fully and a little wildly, who is playful, and who is rock-solid dependable to her people. It is being a caring mother who helps my kids become their greatest selves too. It is being the partner to Greg who prioritizes art and play and fun and also runs a thriving business that does not consume me but lifts me up and does not need me feeding it every single day.

I know a run on sentence. That’s it in the raw.

What that actually looks like the freedom to work 25-30 hours most weeks and take two full months off a year. Plus a five-hour chunk each week that is not for work but for growing, self-care, and nourishing myself, no guilt, no shame.

My ideal day: half the week I wake up with an hour to myself to move, meditate, make art, or write, plus a guilt-free ten minutes on my phone because I like it and I refuse to be ashamed of it (I just refuse to lose the whole hour to it). The other days I wake up naturally with the kids and flow into a family breakfast, something healthy and nourishing eggs, greens, and coffee with milk (always). Then I make something for the business or just for me. Around 2 or 3 I get up and I move my body, or I see a friend, or I cook, then one more hour or two of work, then I get the kids, and I am theirs for the evening + a monthly girls’ night and date night with my hubby. Ideally, we do a simple family dinner with friends, homemade, from our garden or local farms and bakers, feeding the people and places around us.

4. My girl crushes, and the pattern

Right now I am crushing on the writer , and always on , Glennon Doyle, Dax Shepard, Amy Poehler, and Malcolm Gladwell. On Instagram I love Clara Infante, Sierra Campbell, Alice Grace, , Emily Henderson, and Tim Chiusano, plus a pile of artists.

Here is what surprised me. This list used to be all people from the yoga and wellness world. Now it is writers/podcasters, artists, and creatives. That shift is telling me something, and I am listening.

5. If I were 90, looking back

I want to look back and see how many lives I impacted in big and small ways, and that I did it without burning myself down. That I stayed off the treadmill, stayed calm, stayed close to my family and my art, and focused on simplifying my life (less is more kinda thing). I hope I can say I lived fully and wildly… and of course that I’ve lived a life at play.

6. My unhinged dream

The first thing that popped out, and I do not know what it says about me: getting to choose which brands pay me to share their work, on my terms, in a way that is real, instead of waiting around to be asked. And the properly unhinged one: my newsletter written up as the publication to help and inspire people to build a wild, great life on their own terms.

But I think the real thing is a community of people that value and will pay for things Icreate - whether thats a newsletter, art, a book. wherever creativity and fun takes me. And enough money to be able to invest in others building out their dreams.

I know i said one… but this was my stream of consciousness and Im not over thinking it. just getting it on paper.

7. My one experiment this season

The main one is prioritizing art for no reason at all than enjoyment. But my whole business is one big experiment I am running right now: hosting gatherings, doing one-on-one intensives, writing consistently, showing up on Instagram and substack consistently.

ok and the scary one is I’d like to carve out space to start making big swing asks.

You can do all of this on your own. That is the whole point, and it is plenty. But if you would rather not do it alone, or you are in a properly stuck season and want to go deeper, there are a couple of ways in with me:

Life at Play Days, in person. Every season I host one in Serenbe, a full day doing this exact work in a room with the right people. Walking, journaling, giggling, real talk, good food, nature, the whole thing. They are small on purpose and they fill. People on this list, get first access every time, a full 48 hours before spots open to the public. The next one is October 2nd, and I am opening it next week.

Private Intensives. For a bigger change, or a season you’d rather not white-knuckle alone, I take a few private clients at a time. Different doors, same idea. Come find me.

Now lift your head up, and go do yours. And keep me posted on how it goes!

In your corner,

xx Gina

P.S. Know someone in the middle of a “wait, is this it?” season? Forward this. The best ones find their way through friends.

The kids head back next week and the calendar has structure again (wahoooo). I’ve missed the rhythm more than I expected to… but i’m going to miss lunch with my kiddos too. It also feels like half the town has been on extended vacations and half is new, so if you just landed here: welcome. You picked a good spot.

New and not sure what this is? Around Here is my (hiii, I’m Gina, more on me here) neighborly guide and community project to keep us all connected in the Serenbe and Chatt Hills area. Scroll to the bottom anytime to submit an event, get your business listed in the local directory, or send me a scoop. There are just shy of 1,000 of us here, and the more you use and share it, the better it gets.

Around Here is supported this week by A Movable Feast

Four things. It’s all made from scratch. The owner and chef, Gia Rosenfeld, trained at Le Cordon Bleu (the top French cooking school). She owns SnackBar, the prettiest copper food truck you’ve ever seen. And she cooks up culinary experiences all over Atlanta.

So yes, kinda a big deal, and we’re lucky she’s right here. Got a dinner or an event that deserves better than the usual? She’s your person. She’s also hiring, so if you know someone good with food prep, send them her way.

Oh, and this Friday she’s serving up summer Italian in front of the General Store. Get your order in early, she will sell out. Details and menu here →

A Few Things I’d Tell You If We Ran Into Each Other

Lots of food stuff ;)

A real pizza joint is coming to Palmetto. The creator of Mellow Mushroom and his daughter are opening Pulliam’s Pizza & Alignment THIS FALL . Yup, so we know it’s going to be damn good. To be clear, not a Mellow Mushroom, a one-of-a-kind creation with Pizza + a full menu of your family favorites. Complete with some fun art installs. I’m talking a yellow brick road, bowling ball fence, and ceramic tiles from local artist Morgan Boszilkov. + the Instagram is a fun follow while you wait.

Good Place Farm now has a U-Pick in Chatt Hills. Wander the garden daily, 7am to 10pm, now through October. Ten dollars a visit or $100 for a season pass. Right now it’s peppers, cherry tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and zinnias. Here’s a cutie, quickie video on how to do it.

Chaka’s is coming to Mado in Serenbe. A plant-based cafe is moving into the old Radical Dough spot. No inside scoop here, but there’s a sign on the door, and I found this website.

If You Leave the House, Start Here

• Summer Classical Music Series by Art Farm, Sunday nights at 7:30pm. Four left before summer’s out, and dang they are spectacular: Aug 9 Kevin Lyons on trumpet, Aug 16 Khari Joyner on cello, Aug 23 Charae Krueger and Helen Kim on cello, Aug 30 Bryn Holdsworth and Luke Harnish on opera. See the lineup →

• Health & Healing Workshops at Serenbe Farms, Aug 13 & Aug 27, 6:30pm. A little land-based herbal craft, and you leave with what you made: a custom Serenbe tea blend on Aug 13 ($35), a soothing dock-root salve on Aug 27 ($55) Reserve a spot →

• Bloom Bingo at Birdhouse Market, Thu Aug 13, 6:30pm. Native Bloom hosts a night of plant bingo in the café: two cards, multiple rounds, curated plant and floral prizes, plus wine, coffee, and light bites. $35 Reserve a seat →

🗓️ Browse the full event calendar → lifeatplay.co/events

Tiny, slightly invasive question:

Vote above, then settle it for me: where's your favorite farm stand or market find? Drop it in the comments.

Leave a comment

If You Missed It

• Art Farm Soiree is Sat, Sep 26, 6pm This year’s soiree is James Bond themed, gaming tables and all, raising money for a new sculpture garden at Deer Hollow.

• Local author Juliet Cutler just won Georgia Author of the Year. For Lessons in Hope, her book of interviews and portraits of more than twenty Maasai women. Grab it (and her memoir, Among the Maasai) at Hills & Hamlets.

• Jill Annetta is back on the table. Everyone’s favorite deep massage masseuse, formerly at the Serenbe Spa, is now at Skin Real on Thursdays and Fridays.

• Kids after-school tennis starts at Serenbe Courts. High Velocity Tennis is running Thursday and Sunday sessions for ages 5 to 14, starting Aug 13. It’s $140 for one day a week, $250 for two. Text coach Antonio at 404-951-1120.

• Soccer Shots is back at the Serenbe field this fall. Little-kid soccer for ages 2 to 8, Mondays and Fridays, September through December. Register →

• Serenbe Farms Kids Gardening after-school program starts back up August 25

• Fresh Harvest delivers to Serenbe. Organic produce and groceries you can customize, dropped at your door on Fridays. I've been a customer of this nonprofit for 8+ years. My link gets you $30 off your first order (and me $30 toward mine).

• Mash Bakes now has a muffin subscription. Ashleigh’s low-sugar mini muffins, the ones you’ve grabbed at the farmers market, are now a subscription so you don’t have to brave the heat. Six-packs, weekly ($4.50) or bi-weekly ($5).

• A local pediatric autism program. Ashley O’Shields and her sister, a pediatric team here in Serenbe, run a family-centered program: functional evaluation, parent training, and child counseling that complements your existing care. Learn more

• The August Chatt Hills city news is out. Read it

Currently in Season (Locally)

• Figs. Short window, they’re here now, get them before the wasps do.

• Gardens are popping: Peppers, tomatoes, peas, okra, squash, cucumbers, zinnias, sunflowers just to name some.

• Goodbye peaches and blueberries. See you again next year. Im currently freezing as many peaches as I can. What are you putting up this year?

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown. Click and find out.

1.

2.

3.

Enjoy!

See you at the parks.

xx, Gina

P.S. No Playdate in August (back in September). What I'm actually building right now is the next Life at Play Day, and if you want to be first to hear and grab a spot before it fills, get on the list here.

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍Explore the Local Directory
Want in? ➕Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

I’m on the porch and it’s 6:40am. This month Greg and I hit ten years married, in Steamboat Springs, with zero gifts (unless you count a vacuum and a house renovation, which we absolutely do). I slept in two beds and a couch, did not open my laptop for ten days, and I would like credit for that. Oh, and it’s my 37th birthday tomorrow.

I’m also up to ten pills a day, and my #1 goal this month is to sweat more.

Ten pills. We’ll get to it.

Here’s the deal with this thing: once a month I write down what I did, made, paid for, and broke. What I’m into, what I’m not. No affiliate links, nothing in here pays me. If you love it, tell me. If you never open it, tell me that too. And if it’s not your thing, there’s a button at the bottom to update what you get from me, where you can uncheck “Play by Play,” and I’ll be fine. (I’ll be a little sad. But fine.)

Committing to it through December, then I’ll look at what you tell me.

Here’s July.

1. I fell off my e-bike. Like, bad. Rory (my 5-year-old) was on the back. He came out without a scratch, not a bruise, nothing. Thank gawd for the cage on the back, this one specifically. I busted my knee open, bruised both palms, got some road rash. Damn lucky. We were both back on the bike a few days later, because I still cannot get enough of that thing, it makes me feel like… well Superman. Now I just watch for gravel on the turns like a hawk, and we’re adding this cage to our home bikes.

2. We’re $35,000 over budget on the renovation, so the furniture and finishing touches are getting thrifted, sewn, and scraped together. We’re behind on the timeline too, and that’s on me, I switched designers the week of demo and I’ve been sloooow on every call. But I feel weirdly good about it, because I padded my own head with a $50k buffer and two extra months from the start. So we’re actually under my number and right on time for the deadline I actually believed.

3. The one I actually regret from the reno isn’t a purchase. It’s that I didn’t sit with my design style longer. Normally I would have. The baby years did something to me, my style is moving, I stopped pinning to Pinterest, and I’ve second-guessed basically every choice in this house. In short, I don’t fully trust my own taste right now, which is a strange thing to admit out loud at (almost) 37 when I’ve always thought of myself as someone with good taste. Cheers to the Pinterest revival. Mine’s here. And thank god for my designer, Maddie Collmus at Well Made Interior, I couldn’t have done this without her.

4. $20 for two frilly teal striped twin comforters with that perfect worn-in softness from a neighbor, my only thrifted find this month (after basically buying a quarter of someone’s moving sale last month). The plan is to sew them into one big quilt for Dottie’s big girl bed. I’ve watched four YouTube videos, and I am no closer to starting. Every comforter in this house is thrifted except one, the Schoolhouse quilt I splurged on for our bed last year. That one I’d buy again and again as it also has the worn-in softness feel.

5. We did my son’s 5th birthday at the Trillith movie theater (Minions and Monsters), thanks to July in Georgia and a poorly timed sickness. I texted his friends 24 hours out, snuck goodie bags in inside a birthday gift bag like a criminal, and over-ordered popcorn. Turns out nobody cares if your 2-year-old wanders the aisles for half the movie. $12 a kid, $15 an adult, plus $7 a bag of popcorn. Then we hit Barley Garden, sat out back while the kids soaked themselves head to toe in the super cool stream, and by some miracle we all packed changes of clothes.

6. My bloodwork came back, and I’m not crazy. Whew. I went to STAT Wellness after six months of feeling just dang off, mostly the week of and before my period, plus acne in the weirdest places (under my ears, my forehead, my back). Turns out my testosterone is double a normal woman’s, and my progesterone, magnesium, and vitamin D are all low. Orders: sweat, drink an electrolyte daily, eat cruciferous greens, take some supplements. I saw Nurse Practitioner Elise Hettenbach out of Peachtree City, and she was a gem. All virtual except the blood draw. $742 all in so far: $389 for the first appointment (a full hour on my history and lifestyle), $199 for the second (30 minutes reviewing results and the plan), and $155.82 on supplements from Fullscript I’ll refill monthly till I-don’t-know-when. But dang, it worked, and fast. I forgot I could feel this good.

7. The pool between 5 and 7. Everyone’s gone home to make dinner, so we eat ours there, usually out of one Tupperware with a dish towel and a few shared forks. Best hour of the day.

8. I’ve made art a weekly thing now, for no reason except I love it. It’s where I drop into flow, and I’ve learned to treat that as a sign to do more of it. Still on a watercolor kick with these Emily Lex Studio books I found at Typo Market (five deep), and this month I turned an old canvas, a watered-down paint sample, and some oil sticks into a bouquet. I found the kids’ washable paint sticks first, fell for how smooth they glide, and promoted myself to the grown-up oil version. Love love love.

9. $26 on Thrive tubing mascara my sister loves. Regret. Great concept, doesn’t run down your face in the pool, but eight hours in my eyes itched so badly I was washing my face by 4 pm. The hunt for the perfect mascara for invisible blonde lashes continues. Their auburn brow gel ran too dark too, so I’m back to my Anastasia and Glossier brows. Although I just had them freshly dyed at my last haircut and you can’t beat that. I just can’t make myself go get them dyed every month. Someone said try mustache dye. As a redhead I’m both horrified and considering it. Tell me if you know something I don’t.

10. More fairy smut books. Finished three of Raven Kennedy’s Plated Prisoner books this month, on audio, free from the library on Libby. Good, not Fourth Wing good, not ACOTAR good, and I stayed irked the whole time that the heroine keeps doing the opposite of what any reasonable person would do. Wouldn’t quite recommend it, clearly couldn’t stop. On the kids’ side: five years old is not too early for Harry Potter. My son loves it and I love it more. The giant illustrated version is 100% worth it, and The BFG is going down well too (both a little scary, my kid apparently has the tolerance for it).

11. Trying to watch less TV, going about as well as you’d expect in July. The kids are feral for Grizzy and the Lemmings. I’m genuinely all over the place, House of the Dragon to Little House on the Prairie to Pulp Fiction, in a single month. The one I bailed on: The Curse. It made me squirm and I tapped out.

12. Reading/listening on substack lately. Mostly supporting my friends and neighbors creating on here: , , , , , . + Substacks that inspire and push me as a writer: and and

13. First time in maybe ten years, since my honeymoon, that I didn’t open my laptop for over a week. Ten days. Proud of that. And also quietly sure I should be further along with this business I chose on purpose. I’m working on that one. It usually finds me at 4pm before I shut my computer.

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Coming up: a free live webinar next week, The Career Gut Check, with . If you’ve been asking “is this the right path,” come. The next free Playdate (my walking club) in Serenbe is the first Friday of September, sign up here. And I have two 1:1 spots opening in August, which always start with a free 30-minute consult to see if we’re a fit.

My August goal: break a real, dripping sweat three times a week. Sauna, hot yoga, or a hot walk. I’ll report the count next month.

Two things before I go. Tell me the worst thing you bought this month, hit reply, I read every one, and the best goes in the next issue with your first name (with your okay). And if you want the full first-timer home reno breakdown once we wrap, real numbers, over-budget and all, reply and let me know so I know to write it.

Next month: the renovation wraps (god I hope), and the rootball I’ve been drying in my basement for four years finally goes on the wall. I know. I can’t explain it either.

See you on the trails,

xx Gina

We say it like a joke, but there is some truth behind it. Two women who watched a lot of Practical Magic and a lot of Betty White, now grown, now with kids and mortgages and a shared understanding that the ending most people are quietly planning (The Notebook. duh.) likely isn’t the realistic one.

Because here is what we know for sure:

I said a version of this on Instagram last week and a lot of you came running, which tells me something. Everyone I know is talking about their 401(k) and savings. The number, the age, the market, the plan. Nobody is saying the thing underneath it, which is that they don’t want to be old and alone.

I fact-checked myself before I said this to you

American women live about 4.9 years longer than American men.

In 2024 it was 81.4 for women, 76.5 for men, per the CDC. Not a huge number until you really think about it and say it in front of your husband at dinner, and then it becomes a very large number. My son just turned 5, and A LOT happened in the last 5 years.

The one that gets me is this. After 75, 43% of women live alone. For men it’s only 24%.

There are 9 million widows in this country and 2.9 million widowers (so 3x). And by the time you hit 100, 78% of the people in the room are women.

Side note: I should be fair to the numbers, because they’re moving. Men’s mortality has been improving faster than women’s, and the gap is closing. In 2001 there were about 51 men for every 100 women over 80. By 2025 it was 68. So the room is filling back in.

Good. I’m rooting for that.

But I’m still planning the house with my sister and friends.

Because the thing about the Golden Girls plan is that it was never about being 80 (they are actually in their 50’s in the show). It’s about right now, and about a mistake I already made once, at 27, in a beautiful loft in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Atlanta.

Not One Friend in the neighborhood

Before Serenbe, we lived in Inman Park.

If you’re not from Atlanta, know this: it’s the one with Victorian houses, giant porches, the kind of street people pin to a board. We had a beautiful little loft on a beautiful block and I would have told you, with a straight face, that it was the best place to live.

However… we did not have one friend who lived there. Not one.

So it was Greg and me most nights in our loft, or it was the car. Get in the car, drive across town, park, see our friends, drive home. Which meant, if I’m being accurate about it, that we mostly did not do that. It was too much effort, and effort is what kills a Tuesday. This was before kids, by the way. We had nothing but time, and we still couldn’t be bothered.

And I told myself the thing everyone tells themselves (or maybe it’s just us?). When we have kids, we’ll make friends here. The playground will do it. The school will do it. It’ll happen to us the way it seems to happen to everybody else.

I left before I found out.

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An ordinary Tuesday

Now I live on a street where two (and as of last week three!) of my closest friends are within seven houses of me.

Last week one of them returned my fish, her boys had been watching him while we were out of town, and nipped some parsley from my garden on the way out. I borrowed another one’s minivan, because we’re a one-car household and she was gone, and when I grabbed her keys I noticed the tank was on E so I filled it up. I made bread that afternoon with fancy milled flour she buys in bulk and splits with me. (First loaf in six months, so please do not picture me as the kind of woman who makes sourdough every week).

Then my kids and I walked down to the third one’s house, which is still a wall of boxes because she just moved in, and we helped her unpack and the kids built forts out of the boxes and we ate pizza and drank a beer standing up in the middle of it.

And most Tuesdays, when it isn’t 90 degrees, we’re eating dinner on the front porch and someone walks by and just sits down. There probably isn’t enough food. We combine what we have, it is not a beautiful meal, the kids are thrilled. Nobody planned it, nobody sent a calendar invite, and by 6:15 there are four extra people on my porch.

This was not an unusual week. And I pinch myself about once a week. How did I get so lucky? What are the odds?

The odds were excellent, because I engineered it. (errr I guess the founder of Serenbe did and I took notice and moved to the place). But I did some work too. When houses come up for sale on my street, I call my friends. When I notice someone refinishing their floors, or painting their house - I snoop and ask if they are getting ready to sell (don’t laugh, it’s worked!) I make the case. I apply a small amount of pressure.

An outsider looking at my street would say it appears I recruited my friends onto it, and to that outsider I would say: correct. :)

I’ve been piloting the Golden Girls thing for five years. We are just in separate houses on the same street. And I just didn’t know that’s what I was doing.

Which, fine, cuts both ways.

Because I’ve built something that would be terrible to lose. What happens when one of us has a real fight, the kind that doesn’t blow over. What happens when one of them takes a job in Denver. There are small rifts already, the way there are in any life. Nothing that matters. But I notice I can’t sit with the bigger version of that question for more than about eight seconds before I get up and do something else.

I’ll take it. I’d rather have something worth losing than a very nice house with nobody in it.

And yes, I apply the same pressure to my sister, obviously. Her business is rooted in Texas, so the odds of Ellen moving to Georgia are somewhere around zero. Which is a funny thing to sit with, that the person the whole plan started with is the one person I can’t recruit.

Nobody asks the one question that matters

Here’s what nobody asks you.

We spend a year buying a house. We tour twenty of them. We learn what a soffit is. We pay a man $500 to crawl under the house and report back on moisture. We pull the school ratings, we pull the comps, we ask about the roof, we ask about resale, we drive by at night to see if it’s loud.

Not once in that entire process does anyone ask the question that will decide whether we’re happy there.

Who lives on the street.

I was thinking this was just my opinion, and then I found the Framingham Heart Study, which followed 4,739 people for twenty years and is not, to be clear, a study about real estate. It’s a study about happiness. What it found is that when a person gets happier, a friend who lives within a mile has a 25% higher chance of getting happier too. A next-door neighbor, 34%.

Friends who live far away: no measurable effect. Zero. The love is real, the effect is not.

We optimize for the countertops and then we’re surprised by the loneliness. We sit in our fancy chairs, alone, with our excellent countertops, driving thirty minutes each way to see the people who make our lives feel like lives.

And it’s not just me being dramatic. Only about a quarter of American adults say they know most of their neighbors. Twelve percent don’t know a single one. Errr That was me five years ago! We are all living next to strangers and then wondering why we’re so damn lonely.

So here’s the petition. Buy the worst house on the better street, and by better street I mean the one your people are already on, or the one where your odds are good of finding them, or the one you’re willing to recruit them to. That’s the whole petition. I’ve been running it for five years, and last week I saw three of my closest friends without texting a single one of them.

I know how this sounds. I moved to a place with trails and horses and a farm, so of course I have friends, and that has nothing to do with your subdivision or your apartment building or your cul-de-sac. Except I had the beautiful-neighborhood version already, in Inman Park, and I was lonely in it for five years, because the thing that works here is not the scenery. It’s that I stopped driving to my life and started living where I already was.

And if you can’t move, which is most of us most of the time, the smaller version still counts. Pick the one neighbor you don’t hate and invite them over. Be the person to reach out first.

The confession

I’ve never watched anyone do this. As in, a modern day Golden Girls house.

I have never once seen a group of women choose each other on purpose and build the last chapter together under one roof. I’ve watched people move closer to family. I have never watched them move in.

Everything I know about the life I want, I learned from television, which is either extremely silly or a sign that we stopped modeling something we badly need to see.

I’m almost 37. There’s a lot of life between here and there, and I could be wrong about myself. Maybe I turn 75 and discover I want a stone cottage, a stack of books, and zero visitors. It has happened to better women than me.

But I don’t think so. I think I want a porch, and too many chairs on it, and not enough food, and someone walking by who sits down anyway.

Women 70 and up, am I missing something? You’ve seen a version of this I haven’t. Tell me in the comments.

Leave a comment

And if you’re house hunting right now, or thinking about a move, or quietly wondering why your very nice life feels like it’s happening in a vacuum, look at the street before you look at the kitchen.

Then report back.

xx, Gina

P.S. I’m hosting a free thing with my psychic and intuition coach, , on July 30 at 10am ET, for anyone who’s been quietly wondering whether they’re in the right work (more on her here). Nothing to buy, come be nosy. Save Your Seat

And the first Play by Play lands this Sunday. All the receipts from this month, including the ones I’m not proud of.

I’m back and feeling fresh (other than 2 sick kids) from a 10 day vacation in Steamboat Springs CO, where Greg and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. whew! Hard to believe how fast that went. And in my time away from the computer, I had some time to think about where I want to focus my energy the 2nd half of the year (highly recommend carving out some time to do that if you haven’t). Which leads me to this:

I'm running something new for six months. Six issues, then a verdict. In January I'll tell you whether it worked, and if it's dying, I'll kill it in front of you rather than let it get quietly worse in your inbox. And I want to tell you exactly what it is before I do it, so you can leave now if it’s not for you. No hard feelings. There’s a button at the bottom of every letter where you can click “unsubscribe” to update what you subscribe to of mine, today there are 3 sections:

• The heart of Life at Play: essays/interviews etc

• Around Here: a round-up for locals, visitors and the Serenbe/Chatt Hills curious

• and now this…

Once a month, on the last Sunday, I’m going to sit down and write what actually happened.

Not just the good parts. The whole account, in order, including the fumbles.

What I bought and what it cost, thrifted or new, with the number attached. What I consumed (read/watched) and whether it was worth the time. The new thing I’m poking at (currently: waking up at 5:30am, and a lettuce grow garden I almost killed while out of town). The thing I screwed up. The lesson, if there was one, usually delivered as a note to whichever younger version of me needed it. And what I’m working on next, offers and waitlists and all, so you are never guessing what I’m up to.

It’s called Play by Play.

A play by play is not a highlight reel. That’s the whole reason I picked it. A highlight reel is what I would write if I were trying to look good, and I have already spent fifteen years doing that professionally.

Here’s what it is not

There are no affiliate links in it. No ads. No sponsorships.

Nothing in Play by Play pays me, and nothing gets into it by paying to be there. If I tell you that $20 of thrifted bedspreads or an $800 lamp was the best thing I bought this month, I’m not making a nickel on it, and neither is anyone else. That is the entire reason to trust it, and the moment I break it, you should stop reading.

I could make some money doing it the other way. I’ve run the numbers. It’s not very much money, and it costs the only thing that makes this worth reading.

One exception, and I’d rather tell you than let you find it: Around Here, my local Serenbe and Chatt Hills letter, runs small ads for local businesses. They’re always labeled. That’s a different letter with a different job, and I’ll never quietly slide one into this one.

Here’s what I promise you

Every issue has at least one thing I got wrong and paid for. If a month goes by and I can’t find one, it means I didn’t look, and I’ll say that instead of faking it.

Every object comes with a price. A recommendation with the price hidden is usually an ad in disguise.

I stop before the bow. I’m not going to drop you into something hard and then rescue us both with “but then I realized.” Some months I won’t have realized anything. That’s the month.

It ships on the last Sunday of every month.

The money, out loud

Everything I write is free. All of it. Essays, Around Here, Play by Play, the guides. Paid subscribers do not get more. They never have, and I have no plans to change that.

Today, Life at Play makes $5,278 a year from paid subscribers.

Paying doesn’t buy you anything except this continuing to exist + deep, deep gratitude from me. That’s the deal, and I know it’s a strange one.

And the real answer to “how does she make money,” since we’re here: it isn’t this. It’s people who hire me for one-on-one support, or who join a cohort, or come to a day, or a workshop. That’s the business. It lives on this page on my site (which needs to be updated and given some love… another day)

This letter is not a funnel. It’s the front porch. Some people sit on it and never come inside, and that’s completely fine by me.

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Two more things

I’m hosting 2 free things in the next few weeks: 1 virtual and 1 in person in Serenbe.

Jul 30 | The Career Gut Check. Are you where you want to be? | A free live webinar session with one of my greatest teachers over the past two years, Christina Trifero. Think learning how to hear and trust your Intuition and your career path. It’s going to be fun. Save Your Seat

Aug 7 | Playdates (for grown ass women) | First Friday of the month we meet up IRL for a walk in the woods of Serenbe (and sometimes other fun gatherings. Join the club

And if you are looking for deeper support in pausing and planning out the next chapter of your life I have two 1:1 support slots opening in August. These always start with a free 30 minute consult to see if we are a good fit.

First Play by Play lands Sunday, July 26.

See you on the trails or in your inbox,

xx, Gina

P.S. If you know someone who’d like this, pass it along. That’s how the best things get found.

There are 11 Saturdays in our summer… and I keep wanting two opposite things at once. Half of me wants to do everything: the camps, the trips, the potluck dinners, the parties. The other half wants an open calendar and a cold drink. Space to be bored.

Right now I’m running about 70% nothing, and 30% planned things, and trying not to let the doing crowd out the space. But it’s hard… and even typing that makes me question if I’m fudging those numbers (gah I think I am).

What’s a summer ritual you actually protect every year?

Leave a comment

One thing before we get into it: scroll to the bottom of this email. There’s a whole row of ways to get involved, submit events, get listed in the directory, or send me something worth sharing.

Around Here is supported this week by Cathleen Miller, Intuitive Lifestyle Success.

Cathleen moved to the area few months ago, so you may not know her yet. She’s an intuitive guide, energy healer, and medium who’s done thousands of sessions all over the world. Think of her when you’re worn thin and need a reset, when something hard has knocked you off center, or when you’re curious about the intuitive side of things and want a guide. She also puts out a monthly energy forecast if you want an easy place to start. Have a look →

You Should Know

• No fireworks in Serenbe this year. Below is an image with details on Peachtree Cities fireworks

• Bicicletta is open. The Enzo team’s new Italian spot landed in Peachtree City on June 23. House-made pasta, 72-hour dough, gelato, bocce, a dog-friendly patio. Check them out and report back! @bicicletta_atl

• The Empathy Farm Food Club. A fall CSA, 8 weeks, $300 a share, only 10 shares. Late August through October. theempathyfarm@gmail.com

• Tommy Lee Cook Road is closed. Starting June 22, for up to 60 days at Cedar Ridge, while crews lower the road for sight-distance and safety. The detour runs Hutcheson Ferry over to Selborne.

  

On the Calendar

• July 3 (Fri) | Red, White & Blueberry Night Market | 5-9pm, Serenbe Farms
  A blueberry bake-off, live music, and all your favorite vendors, in place of the regular Saturday market. Sign up here to bring a blueberry-forward creation if you want to compete.

• July 4 (Sat) | 4th of July Parade | 10am, Selborne Lane
  Decorate the cart, the bike, the classic car, whatever you’ve got. Sign up here.

• July 4 (Sat) | Community BBQ | 4-7pm, Grange Green
  Catered spread from Chef Sidney Corum, open bar, cornhole, photo booth. Food orders close July 1, so grab a ticket if you want a plate. RSVP here

• Trail Group Bike Ride, Wednesdays 6pm at Halsa, and Ultimate Frisbee, Wednesdays 6:30pm at the Athletic Fields.

🗓️ Browse the full event calendar →

Fun fact.

The synchronous fireflies are back.

If you’ve never seen them, this is the year. The kind that blink in unison instead of at random, the ones that only put on this show in a handful of places, most of them tucked in the southern Appalachians. And we have them right here. Thousands of them, going off at the same time, in the woods off Mado.

The best spot I’m aware of is the far right corner of Mado before you get to Spella, like you’re walking toward the big waterfall. Come at dusk, they seem to peak around 10. They only do this for a few weeks. You can’t really catch it on film. You just have to go stand in the dark and let it happen.

One thing, so they keep coming back: bring a red flashlight if you have one, keep any light pointed at the ground, and turn it off once you’re settled in. Their flashing is how they find each other, and ours gets in the way. Here’s a video of what makes them different, though the magic only really lands in person. Take the kids.

Have a fun fact or something the community would enjoy? Send it my way.

If You Missed It

• Southern Hands Artist Studio Tour applications are open. Coweta and Fayette artists, November tour. shastour.com

• Our neighbor, Amanda Malko is launching a podcast and Substack, No Definition. It's for ambitious women with big careers and full families who refuse to pick one, the real behind-the-scenes of how they actually make it work. Give her some love. Subscribe here

• Property tax assessments are arriving. If yours looks too high, you can appeal. Buzz Wehunt, an attorney and realtor here, has handled appeals for a few neighbors and is opening it up. buzz@wehunttriallaw.com

• FYI Labcorp does in-home blood draws for $79 through Getlabs. They come to your house and do it on the couch. getlabs.com

• Fast Bananas Trail Race early bird. Race is Nov 14, pricing jumps after July 31.

• La Bolla’s artisan breads just hit the shelf + its Lobster roll season at the General Store.

• Allchemy is now open 7 days. Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat-Sun 10-5.

• Community Brickworks back-to-school drive. They’re aiming to supply 125 local students. Shop the Amazon list or drop supplies at 18 Swann Ridge.

• Serenbe Farms wants volunteers. Shifts all week for harvesting, weeding, and more. A few hours on the farm, no experience needed. more details.

• VO2 Max testing interest. Monika P. is gauging who's in, tentatively August. Message her.

• The Around Here directory just crossed 150 local businesses. Refreshed categories, real neighbors using it to find local spots. Free to get listed if you run, create or do something around here. Browse the directory →

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown.

1

2

3

Enjoy.

That’s it. Now go stand outside in the dark, in silence for 5 minutes this week (ideally with the fireflies).

See you on the trails, and hopefully on a porch doing nothing.

xx, Gina

ICYDK I host a free monthly walk here in Serenbe. I call them Playdates (for grown ass women). The first friday of the month (note: we are skipping July). Join the club

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍Explore the Local Directory
Want in? ➕Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

The middle. Being in it. Not knowing what’s next.

There were three of us up front. Margot Bingham, who you’ve maybe seen on The Walking Dead or Boardwalk Empire, who spent sixteen years saying other people’s lines and now coaches people to find their own. Mehrnush Saadat, an attorney who walked away from her successful law practice to open Soberish, a non-alcoholic bottle shop with two locations in Atlanta. And me, fifteen years leading marketing teams in tech before I leaped in 2025 to do well…this. Whatever this is.

Somewhere in the middle, a woman in the audience asked a question that quieted the whole courtyard:

Was there a moment your body knew before your mind did?

Oh. Yeah. Mine was a smack in the face.

I was working from home (pre covid), back when that was rare. I like to lay on the floor like a weirdo while I work, so I was on the floor, on a call with my boss, muting and unmuting myself so no one could hear me bawling my eyes out. Greg walked in, took one look, mouthed what is going on in here, and I waved him off. Go away. Let me just get through this call.

I got through the call.

Around that same time I had a rash crawling across my face that I now know was a candida thing, but at the time I was on an antibiotic loop and it just felt like my body tapping me on the shoulder. Hey. You didn’t get the first message. Here’s another one. Here’s another one.

I won’t get into the full details… but the next day I risked my job, spoke my truth to our CEO. And my boss found himself in a new role a few months later.

I almost accepted a new job during that time, but I ended up staying on that same path for five more years - through COVID, and as I became a mother. I wasn’t miserable, but that off feeling was getting louder. And behind the scenes, I was squirrelling away money, dreaming up my next chapter, and doing the deep inner work (basically redefining everything I knew about success) in order to get up the courage to do something completely new.

Margot’s moment came during COVID, in a small New York apartment, when the work she’d built her whole identity on just stopped. One morning, she woke up and couldn’t go in because the world had shut down, and she sat there thinking, what does that make me if I’m not this role. Who am I if I’m not showing up for everyone else?

Mehrnush had hives starting in 2017, and insomnia for years. Western medicine called it stress. Then a herniated disc in 2019, and she was crawling into the office to handle clients. Her body had come apart at the seams. She started listening in 2020, but a career she’d worked that hard for doesn’t unwind overnight. it took two full years to extract herself and make the jump.

It’s a very female thing, isn’t it. The no, it’s fine, I just can’t turn left, stand on my other side, it’s not a big deal of it all.

Margot named the thing almost nobody says out loud: transition comes with grief. You grieve the life you thought you’d have by now. The timeline. The certainty. The version of you that was supposed to show up and didn’t. And naming that grief doesn’t make you weak. It’s the thing that lets you move.

Fear says we can’t move until everything is certain. Intuition just asks you to take the next step. That’s the work she does now, holding up mirrors until you finally catch yourself in one.

Then we got practical, because I can’t help myself.

Before I leaped, I sat down with a pen and worked out three numbers.

1. What my life actually costs right now.

2. What my dream life costs.

3. And the bare minimum I’d be willing to risk before I’d pull my kids out of school or sell the house.

Three numbers.

Almost every time I’ve walked someone through this, they’re shocked it’s smaller than the story in their head. We get on the treadmill and we chase more, more, more, and we never stop to ask what enough actually costs. Doing it didn’t make the fear disappear. (Money is still my weak spot. I have a lot of self worth tied up in it… something im working on untangling) But it showed me the real shape of what I was risking, and that set me free.

If you want to run your own three numbers, I’d recommend starting with this Annual Money Check-In. And i’m here for you if questions pop up. (and im not a financial advisor or anything - great to start there too. This is just what I use myself)

Mehrnush told on herself beautifully. She said she just wanted to leave law and start a “cute little bottle shop boutique”. Nothing high-stress. One sweet little thing. Then…

One store became two, and two became maybe this could be a national brand, and she'd talked herself right back into the exact life she swore she didn't want. Except maybe scale was never the thing she was running from. The wrong career was. In the right work, maybe big stops feeling like a trap and starts feeling like a plan.

Margot named a different lie, the if. If I get the house, the title, the ring, the baby, the number, then everything falls into place. Then the world rearranges itself neatly around me. We all nodded like we’d been caught.

Somewhere in there a woman in the audience said she’s trying to be a human being instead of a human doing, and the whole room exhaled at the same time. (I just love that)

Here’s the part I keep thinking about, and the part I almost didn’t write.

After the night, I got a piece of feedback that stung in the right way. One person shared that they left feeling further from their dream, not closer. Because my story, the one where I leaped, where I have a supportive partner, a flexible business degree, a network of people, and a financial runway, landed as unrealistic for the woman who is the breadwinner, has no savings, has kids who need dinner on the table tomorrow night. She heard leap and her brain went I could never.

And she’s not wrong. That is the reality for most of us.

That feedback was a mirror for me too. I sat with it. My path is mine, it’s privileged in ways I don’t get to wave away, and it is not the only door. The point was never to go quit your job on Friday and trust the universe to catch you. The point is smaller and truer than that. It’s permission to change.

What’s the tiniest step you could take this week to get a little closer to your aim?

For me, before any of the rest of it, it was building awareness and carving out time to pause, oftentimes through journaling. Writing down half-formed thoughts I didn’t even know were in there. And then over the years i noticed patterns in my words year after year.

To be clear, this wasn’t a consistent daily journaling practice. It was quarterly, yearly… sheesh sometimes every couple years. Whenever I carved out time to sit, think and get honest about the big picture of my life, and what I want from it.

The thing people kept saying after wasn’t about any one of us up front. It was that watching three women in the actual middle of it, none of us standing on some finished mountaintop, made the work feel allowed. Permission, out loud.

If your life looks good on paper and still feels a little off lately, I hope it helps to know there were twenty-five of us in a courtyard last week feeling some version of the same thing. Nobody up front had it figured out.

And the middle isn’t only a job you’re itching to leave. It’s a marriage, a body that’s changing, an empty nest, the back half of a career, the quiet after the kids are grown. It comes for all of us eventually.

We’re all in the middle of arriving.

So this is me bringing the juiciest bits home to you, which is the thing I’ll keep doing. Reporting back from rooms full of people figuring it out, so you don’t have to feel like you’re doing it alone.

Three doors before you go.

Margot. If you’ve got a talk, a pitch, or a story you can’t quite find, helping you find it and trust it out loud is her whole thing now. She works with creatives, execs, and founders alike. → t2binc.com

Soberish. None of this night happens without Mehrnush opening her doors. Soberish is her non-alcoholic bottle shop and cannabis boutique right here in Serenbe, built so women have a warm, no-judgment place to find what they actually want. Stop in, or shop online. → besoberish.com

Me. If you want to go deeper into building a life (and work around that life) that feels really freaking good, that’s what I do, through stories, gatherings, and one-on-one. → lifeatplay.co

And wherever you are in your own middle, the easiest way in is to come along. Life at Play is where I report back from the messy middle, the stories and experiments of people quietly rebuilding life on their own terms. Subscribe below.

Subscribe now

xx, Gina

P.S. Margot admitted she calls ChatGPT her chatdaddy, and it’s a name I will never forget. Still brainstorming something funny to call mine.

also how did we take zero pics of this night…

It’s June. I’m only now telling you about it… anddd I’m a little embarrassed it took me this long.

It is not that the morning wasn’t worth writing about. It’s that I got so knotted up in what my business was supposed to become that I quietly stopped doing the thing I love most, which is, of all things, exactly this. Sitting down and telling you about the wonderful people and experiences I’m learning from in this unique little corner of the world I get to call home. I have a whole queue of these stories I’ve been sitting on for the same dumb reason.

So let me tell you what I got knotted in, because I suspect a few of you are knotted up in your own version of it. Maybe yours isn’t a business. Maybe it’s the job, the title, the house, something health related or the whole thing that looks good on paper, and the quiet wait, is this it? that shows up around 11pm. And if that’s not you today, maybe next week.

You see, I’m living my dream life today. I am. I moved to the woods, I write, create, and connect with people for a living, and half the time I’m “at a work thing” thinking, wait, THIS is my work? I’m just hanging out with people who inspire me. It’s the best. And underneath all of it hums one quiet fear: what if I built the exact life I wanted and can’t figure out how to make it pay?

I’ll come back to that. Because this time the thing that loosened it wasn’t a spreadsheet or a strategy. It was a horse. And a horse trainer named Karen Jones, who I met one chilly February morning. Let me tell you about her.

First, where I live (in case you’re new here)

I live in a unique community called Serenbe just south of Atlanta, created by . And the horses are frickin’ everywhere. You cannot walk, drive, or golf cart through this place without passing one. And I do take advantage, in the small ways. I pause and observe them. I walk up, catcall, and pet a nose, steal a kiss. I’ll pull a little grass off the ground and offer it up. But have I ever spent real time with one of them, in five-plus years? No. Gah. How did I let that happen?

(Quick note if you visit: please don’t feed the horses. Special diets, choking, a whole thing. A little grass off the ground is one matter, your apple, a carrot, oh god a granola bar is another. I’ve heard some nightmare stories. Just sharing because I would have assumed a carrot was fine.)

I’d also been hearing for years that we have this trainer. Someone very special. People say her name with a kind of respect, a little bit of awe.

So back in February I signed up for the Equine Experience. Which, full disclosure, I spent a solid while calling the eh-kwee-an experience, until I showed up that morning and everyone laughed me into correcting it. It’s ee-kwine. In non-horse-people words: an intro to horses. You get to be with them, learn about and from them, brush them, walk them around etc. Not a riding thing.

We sat under the giant oak behind the stables, the one Soul Barn calls “the Guardian,” which sounds like a lot until you sit under her and go, oh, yep, she’s the Guardian. It was me and my friend Meagan Myrick, who does the sound baths around here.

The trainer who unlearned her old way

She’s been doing this over fifty years. She’s a member of the IAABC (the animal behavior consultants, very real, very credentialed), she built her own method called Motivational Horsemanship, and the whole approach is evidence-based, the literal science of how a horse learns, sitting right next to a pile of stuff most people would file under woo (which you know I love!). If you know Sheri Salata, who I wrote about this summer, Sheri trains with Karen and calls her a “real-life horse whisperer.” So in short, we’re not dealing with an amateur.

But the credentials and blue ribbons are not what got me.

What got me is that Karen sat under that tree and told us that she used to be a completely different kind of trainer. The pushing kind. The kind who was going to make these horses the best, get the most out of them. And she did. She won the ribbons, for years. But at some point she changed. She asked herself what kind of life that was for the horse, and she went and built a whole different way of doing it.

The question she carries into every interaction with a horse now is this:

Not what can you do for me. What can I do for you. She calls it her mantra, every single time she walks out to a horse.

The part where I see myself in a horse trainer

And I sat there under that tree with my fingers going numb in the cold, recognizing something.

Because I’m wired one way. Fifteen years in corporate software set the wiring: push, do more, be as productive as possible, get the most out of the day, the team, myself. And building this thing (Life at Play), I’ve been trying so hard to do it differently, to lead with different questions. How do I want to spend my days? What do I want to build? How can I help others? How can I share what I’ve learned? But I keep sliding back into the old wiring without noticing. How do I make this work for me? What do I get out of it? How do I make real money?

And that, it turns out, is Karen’s whole story too. She pushed the horses because that’s what she knew. That’s how you make champions, how you win the races. Until one day, what if there’s another way. And the other way meant trusting, serving, handing over some power, putting down the ego of being the best and making the most.

I catch myself slipping into the fifteen-years autopilot all the time. I imagine she still does too. But when I build it the other way, it feels more like me, and it feels better.

A few things Karen taught me, because I can’t let them slip through the cracks

Brushing a horse is a moving meditation, and I did not see it coming. I thought we were going to comb mud off a large animal. Instead, Karen had us slow all the way down, get quiet, match our breath to the horse, just breathe there, and ask them, silently, what can I do for you today. Then she explained why it works.

“Our heart is maybe three quarters of a pound. A horse’s is eight to ten pounds, and the field it gives off reaches eight, ten, twelve feet. So any time you’re standing next to a horse, you can be in their heart coherence. Play with your breath, and they’ll sync to you, or you’ll sync to them.”

Science can measure some of this and is still arguing about the rest, and I am not going to pretend I know what happened in my chest. I’ll only tell you I closed my eyes, brushed my horse Harley, breathed with him, and the loud thing I usually haul around in there went quiet.

A good no is the whole game. Karen's foundation is three words: autonomy, choice, voice. She lets a horse say no. She wants it to. Because the more a horse learns it's allowed to refuse you, the more it chooses, on its own, to say yes. She calls it permission, not submission. I have read a hundred business and self-help books and not one of them put it that cleanly. (I've been trying it on my kids too, letting the no be a real no, handing them actual choice. And wouldn't you know it, the same thing happens. Horses and small children, it turns out, are a lot more alike than I ever thought.)

The leader of the herd is never the loud one. The lead mare, the horse the whole herd follows, is not the bossy one or the pushy one. She's the one with the wisdom, who knows where the water is and where the shelter is, and the herd opens space for her and lets her lead because she earned it, not because she demanded it. The pushy horse is just loud. The lead mare is trusted. I want to be the lead mare. Not the loud one (which, god I hope I’ve always led this way… but I’m not sure it’s the case), not the tyrant with the title, not the CEO barking from the front of the room. People see through that anyway. I'd take quietly trusted over technically in charge any day.

The day I needed it

A few weeks ago I was having one of those off days err weeks, the kind where nothing is wrong and everything feels wrong anyway. So I got up before the sun and walked into the woods to shake it loose. A white horse came over and just stood there. And instead of glancing and moving on like I always do, I stayed. I closed my eyes, I breathed with her, I felt that big old heart. And… well I cried. I dropped into a squat in the wet grass and wailed up at this gorgeous animal for a good ten minutes. Then a gust of wind tore through and shook every tree around us, and I stood and raised my hands and let it in.

I would not have known how to do that before Karen. Thank you, Karen.

(I wrote the whole story the week it happened, here, if you want the rest.)

The fear that accidentally redirected my business plan

Im going to let you in on a little something… For all of April and half of May, I got lost in what I was building. Is it a media company that does a little coaching on the side, or a coaching business with a newsletter attached? It sounds like a tiny distinction. But as the person running it, it is not. It quietly drives every decision behind the scenes.

Here’s what had happened. I’d turned on a little coaching and a couple of events, just to experiment, to see how I added value and what I could learn. And somewhere in there, without ever deciding to, I started acting like I was running a coaching business. Funnels, lead gen, the whole fifteen years in software marketing playbook switched back on. Ten steps ahead of myself before I knew it.

The whole time, something felt off, and I couldn’t tell you why. I hadn’t registered yet that I’d quietly changed my entire business model. (Writing that, I’m like, geeze, how did that happen?)

It took Greg (my husband). I was spiraling, and spiraling, and he sat me down and made me pick my head up, the thing I’m forever telling you to do, and look. There it was. Somewhere in there I’d gotten confused about what I was even building. And then he went one deeper.

“I think you’ve changed your business model out of fear. You’re realizing it’s going to take longer to build a media company that pays you what you want, and with a coaching or services business you can see exactly where the money comes from now... But that’s not what you set out to do.”

yes. I am scared shitless! Now that I’m in it, I can see the whole thing. The slow media road is the longer way to real income, and a lot freaking scarier than a tidy services business. That’s exactly why I flinched toward the safer one.

The second he said it, I knew in my gut. I want to build a lifestyle media company. And a few days later, after letting it settle in my chest, the rest came clear. The media company is the thing. The newsletter, for now, is the show. The one-on-one support and the small gatherings stay, I love them, they just live underneath, for when someone wants to go deeper with me. And they stay intimate and limited, so I can keep my focus where it belongs.

(You probably didn’t notice. There is no reason you should have. I barely did! The ship had quietly swung, and we’ve turned it back.)

And I'll let you in on the money, because I'm always curious how other people are running theirs. Success can look a hundred different ways, and most people never show you the number, and I love that stuff. So here's mine today. The year-end number I picked for myself in 2026 was $60k in profit, and it ticks at me as the months slide by. Here we are halfway through June and I'm sitting at $2.5k. Which is right on track. Most of it was always going to land in the back half of the year. The front half was launching and getting organized, but still, it ticks. And I'm only at $2.5k because I'm reinvesting everything I make, because the way I want to build this is with the best people, tools, and resources I can imagine. (Like the $9k AI Class I signed up for. By the way, zero regrets.)

And then I remember, and I love this, that I made the whole number up. It would be completely fine, for everyone but my ego, if I paid myself a big fat zero this year. It’s a build year, and I’m pouring everything back in. 2027 is a different conversation, but we’re not there yet, so I’m keeping my head on the present moment today. Or at least trying to.

This whole unsure season taught me more than a smooth one would have. It showed me, clear as anything, what I don’t want. I’ll probably spiral again in a few months. Building a business, it turns out, is its own quiet kind of soul learning if you do it with your eyes wide open.

And the question underneath it all flipped, the same way hers had. Away from what can I squeeze out of this, fast, and back toward what I can give. The more I lead with that, and put that energy into the world in service of someone else, the more it comes back. When I push and chase instead, I hit a wall, or it comes but it doesn’t feel good, and it just keeps attracting more of the same.

Two things before I go

First, you. Thank you for being here. It feels like a privilege to have you reading the unraveling and the rebuilding in real time. So, in the spirit of the only question worth asking: what can I do for you? If you’re stuck, or in a transition, or you just need a hand picking your head up, I’m around. If you’ve got something you’re building, or a business here you want this community to know about, tell me. Reach out. I mean it.

Second, go meet the horses. You don’t have to ride, own one, or know a single thing (see: me). The Equine Experience at Soul Barn is $150 per person, in small groups of two to six, and Karen runs it. They do it for couples, families, even corporate teams, so if you’ve got a group that needs something better than another trust-fall retreat, this could be it. While you’re there, Soul Barn also does sound baths, meditation, loft concerts, and a whole sanctuary mission for rescued horses. And Karen has a newsletter I’ve been getting for months, full of quiet, useful wisdom. Report back if you go. I want to hear what cracks open.

If you want to go deeper with me

A couple of ways, and the always-current list of everything I’m running, and what’s in the works, lives right here.

The one with a date on it: I’m hosting my first full-day event here in Serenbe at Soul Barn. The rough plan is four a year, each one a little different, each with a different guest. This first one is The Reset, June 26. One day, a small group of women, to step out of your life, build awareness and figure out what’s next. The special guest is Christina Trifero. A few seats left. When the seats are gone, they’re gone.

Save Your Seat

And yes, I’m still supporting people one-on-one. Four at a time, because four is apparently my lucky number, and because more than that and I stop writing and creating. One spot is open now, two more open in August. It starts with a free consult so we can make sure we’re a fit for each other.

Because here’s where I’ve landed. I’m stealing Karen’s mantra. It’s mine now too. Whatever I build, however the formats shift, the question underneath all of it is the same one she asks every horse. What can I do for you. So if there is ever anything, reach out and make the ask.

in your corner,
xx, Gina

And tell me in the comments, or hit reply: when did a foggy, unsure season end up handing you something you needed? I read every single one.

Leave a comment

P.S. A quick personal update, for those of you who read my last piece and reached out: I finally booked myself an appointment at STAT Wellness and got my blood drawn last week, so in a couple weeks I’ll know more. (Yay for doing the thing. I wish I’d done it six months ago, but here we are.) Although this month I’ve been feeling much more like myself. We will see how this next week goes (as i’ll be luteal). If you’re in a season like that and quietly avoiding the appointment, let this be your nudge. Go do the thing.

School’s out, which means the rhythm changed whether you are ready or not (i was not).

A couple weeks ago I picked juneberries (aka serviceberries) for the first time. If you don’t know them, neither did I. Picture a blueberry that’s softer and sweeter. They’ve got a tiny harvest window and bruise easily, so you rarely see them for sale. Now that I know what I’m looking at, I’m seeing them allllll over. Filing that away for next year.

And the main event: blueberry season has officially kicked off. There have to be hundreds of bushes around here. Thank youuuu, Steve Nygren!

Okay. Into it.

Around Here is supported this week by Nacci Hearing (yes, like Fibonacci).

Four years ago, Rachel and Blake opened a small concierge hearing clinic in Serenbe. It worked. People’s lives changed, and they kept showing up. Now they’re opening a second location in Peachtree City. Grand Opening Friday, June 19, 11am–4pm at 3035 State Street, Peachtree City. Cupcakes, raffles, giveaways.

What makes them different? every person on their team wears hearing devices themselves. They recommend a hearing test every year (especially once you’re over 40). Book a complimentary hearing test here

You Should Know

• Summer Camp Wondergarten. A Waldorf-inspired summer camp at Angela's Wild Indigo Academy classroom in Serenbe. Seasonal baking, crafting, nature, free play. Ages 4–7. Monday–Thursday 9am–1pm. Grab a spot

• Let Them Roam. A local pledge for children to hold off on smartphones till 14, social till 16. Easier together. Sign it

• The Good Place Farm Turkey Show. $225 reserves a pasture-raised heritage turkey, plus farm visits July through October, flock updates, a t-shirt, and a bird to pick up in November. The most Chatt Hills way to do Thanksgiving. Reserve your bird here.

On the Calendar

• June 4 & 18 | Pizza Night | The Good Place Farm, 7–9pm Farm-sourced pizzas, BYOB, say hi to the animals. June 8 sold out. Tickets

• June 5 & 6 | Viva Verdi Film Weekend | Art Farm Italian dinner at Soul Barn Friday, Oscar-nominated screening at Gainey Hall Saturday. Tickets

• June 10 | Life in the Middle: A Fireside | Soberish, 6:30pm A real talk about being mid-change, with Margot Bingham (yes, Walking Dead), Mehrnush of Soberish, and me. Doors 6:30, talk 7:30, Free. RSVP

If you know about something that should be in the calendar, you can add it yourself here.

Full Event Calendar

Tiny, fun fact.

Cochran Mill Park, 800 acres of waterfalls, boulders, and the ruins of three 1800s mills, is community-owned. Back in 2010, nearly 400 local families chipped in to buy it from the county so it would stay protected. Worth remembering next time you’re out on those trails.

If You Missed It

• The Skin Real opened in Mado. Dr. Mary Alice Mina, Harvard-trained, treats skin as a long game and not a quick fix. Appointments are paced so there’s actually time to figure out what’s going on. Find them here

• Fresh Harvest delivers down here, and we’re the only area south of Atlanta they serve. Local weekly produce box subscription (over 80% is grown within 70 miles of ATL), you customize it, and as of this month you only have to do that two days ahead instead of a week. Sign up + save $20 with this link (I get $20 too)

• Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is reporting thousands of dead fish along 20 miles of river. That’s all I’ve got, just passing it on. Read it

• Camp Serenbe is kicking off. New Enrichment Camps this summer with Terra Guides: photography, theater, STEAM, gymnastics. Fills fast. campserenbe.com/programs

• New dentist at Dental Wellness at Serenbe, Dr. Miles Yarbrough

• Sole Health does myofascial release in Serenbe. Julia’s been in Serenbe 11 years. The deep hands-on kind for tight, achy everything. Book it

• AquaFit is back. Tuesdays and Fridays, 10–11am, pool cardio and yoga with Jeny. Swim Club members, sign up ahead. Sign up

• Chatt Hills is redoing its comp plan, aka the document that quietly decides what gets built here. Opinions welcome. Weigh in

• A new trail opened in Serenbe. Huge thank you to the volunteers that cut 300 yards from the athletic fields to Augusta Ln, now called Soulen Creek.

• Fast Bananas early bird is open. Lowest price on the Kids Mile, 5k, or 10k through August 1. Race is Nov 14 on the trails. Sign up

Currently in Season

• Pick your own: blueberries, blackberries, Mulberries

• Support local: Thisildo Farm stand, weekends 9–7. Carrot cake, sourdough, pasture eggs. 7755 Atlanta Newnan Rd.

• At the market: first peaches, snap peas, Vidalia onions, lettuce, herbs.

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown.

1

2

3

See you on the trails.

xx, Gina

P.S. One more, it's this Friday. I'm co-hosting a 3-hr virtual workshop with Christina Trifero (psychic medium and intuition coach). We’ll help you hear your own intuition under all the noise, then turn it into real next moves. Friday June 6, 1–4pm ET, on Zoom, $200. Tell me more

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍Explore the Local Directory
Want in? ➕Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

Nothing is wrong, but also everything feels… well, wrong. Cloudy. Annoying.

It’s like I’m toying with the idea of depression but not fully lunging into it. Just letting it circle around me and go Boo! at random moments throughout the day.

You see, the family is good… well, except Dottie’s back molars are coming in and she is once again clinging to me like an octopus, which, fine, fine, fine, fine, that’s just two-year-old life.

Greg and I are in the trenches of young-kid season, where the only hour we get to actually connect alone is also the hour after getting the kids in bed and we want to go numb before putting ourselves to sleep.

Yup. We’re doing fine. And also, there’s a cloud over my head. I’m antisocial. I don’t feel like myself.

My first instinct, of course, was to blame the business.

This is my favorite trap. I get really self-conscious and self-critical, and I go straight to the money. Something must be unaligned with what I’m building. This is never going to turn into anything. I’m not worthy of any of it. I spiral. I get extra sensitive.

I went looking for evidence to support it. As in, I put my practical hat on and made a bullet list of what I set out to build and where I’m at today. Couldn’t quite find the evidence. The business is actually fine. It’s in the slow, intentional build I designed it to be. The math is the math I chose. Of course more money coming in would always be great, but I was fully aware that starting a business, especially one in the manner I’m doing it would take time.

I thought maybe it was my period. Then hormones. Then the stars. (And maybe it is all of those combined.) Normally I bounce back in a few days. Ten days in, I’m still in it.

The first week, I was just avoiding. Sulking, watching a lot of Gilmore Girls, which for me is the tell. If I’m three episodes deep into Stars Hollow something is up.

But after about a week, I’m usually better. And over the long weekend I’ve inconveniently realized I’m still in it. So I started doing the things I already know help. The things I write about and tell other people to do and then, life being chaotic and all, forget to do myself.

And then someone, I think it was my dear friend , mentioned this thing about the body holding on to memories. That your nervous system can remember trauma at the exact time of year it happened. Year after year. Like a quiet anniversary your conscious mind forgot to put on the calendar.

I sat with that for a minute. And then I realized:

It was the very end of May last year that we found out Dottie, my daughter, would need open-heart surgery in the next two months.

If you’ve been here for a while, you read about it as I was going through it. [A Heart That’s Both Heavy and Hopeful] was one of the hardest things I’ve ever written, and I think one of the most-read pieces I’ve ever published. But this part, this anniversary part, I didn’t know was a thing until this week.

The moment I said it out loud, “oh, I think this is trauma showing back up a year later,” it felt like something I’d been carrying without knowing finally got to set itself down for a second.

Another friend recommended The Body Keeps the Score. I started it a while back and never finished. Feels wildly appropriate now, so cracking it open.

Maybe it’s all of it. The trauma anniversary, the hormones, the kids, the stars, the season. I don’t actually know.

Picking myself up

So I started doing the things.. as in the things that are good for you and should make you feel better.

I went to bed early, like 9pm early. I got up before the world was awake. I walked into the woods alone.

This is the thing I’m supposed to be all about. Pause. Move your body. Get in nature. And of course, the founder of Life at Play forgets to actually live a life at play. But I like to think that’s what living a life at play is actually about. Not just appearing good, happy, and playful all the time. But having the systems and instincts to notice when you’re off, come back, and lean on play, curiosity, community and nature during the hard times.

So on Sunday I did it. 6am. Out the door before anyone was up except the birds, a freaky looking opossum, two deer, several spiderwebs, and a horse.

It had been raining all week, and the birds were alive out there and had a lot to tell me about. Likely saying “hey, where the hell have you been?”. I took the trail from across the Blue Eyed Daisy through the Wildflower Meadows, then over toward the Animal Village at the Serenbe Inn to the horses. One of my favorite walks.

One of the horses walked up to me and just stood there.

I pet her nose. And then I closed my eyes and I guess meditated with her. That’s the most accurate way I can explain what I was doing. There wasn’t a plan, it just happened, and we breathed together. I did my grounding practice and then imagined energy and love passing back and forth between us. I just paused and really saw her, and she really saw me. Suddenly tears flowed down my face. And I… well I wailed, dropping down into a squat position just staring up at this gorgeous white horse deep in all my feels.

And then as if on cue, a huge wind blew through and shook every tree around us for a good 30 seconds, and I stood and raised my hands up with a big inhale and just took it in. On the edge of the woods, at 6:30am in the morning, alone with my new friend.

Like I was in a movie.

And that was it. I gave her a kiss on the nose, a loving pat, and I walked on.

Anyway. Back to the less cinematic things Im doing to pick myself back up.

I’m painting. I’m writing. I’m napping. I’m saying no to a lot of stuff.

Im asking the local Acorn to Oak team and my primary care team where I should start - thinking I need to get my hormones checked, Im considering STAT wellness - I’ve heard great things about Elise in Peachtree city. Open to recs if you have any.

I’m not really being a great friend or extended family member these days. And I keep catching myself feeling guilty for needing more space and care than I’m used to needing. Working on that one.

I also went back to the yoga studio, which is big for me.

This is technically my second or third time back in a couple years, but it’s been a long stretch. Which is always odd to admit out loud because I very much identify as a yogi. I mean, after not one but two teacher trainings (that’s 500 hours of training, outside of actual teaching), you’d think I’d have a Sunday class on lock. But motherhood changed my practice, and I rarely find myself in a studio these last five years.

I stopped going because I… well, I just didn’t feel like it. I prioritized time with the family or friends and felt like running around with my kids was workout enough. Well that, and in my experience after having a baby the queefing noise during a yoga practice is well embaressing is an understatement. Expecting mamas, i’m not even sure when it stops but I’d like to say it took 8-12 months, and by that time I forgot how much I love a studio.

Anyway. I think I’m back, and it feels like coming home. but i’ve said that before… so we will see.

I started reading Reality Bites by Amy Mass, which is so far outside my normal reading lane. I don’t normally read romance (unless it involves dragons and fairies). And I don’t watch reality TV (except Love on the Spectrum, which I’ll defend with my life). But this book is exactly what my nervous system needed, and Amy, I cannot believe you wrote those sex scenes. Picturing you writing them in our cute little coffee shops around town has been the comic relief of the last ten days.

I’m telling Greg I’m at a 2 out of 10. Which is, apparently, what I’m still learning to do at 36. I’m so used to holding it together and doing it all that asking for softness out loud feels wildly vulnerable. Even with the man I’ve been with for 21 years. Working on it. imperfectly.

I’m sharing this because last year, when I shared the Dottie piece, I almost didn’t. Then I did, and the second I hit publish, I felt a release. The writing was the healing. Today feels like that again. I’m not okay, but I’m also completely okay. Both things, at once.

Lots of good moments are happening under it all. But we in it.

I’m hosting a Life at Play Day on June 26. One day. Small group. Think of it as “a me day”, not a spa day, a day to go inside deep, to walk into summer with intention and think about your actual life and what’s next.

Life at Play Day No. 01

Tell me, in the comments or hit reply: have you ever had your body remember something before your mind did?

I’d love to know I’m not the only one.

xx, emo Gina

P.S. If this landed for you, the easiest thing you can do is forward it to one person who might be in their own version of this right now. That’s how this little thing keeps going.

One sensible decision at a time. Until one day you look up and think: wait. How did I get here? Is this actually what I would choose today?

I had that thought. In the middle of a career I’d worked extremely hard to build. A life that checked every box. And I kept looking at the people ahead of me thinking: oh shit. I don’t actually want their lives.

Slightly inconvenient when you’ve spent 15 years working toward it.

Nothing was obviously wrong. But something didn’t feel right. And there’s nowhere to take that feeling. The world is set up to keep you moving. Keep performing and optimizing. There’s always another version of success to chase.

So I did what most people do. I tried to figure it out in between everything else. Notes in my phone. Half-finished journal entries. Conversations that got close to something real before getting pulled back into logistics, work, life.

I felt stuck. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t have the answer. It’s that I didn’t have the space to hear myself think.

So I made one.

A day in Serenbe designed to help you hear yourself think.

June 26th. Among the horses and trees 40 min south of Atlanta. Seven spots left at the time I send this.

That's my kind of day. tell me more.

If you want to just go straight to the details of the day, here it is. But I’d love it if you stayed for a minute because this thing didn't arrive overnight. Here's where it actually came from.

Where this started

Eight or so years ago I was in the middle of a career I’d worked extremely hard to build, a life that checked every single box, and I kept having this one thought I couldn’t shake.

Wait… is this it?

Not a crisis. Just a inconvenient, persistent little wait.

I didn’t have a place to take it. So I kept filing it away and showing up to the next thing.

Around that time I did my second advanced yoga teacher training at Tough Love Yoga in Atlanta with Neda Honovar. I went in thinking I was there to learn more about poses.

I was not just there to learn more about poses.

I don't know exactly how to describe what happened in that training except to say it cracked something open. It was the first time I'd been in a room explicitly designed to help me go deeper inside. Not to fix anything, not to optimize anything, just to be honest about what was actually there.

In that training I said something out loud I’d never said before. That I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to be a mother, or whether that was just a soundtrack someone had put on for me so long ago I’d forgotten it wasn’t mine.

Clearly today I have kids. I love my kids. But saying that out loud, in a room eight years ago, and having nobody gasp or revolt or try to fix it, that freed something. I shared half-baked ideas that didn’t have neat conclusions with myself and others. And the thing that happened, the thing I wasn’t used to. I started getting curious about my life and my priorities, examining what it was time to let go of and move toward.

I kept thinking: most people never get that. Not even once.

Why I’m making this.

I think about the speed a lot. The noise. The way a whole year can go by and you realize you haven’t once sat down and actually thought about where you are and where you want to go.

At work, we do this constantly. We build V2MOMs and OKRs. We create annual plans and quarterly goals. We sit in offsites and map out where the business is headed three years from now.

But what about us? Like outside of work. This amount of thought on just our own lives. Somewhere along the way we became incredibly thoughtful about designing our careers and strangely passive about designing our actual lives.

This isn’t for people who have it figured out. It’s for people who are tired of pretending they do.'

The day isn’t about blowing up your life. It’s about pausing long enough to actually see it. A small jolt. Enough to remember what you actually want.

How I put it together.

Each Life at Play Day is designed by me. Four of these a year, each one bringing some of the best teachers and guides I know into one day, one space, one small group.

Step one: what you walk away with.

People leave lighter. Not because anything got solved, but because they finally had the space to put things down. To question what they’d been carrying. To get curious instead of just busy.

Most people describe it as: I don’t know exactly what happened, but something shifted and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

They revisit the notes often… And if you are like me you will revisit them for years.

Step two: the place.

I immediately knew it had to be Soul Barn in Serenbe. Not because I thought about it carefully and weighed options. Because I’ve been transformed there, repeatedly, in ways I didn’t see coming. The concerts at night, the equine experience, the sound baths, the shaman they’ve brought in. There’s something about the horses and that space. The wood stables, the light, the calm.

People arrive one way and leave another. I’ve watched it happen too many times to think it’s coincidence.

Step three: the featured guest.

My vision is to bring a different guest or two into each of these days. For the first one I knew I wanted someone to share something I’ve been digging into deeply this past year: finding my intuition and learning to trust my own voice again. said yes, and I was grateful. She’s a psychic medium and intuition coach based right here in Serenbe, and she has a rare ability to help people hear themselves more clearly. That’s the whole job. Not to tell you what to do. Just to get you quiet enough to hear what you already know.

And if the phrase "psychic medium" makes you picture all of us in white robes chanting in the woods. Less of that, more of the thing where you actually hear yourself think for the first time in six months. The woo is there. Obviously. I am still me.

What I’m asking from you.

One ask, really.

Come. If your whole body just went oh no… I think this is for me, here’s the page to sign up →

Can’t make June 26th? Get on the list. This is No. 01. I’m planning more of these, different teachers, different themes, same idea. Small groups. Thoughtful people. People on the list hear first, before anything goes public.

And if you know someone who needs this, the friend who keeps saying they need a minute, the one at a crossroads, the one who says they’re “just tired” but you suspect it’s something bigger than tired. Send it to them.

The best things in my life have almost always come through someone saying: this made me think of you. This might be one of those.

I keep coming back to this: I’ve seen what happens when people actually pause.

Something shifts.

It’s like, once you step off the hamster wheel, you can’t unsee it. You start questioning things you thought were just part of who you were. You get curious about the soundtrack in your head and whether you chose it or just inherited it. You stop rushing past the questions.

You go home and you’re different. Not fixed. Not finished. Just, a little more awake. Tinkering. Curious. Asking better questions and not immediately running from them.

I need this. take me to the details

Come if you need it. Send it to someone who does.

xx, Gina

Register for June 26 here →

Join the waitlist for future Life at Play Days →

P.S. Not ready for a full day? The free Playdate walking club happens the first Friday of every month in Serenbe. Same woods. Same Gina. Zero commitment required.

Lately I’ve been making more space for no plans. Open calendar, front porch, watercolor painting, bugs. It’s felt really good.

Anyway. Getting straight into it.

One quick thing-- scroll to the bottom of this email. There's a whole row of ways to get involved, submit events, get listed in the directory, or send me something worth sharing. At just shy of 1k subscribers, the more people use it, the better this gets.

Around Here is supported this week by Reality Bites, the debut novel from our neighbor Amy Mass.

Amy spent 12 years writing TV comedies in LA (Last Man Standing, The Goldbergs, plus those Verizon “Can you hear me now?” commercials). So yes, she is wildly funny (and so is her instagram). The book: It’s about a scientist who ends up on a reality dating show. It’s been described as “juicier than a season of Love Island and funnier than your favorite sitcom,” which is exactly the kind of thing you want to read on a porch this time of year.

She’s signing copies at Hills & Hamlets this Saturday, May 23, 10am-12pm. Or grab one online here.

You Should Know

• CERES broke ground. The new development in Chattahoochee Hills, rooted in food, nature, and connection, officially started construction. 80 homes, 40 lofts, a chef incubator, cookery school, inn, edible landscaping, orchards, and more.

• The General Store is now scooping ice cream. Small batches, made from scratch. Afternoons, starting this week. Follow their socials for current hours.

• SpringFest 2026 | May 29 The annual end-of-school celebration. Inflatables, games, snacks, music. This year it's community-funded -- the more raised by May 22, the bigger it gets. Support here to help make it happen: Custom Amount | $50 |$100 | $500.

• EMDR therapy is new to town with Haven Psychotherapy. wait… what is that? EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a research-backed therapy for processing trauma, stress, and anxiety. It helps your nervous system get unstuck from experiences it couldn’t fully process at the time.

On the Calendar

• May 16 | Brandon Phillips & Friends Stand-Up Comedy | Gainey Hall They are back! Doors 8pm, show 8:30pm.

• May 17 | Pause With Purpose Lab with Dorthy Vollmer For women at a midlife threshold. $20. Guided reflection, creative tools.

• May 19 | Chatts and Chews with District 5 | Halsa, 6pm $25 three-course dinner with Commissioner Rodney Peek and neighbors from across Chatt Hills. A good excuse to meet the people who actually live around you. RSVP here (deadline is today, May 14)

• May 30 | A Conversation with Curtis Patterson | Deer Hollow Park, 10am -- FREE Art Farm hosts sculptor Curtis Patterson -- creator of the Serenity for Shango piece -- in conversation with The Atlanta Voice, set right at the work itself. RSVP here

🗓️ Browse Full Event Calendar

See everything happening

Tiny, (not so fun) poll.

ok for me it’s been 5 years. I assumed this was something being checked on for me… but just learned it’s not, and now have to get ours pumped. So spreading the word! You should have it looked at every 3 years. I used Stephen Ward with Alternate Systems: 770-616-2742.

If You Missed It

• Community Brickworks turned 20 and threw a party. The Backyard Bash was last weekend. If you weren’t there, it’s not too late to support. Our local Brickworks does quiet, consistent good throughout this community.

• Terra School’s 3rd Annual Fête raised over $140,000. If you haven’t seen what was accomplished this year or want to help close out what remains, take a look here. Also: Terra just announced the building of an outdoor classroom!

• Ultimate Frisbee started back up. Tuesdays, 6pm, Athletic Fields. Two fields -- one for adults, one for kids. Jump in anytime. Sign up

• Sunset Stretch May 17th at 9pm with Collette Appert at Sunset Park in Serenbe. Free, come as you are.

• Liz Morris Styling just launched. Our neighbor Liz is now offering personal styling services -- the kind where someone helps you figure out what you actually want to wear, not just what's on trend. 20% off your first two hours in May.

• New Mat Pilates at Serenbe Yoga. Non-heated, Thursdays 9:30-10:30am with Collette Appert.

• Sheena, who works at The Hill, lost her husband suddenly this week. She has two young boys. If you can help: gofundme.com/f/support-for-sheena-and-her-boys

• Preserve in Douglasville (a 15 minute drive) This Friday’s painting class in the Koi pond is sold out, but they’re just getting started, and a restaurant is rumored to open to the public for this summer.

• May 15-17 | M.A.C.B.E.T.H. | Art Farm, Wildflower Meadow, 7:30pm | FINAL WEEKEND Shakespeare’s Macbeth reimagined as a ‘90s TV sitcom. Outside, under the stars. Starts funny, gets dark. This is the last weekend. Get tickets

• The My Chatt Hills app. Official city alerts and community updates on your phone. Search “My Chatt Hills” in the App Store or Google Play.

• May 21 | Terra Middle School Intergenerational Play Expo | Terra School, 1:30-2:30pm Terra students have spent months developing ideas for meaningful cross-generational connection through play -- baking, games, sports, tech, drama. They’re looking for community “feedback partners” to help shape what these projects become. Sweet invitation. Sign up

• May 22 | City of Chatt Hills Blood Drive | City Hall, 1-6pm Rescheduled from May 1. Eat something iron-rich beforehand, bring your ID, pre-register here with Sponsor Code: ChattHills.

• May 30 | A Conversation with Curtis Patterson | Deer Hollow Park, 10am -- FREE Art Farm hosts a live-recorded conversation with acclaimed sculptor Curtis Patterson -- creator of the Serenity for Shango piece at Deer Hollow. Free and open to all. RSVP here

Currently in Season Locally

• At the market: Basil, parsley, chives, strawberries. early blueberries and peaches.

• Support local: Good Place Farm- eggs, meats, sourdough, kombucha brewed by BreeAnne, and baked goods from her mom at their 24/7 honor-system farmstand. And if you haven’t been, what are you waiting for? You can schedule a U-Pick, book a farm tour, or arrange a baby goat snuggle session. + She is a genuinely fun follow on instagram.

• Preorder by June 1: Heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving at Good Place Farm. $225 reserves your bird, gets you farm visit access, and weekly updates on your flock. A different way to do Thanksgiving. thegoodplace.farm/turkeyshow

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown.

1

2

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Enjoy!

See you on the trails.

xx, Gina

P.S. If you've been quietly thinking about what comes next (in work, in life, in whatever chapter you're currently in the middle of) I'm hosting a small day in Serenbe on June 26th for exactly that. Life at Play Day — No. 01

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍Explore the Local Directory

Want in? ➕Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

Send this to the friend who always asks what should we do this weekend?

This is Part 2. What happened next.

And fair warning: it’s not a tidy story. There was no lightning bolt moment or dramatic resignation speech, no clear next thing waiting in the wings. It was a slow unraveling. A spreadsheet. Learning to pause and hear myself. A community. And a lot of little experiments.

The thing about picking your head up from autopilot is that it sounds simple. It's not.

We are all moving so fast. Checking the boxes, answering the emails, wiping the counters, packing the lunches, attending the meetings, returning the thing at UPS, sending the birthday text, trying to drink water and work out and not lose our minds. It is very easy to spend years inside a life you haven't actually looked at. So I started small. Not quitting my job. Not burning anything down. Not announcing a personal brand and immediately buying a ring light. Just paying attention. (The ring light came years later.)

The crack that started everything

Six years before I actually leaped, I signed up for a second yoga teacher training.

Not because I wanted to become a yoga teacher. More because my first teacher training was one of the first times I invested a large chunk of money in something for myself for no reason other than learning more about something I loved just because.

And in this advanced training it was the first time I’d ever journaled to figure out my truth instead of what I thought was expected of me. And it was the first time I shared really scary vulnerable words I had been avoiding thinking about, better yet sharing out loud.

And somewhere in that room, sweaty, probably in Lululemon, definitely avoiding eye contact, I had this quiet uncomfortable realization:

I was unhealthily obsessed with career and money and productivity. Like, concerning levels. And there was so much more to life than what I’d been optimizing for.

Nothing changed immediately.

“I went home. Got busy. Stayed the course. Kept my head down. But I had changed. Those journaling prompts and sharing circles opened something up in me.”

Thank you Neda Honavar and Tough Love Yoga people for having such a huge impact on my life.

The jealousy I stopped ignoring

Around that same time I started keeping a mental note of people I was jealous of.

Not in a spiral, hate-scrolling, why-does-she-have-that-life way. More like detached curiosity. Hmmmm. Her again. Interesting. What is it about her and what she’s doing?

I started playfully calling these women my “girl crushes” and to this day I still have a list of them.

Jealousy, I’ve learned, is just admiration with nowhere to go yet. It’s your gut pointing at something before your brain has caught up. And if you get quiet enough to listen to it instead of shame spiraling about it, it might tell you exactly what you actually want.

A pattern emerged pretty quickly. My girl crushes were always a creative woman, not with impressive titles but with a personal brand, and who wasn’t afraid to say what she thought. They either built things with their hands (like artists) or had built lives and businesses around helping other people grow and figure out theirs (like coaches and media personalities). And the community they surrounded themselves with appeared to all lifted each other up.

I wanted that.

None were CMOs at tech companies, and none had an impressive corner office.

One name kept showing up: Darrah Brustein. I’d met her a few times and she always softened me and got me thinking deeply. I read everything she wrote. Follow everything she posted. Feel that particular brand of jealousy that is really just: I want what she has and I don’t know how to say that out loud yet. (More on Darrah in a moment)

The model I didn’t know I was running

Here’s something I didn’t understand about myself until I started doing this work.

My dad worked at one company his entire career. One. Showed up, worked hard, became successful, was a wonderful father, retired. That was the model I grew up watching. That was what i thought doing it right looked like.

So I did what made sense: I picked my path at 18 and assumed that was just it. Career locked in. Identity sorted. Moving on.

(Eighteen. I was eighteen. I had zero idea who I was, and thought ok life path decided.)

I’d always had this vague shapeless sense that eventually it would look different. I’d have kids, I’d work less, it would soften somehow. But I had never once actually asked myself: what do I want it to look like? specifically. How do I want to feel? Who do I want to be helping?

I just assumed the path would magically reveal it’s self if I kept my head down and checking the boxes laid out in front of me.

college: check.
cool internship: check
great first job: check
promotion, promotion, promotion: check
buy home: check
married: check
high title, managing a team: check
Then I got a slap in the face. Turns out the universe has opinions about autopilot…

I survived the second worst leader of my career, and then Covid happened.

And I knew something had to change, but I felt stuck and had no idea what. And then I thought of Darrah, and I, like yoga teacher training for no certificate, or reason other than to do something for me. I made a bet on myself and hired her as a coach.

I did the work. Found my aim. Started moving towards it. Started a side hustle.

And then I had kids and pressed pause. I kept thinking: I need the security while they’re little. I’ll figure out the rest later. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.

Later became five years.

(Note: no regrets here. Early motherhood was not the time for me to start something new. My obsession was figuring out who I was as a mother. And I was in a great place to do just that.)

Then I opened Excel

So five years later… shortly after my second was born. I decided it was time… except I had no idea what it was time for.

In an ideal world I’d start a side hustle, start building something and then leap once I prove it feels good, and makes money. However, the last 5 years proved that as a mom of 2 with a full time job there was no space for a side hustle and be the mom and full time employee I want to be.

So are we leaping into the unknown without a plan? Yup, I guess that’s what we are doing.

Click Excel spread sheet open.

So I looked at what our life actually cost. Not vibes. Not “I think we’re probably fine.” Actual numbers. What do we spend? What could flex if it needed to? How long could we survive and not change our lives? What was my real risk tolerance? My runway? Could I hire help?

(This is the template I created and have used to get honest about our finances. I made it as simple as possible. Sharing it here if you want it.)

I had a lot of conversations with my husband. Not one tidy “are you aligned?” conversation. Many. About money, timing, risk, lifestyle, the life we’d built together and whether it could hold a different version of me.

Those conversations weren’t clean. But they were the ones that got me out of my ego, fear, self doubt spiral. I had so many stories running in my head about not bringing in the same income, about what it meant, about what kind of partner and mother that made me. Saying them out loud to him, instead of just spinning on them alone, changed everything. His support didn’t erase the guilt entirely, it’s unfortunately something I still feel, especially during that time of the month. He knows this. But knowing he was fully in it with me, understood the risks and fully supported me settled something in my chest that no spreadsheet could touch.

“I looked at what our life actually cost. Not vibes. Not ‘I think we’re probably fine.’ Actual numbers.”

One of the hardest things to work through was the guilt of not earning what I was used to earning. My whole sense of worth had gotten completely fused with my income, my title, the number of people I was managing. If I wasn’t bringing in the money, who was I? Was I still contributing? Still impressive? Still something?

I figured out my runway. And I found that excel sheet deeply comforting, it settled a lot of my fears and helped me get super clear on how wild I could comfortably go.

I revisit it monthly.

The Psychic

And then, because life doesn’t let you just spreadsheet your way to freedom, I went a little (ok a lot) woo.

I met her in Serenbe. A psychic medium. . I signed up the way you sign up for things when you’re quietly unraveling but not ready to admit it. A little impulsively. Zero expectations. Telling yourself it’ll probably be nothing but secretly hoping it’ll be everything.

I went in a full skeptic. My attitude was somewhere around: this could be fun, maybe I’ll get some little zaps about what to do, worst case I’ve wasted an hour and some money.

It was not nothing.

Yes, she gave me fun zaps into my future and messages from my spirit guides. But most importantly she helped me pause. Slow down. Picture my future self and actually feel her, instead of just planning for her on a spreadsheet.

And then she said something I needed someone to say to me:

What if I have another kid. What if money gets tight. What if it doesn’t work. What if, what if, what if.

Whatever you decide doesn’t need to be forever.

I had been holding so many what ifs as reasons to wait that I hadn’t noticed they’d quietly become a wall. She didn’t knock it down. She just showed me the door I’d been standing next to the whole time.

(I wrote a whole letter about what working with a psychic has actually been like. read it here)

The year after the leap

What followed, I didn’t have a name for at the time.

Now I think of it as the year I went back to school. Just not a conventional one. No curriculum. No grades. No one measuring my output or swiping my badge to check I’d shown up enough.

I tinkered. I played. I built things just to see what I enjoyed building. I went deep into the world of self-development and wellness and living intentionally that I’d always loved but never had proper time to inhabit.

I also took intuition classes. Found an expert in human design. Another in living in tune with your cycle.

And I dreamed. Actually dreamed. Dreamed up what the most genuinely good life I could picture would feel like, not what it would look like on paper, but how it would feel in my body on a random Tuesday.

I still have this mentality. I think I always will.

Treat everything like an experiment

I stopped asking is this the right move and started asking what happens if I try this?

I’m just going to post this and see what happens. I’m just going to write this and see what people ask me about. I’m just going to offer this and see if anyone wants it.

Some experiments stuck. Others I dropped quickly. What were people coming to me for? What made them reply, save, forward, bring up in real life months later? What felt good to make? What drained me before I even started?

That became the data. Not just analytics. Aliveness. Both matter.

When something didn’t work, it didn’t have to mean I’d failed. It could just mean the experiment gave me information. That tiny mind shift made it so much easier to keep moving.

It took a full year of playing around before what feels like my actual business emerged.

What I believe now

I used to think changing your life required a big dramatic leap. Now I think it starts much more quietly.

First you have to see your life clearly. Which sounds obvious until you realize you’ve been living inside a schedule, a title, a salary, and a version of yourself you built five, ten years ago and never stopped to question.

Not the “I should want this” version. The real one.

From there, you start making small honest moves. Not your forever plan. Just your next honest move.

And I’ll say this clearly, because I mean it: I’m not saying everyone should leave corporate like I did. Please don’t send your boss a resignation email because Gina on the internet was in a mood. For some people, staying is exactly right for this season. The job is stable, supportive, values-aligned. It gives them the life they want. Beautiful. We love her. I’ve been there.

But don’t stay just because you’ve been staying. Don’t keep climbing just because the ladder is there.

Pause. Pick your head up. Look around. Look inside. Ask if you’ve shifted. Ask if the life you built, or inherited, still fits the person you’re becoming.

That’s the work. And once you see it, you can work with it.

A small thing to try this week

If this is hitting close to home, try this.

For the next five days, keep a note in your phone called “What’s actually happening?”

At the end of each day, write three things:

1. What gave me energy today?
2. What drained me today?
3. Where did I feel resentful, jealous, or weirdly alive?

Don’t solve it yet. Don’t turn it into a 17-step reinvention plan. Just collect the data.

At the end of the week, look for the patterns. Your body has probably been trying to tell you something your brain has been making very busy PowerPoints to avoid.

If you want to go even deeper, I do this fuller version every couple of years when I’m feeling lost. I call it “Everything you do in a day”. Intense. But the fastest way I know to pick your head up from autopilot.

And if you’re ready to go further than a phone note

I’m hosting an IRL something I’ve been dreaming up the last couple years: A Life at Play Day. in June. Just south of Atlanta in my community, Serenbe.

One day. Small group. Real conversations. Designed for exactly the moment these two letters have been circling. Spots go to this list first and then drop publicly. Sign up to be the first to know

And separately, I’ve opened up a four slots each month to work with people on this 1:1. I have space for one more client in May and June. If something in these two letters felt like it was written directly at you, Id love to chat and see if we are a fit. Grab a free consult here.

xx, Gina

P.S. If this resonated, forward it to one person who needs to read it. The best thing that happens when I write these letters is when someone says: my friend sent this to me. That’s the whole point.

I was looking at the people ahead of me, the ones I was technically working toward becoming, and I had this quiet realization.

Oh shit. I don’t want their jobs.

I don’t want their problems. I definitely don’t want their lives. And geez. I don’t really want to be at those tables anymore.

Which is a slightly inconvenient realization when you’ve spent 15 years doing everything “right” to get there.

Nothing was technically wrong. I wasn’t miserable. I liked working hard, liked being good at something. I really liked growing and leading people. Building things, solving problems. But somewhere along the way I’d learned what I needed to learn from that world. And now I felt like a puppet. A cog. And I couldn’t see a future I was excited about.

I didn’t just want a new job. I wanted to be around, well different people.

And by different, I don’t mean less ambitious. I am ambitious. Annoyingly so, probably.

I mean people doing life a little more gently. A little more in tune with themselves. People who still cared about building things, but also cared about staying true to their values, not just the $.

Because the world I was in had started to feel ruthless. So much about the numbers. So little about the actual people. The higher I got, the more I saw how decisions were made, how things were packaged, how much energy went into politics and saying things the “right” way instead of just saying what was true.

Every year the same compensation conversations. The same weird corporate dance. Being forced back into the office post-COVID made me crazy. The badge swipes. The counting. I can’t.

There is something especially soul-sucking about being a grown adult with children, a mortgage, and a 401k and still having a building swipe decide whether you worked enough that week. Especially when you woke up at 5:30am to take calls with the Singapore office and give up your Sunday to fly west.

At some point I thought:

I cannot keep being a smiling little messenger pigeon for things I don’t believe in and for leaders I don’t agree with.

The Slow Drift Into Someone I Didn't Recognize

So I started asking different questions.

Who do I actually want to be around? What rooms do I want to be in? Whose problems do I want to help solve? What kind of ambition feels good in my body?

And the slightly obnoxious answer was: not the rooms I was currently in. And not the rooms I’d end up in if I stayed on that track.

That track looked lonely to me. It looked impressive, sure. But lonely. And if I’m really telling the truth, I could also see how it might feed the worst parts of me. The ego. The part that wants the title, money and power.

I could feel it happening. I was getting harder in ways I didn't like. Less playful. Less present. More irritated. More impressed by things I didn't even respect.

How did I get so lost in autopilot that I let that happen?

The Question I Kept Avoiding

For a long time, I kept asking: what’s the worst that could happen if I leave?

Very adult. Very responsible. Let’s put it on a mug.

But eventually I had to ask a different one: What’s the worst that could happen if I stay?

That one opened my eyes. Because the worst-case scenario of leaving was mostly financial. And yes, money matters. Hugely.

But the worst-case scenario of staying felt like slowly becoming someone I didn’t want to be. Less present. Less playful. Less connected to herself. More resentful. More polished. More impressive, maybe.

Less alive. And that cost started to feel too high.

I also started asking the flip side: what's the best case if I stay? If I leave? Those answers were clarifying

But here’s the thing nobody tells you about that realization. It doesn’t come with a plan. I had two fears tangled up together, and they were both real.

The first one was obvious: how would I make money? What would I actually do?

The second one was sneakier: what if I left one machine and slowly built another one, except this time I was the machine. The operator, the marketer, the bookkeeper, the customer service department, and the person crying into a laptop at 11pm making less money.

I had heard enough founder stories to know that “build your own thing” can very quickly become: congrats, your new boss is now your worst self.

I didn’t want that either.

So I didn’t wake up one day with a perfect plan. That’s not what happened. In this post I tell you what happened instead.

Oh and by the way, I'm hosting something small. A day in Serenbe (just south of Atlanta) in June, for people sitting with exactly this question. Spots go to the list first. Join here.

xx, Gina

I’m finally reading (err listening to) Braiding Sweetgrass. Lots about being in relationship with the land… not just taking from it. Paying attention. Giving something back.

It’s a lovely book. You should read it.

And last week I heard about a group of friends volunteering at Serenbe Farms. Like actually going regularly. Hands in the dirt, having a good ol’ time, being part of it. She was alive talking about it

Feels like something you don’t see often anymore… people not just living in a place, but participating in it. Those people always inspire me. They’re at the center of what makes this area feel so special. Feels like something’s shifting out at the farm lately.

Brandi… you can feel it.

What even is a CSA?

Brandi Whitney is the Farm manager at Serenbe farms. And for those of us who are new to this small town life and have zero idea what a CSA is (me 5 years ago).

Here is the scoop:

It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. basically… you’re buying a “share” of a farm. Like instead of going to the store and picking out random produce each week, you’re saying: “hey, I trust you. grow what you grow. I’m in.”

And then every week, you get a box of whatever is in season, freshly picked that morning. Think tomatoes, bok choy, flowers, herbs etc. Sometimes it’s like: …ok what is this? Or what am I supposed to do with this much kale.

But that’s kind of the point. You eat more seasonally. You try new things. You share extras with neighbors. You get closer to where your food actually comes from. And you’re supporting a local farm before they even grow the food, which helps them plan and stay in business.

Every week too much? Go halfsies with a neighbor.

Serenbe Farms has one - learn more. Do you know of any other CSAs in the local community? Would love to share em.

Around Here is supported this week by Alex Bravo of Bravo Conscious Health

Reiki Master, Harvard researcher, AI/data tech background + local neighbor.

Alex has been offering integrative energy medicine work (Reiki, frequency + stress regulation) a bit under the radar, and is now opening up private sessions, small groups, and classes at Soul Barn and Serenbe Yoga. Her work is about helping people feel more regulated, clear, and back in their bodies.

+ she just launched a Substack breaking down what’s actually credible in this space (so give her some <3).

A Few Things I’d Tell You If We Ran Into Each Other

• Two incredible art shows the next 2 weekends, at two ridiculously cool homes. Like seriously go just to poke around the spaces

  • 4.19 3-5pm | Patrick Johnson at Serenbe home | Equines and Mystics

  • 4.25 5-8pm | Chris Artabasy at SARDIS | A Continuous Becoming

• Terra Middle School “Play Stations” popping up around town you’ll see little QR codes on trails, at coffee spots, parks, etc. The students are studying how different ages actually connect (not just exist near each other). If you see one do them a solid it takes like a minute to answer.

• Terminus Ballet is here the next two weekends. It’s outside at sunset in the wildflower meadows. So yes, you will be sitting under the stars by the end.

  

If You Leave the House, Start Here

A few things that caught my eye:

• 4.18 | Reverdie at the Music Barn Local bands. Blankets. BYOB everything. Big views. Ft: Paper Lantern Parade and Prairies, with headliner Grateful to Be!

• 4.19 | Free kids community clothing swap for gently used kids + teen clothes. Bring what you can, take what you need. (thank you for organizing Dr Escalante <3)

• 4.23 | 3rd Annual Terra School Fete A fun night out for a good cause… dinner, dancing, auction, all supporting Terra School

• Monday Night Softball (weekly) All are welcome. Teams reset every week, no chirping, no arguing calls, easy to jump in even if you’ve never played. RSVP by Sunday at noon

📅 Browse Full Event Calendar

See everything happening →

Tiny, slightly invasive question:

How are you shopping for art? Who is your favorite local artist(s) and why? Comment or DM me and let me know.

Leave a comment

Goal: I’d like to get all the local artists in the new local Directory by the end of May so send them my way, or straight to create their free listing here. That way we can see and learn about all our local artists in one simple spot.

And next is the local farmers.

If You Missed It

• Trail Group Bike Ride (Wednesdays) 6pm at Halsa | An easy, social trail ride. About an hour, with plenty of bailout points. Mountain bikes preferred.

• New Alzheimer’s / Dementia support group For patients + caregivers in Chatt Hills / Palmetto email for details

• Young musicians from the community are playing at the Serenbe farmers market this Sat 10-11

• HoneyComb is now The Consignment Shop (new chapter) Dawn officially took over after 9 years managing it. (in my opinion the best consignment shop ever)

• Dump the Week (new class, Saturdays 11:15) Somatic movement + breathwork + nervous system reset with Alex Bravo at Serenbe yoga. Basically: shake off the week so you can feel like a human again

• I wrote about my experience working with local psychic medium and energy healer, Christina Trifero, this last year. It’s juicy.

• New to Substack: Photographer Raymond McCrea Jones. Give him a follow and some love.

• New Private Ceramics at Minro Studio Good date night / friend thing You make 2–3 pieces, pick your glaze, come back later to get them

• Chatt Hills News April issue dropped

• Serenbe Stories Podcast is back for a 13th season.

• My little Serenbe walking club (for the girlies), is now a monthly thing for all of 2026. First Friday. 8:30am. Sign up

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown.

1

2

3

Enjoy!

Subscribe now

Be kind out there. Get in nature.

xx, Gina

P.S. I’m starting to think about the future of this whole local project, Around Here. If you feel pulled to it and want to be involved, reach out.

A quick behind the scenes thing since someone asked me this week, “who’s funding this”… I’m bootstrapping all of this. No funding, no big team, just me figuring it out as I go.

Everything you see (newsletter, event calendar, directory) is free and will stay that way. If you’re a paid subscriber, you don’t get extra “stuff” today, it’s more of a nod to keep this going. Also, full transparency… Substack 1 year renewals just hit and it went from $6k → $5k overnight. Goal is $10k by the end of the year so I can bring on some help and keep building this. My belief: all tides rise as this thing grows.

No pressure at all. Just sharing how it works.

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍Explore the Local Directory

Want in? ➕Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

Send this to the friend who always asks ‘what should we do this weekend?

If you had told corporate-marketing-leader Gina a few years ago that she’d be casually writing a public essay about working with a psychic medium and recommending other people consider it too, she would have laughed and said yeah right.

And yet, here we are.

Last week I wrote about The Telepathy Tapes and the weirdly undeniable feeling that something is shifting culturally (you can read about that here). Not in a loud, mainstream-headline way. In a quieter way. A stranger way. A more people-are-secretly-open-to-this-than-we-admit way.

This week, I want to tell you what working with a psychic has actually been like on my end.

Because this is not theoretical for me anymore.

This past year, I’ve worked one-on-one with , a psychic medium and energy healer here in Serenbe, and I’ve been in two of her intuition practice circles and I just signed up for another.

I went into all of it skeptical as hell. Not closed. But skeptical. Curious skeptic is probably the cleanest way to say it.

Now? I mean… yeaaaaa. I believe it’s real because I’ve experienced it over and over.

Not in a “please tell me what to do and I’ll hand over the keys to my life” kind of way. Quite the opposite. Christina helps people trust their own inner authority more deeply, from career to relationships to everything in between.

What I believe now is that this world is as real as you let it be. As real as prayer. As real as signs and life’s little coincidences. As real as those moments you just know something before your brain can make a case for it. As real as the quiet feeling in your body that says yes, or no, or not yet.

And the more I explore it, the less interested I am in giving my power away and the more interested I am in strengthening my own relationship to that inner knowing.

That’s the part I didn’t expect.

Psychics, for me, have not become a replacement for my own inner voice. They’ve become one of the ways I’ve learned to hear it better.

Also, and this is important, life is simply more fun when you let yourself believe in a little magic.

My first psychic was at prom, which feels correct

The first psychic I ever saw was at senior year prom in 2007.
I remember being very excited to get a reading and waiting in a verrry long line. I was internally like, okay, cool, fun party trick, let’s do this.

And I remember only one thing from that reading because she leaned in with great seriousness and said there was something coming in very, very strong.

Horses.

That was the message. Horses are in my future in a BIG way.

I was not a horse girl. I did not ride horses. I was not dreaming of horses. I remember thinking, this is it? This is the big spiritual download? Me? Horses?
No ma’am. I’m headed to the big city.

Okay, I did have a little mantra I said in bed when I was scared and it goes: “horses and ponies and beautiful things” and yes, Rory and Dottie use it today.

Years later, I was at a yoga teacher training at an ashram in Florida - 2019. Another psychic. And Yeppp.

Horses again.

Still irrelevant. Still weird.

Fast forward to last year when I booked my first session with Christina Trifero, here in Serenbe, and you will never guess where we’re sitting.

Soul Barn. Sitting in front of two horses.

And, horses had very much become part of my life. Meditating with them. Living in a place where I pass them every single day.

Do I think this proves anything? No.
Do I think patterns are interesting? Absolutely.

Make of it what you want. I think it’s cool AF.

Let me set the scene properly

I did not walk into my first session with Christina as some wide-eyed believer clutching a journal and begging the universe for answers.

I walked in like a woman with a Catholic background, fifteen years in software marketing, and a low tolerance for nonsense. A woman who has always dabbled in the woo, sure. I joke that yoga was my gateway drug. Two teacher trainings and an ashram later, I’m clearly open.

But I was still very much like, okay girl, impress me.

Christina and I laugh about this now because apparently my energy that first day was… direct. And she knew.

I wasn’t looking for theatrics. I was looking for clarity.

At the time, I was standing on the edge of a very big decision, leaping from my corporate career with zero plan. I knew it. I could feel it. I just wanted help understanding timing and how to hear and trust my inner knowing.

I remember asking something like, “I think I’m on the precipice of a big change. Is there anything I should be paying attention to? And I’m especially wondering about timing.”

Side note, if you ever do a session like this, I do think it helps to go in with a real question. Not because they need it. Because you do. It gives the session shape. It gives you something real to hold when you leave.

The first thing that made me go… okay wait

In that first session, Christina told me very clearly not to leave my job before September 18 2025.

At the time, I was debating timelines. Leave now? Wait until January? Hold on until March for the bonus? I took Christina’s insight, and I waited.

That exact week of September 18, just as Christina predicted, around 30 percent of the company I worked for was acquired and we were told we’d be receiving a payout on that portion of our stock.

I cannot make this up.
The amount ended up being almost exactly the one-year salary I had said I’d need in order to leap from my job without a plan. If I had listened to urgency instead of intuition, I would have left early… and missed all of it.

Could you call that coincidence? Sure. Im not here to convince you of anything, just sharing my experience.

Coincidence, magic or not, $250k in my pocket was very freakin’ real.

And when you’re inside the moment, living it in real time, it does not feel like coincidence. It feels orchestrated.

It feels like one of those moments where life winks at you and you just stand there blinking back like… excuse me?

And that was sort of the beginning.
That was the beginning. Not of blind belief, but of realizing how often I override myself.

I resigned the first week of January. My last day was April 1, 2025.

I had no real plan. Just this Substack, a few hunches, and a lot of Excel sheets.

Here’s what surprised me most

What I expected from psychic work was drama. What I got was something much more useful.

My experience with Christina has never felt like some big movie scene where someone gasps and reveals shocking information I could not possibly know.

It has almost always felt like she is helping me hear something I already know.

The way Christina talks about it feels less like handing your life over to some all-knowing authority, and more like being in conversation with a friend. Your spirit guides, if that language works for you (or god, angels etc), are not dictators. The psychic is the channel.

But you still hold the power.

That framing has mattered so much to me because I am deeply not into giving my power away. I’ve heard of way too many leader/expert/guru follower relationships turned sour over power.

That’s one of the biggest reasons why I trust Christina. She is not interested in being an authority and will always redirect me back to myself. Now I’m obsessed with developing my own intuition alongside one-on-one coaching sessions with Christina. I don’t want to become dependent on anybody. I want to become more attuned to myself.

And honestly, that’s exactly what’s happened.

Just for funzies. A few things she said that ended up being true

Not as proof. Just… a few of the moments that made me pause.

A few quick hits:

• She told me not to leave my job before a certain date. That turned out to be the week of the stock payout that gave me the runway to leap.

• She told me to pour into Greg. At the time, I was kind of like okay sure. Later, after Dottie’s heart surgery and a season where everything else had taken priority, that landed in a very real way. I signed us up for couples therapy and it was the best thing we did for each other in a longgg time.

• She knew my lights were flickering for a week with no explanation and channeled that it was my cat Felix who had just passed away. She worked some magic and it didn’t happen again.

• She saw a spirit baby and told me, very directly, that I was complete as a family of four.

That last one deserves its own section because wow.

The family-of-four thing cracked something open in me

This is the one I’ve almost not shared because I know it might hit people funny. But it was one of the most freeing things anyone has ever said to me.

Out of nowhere, Christina looked at me in a 1:1 and said something along the lines of, “You are complete with your family of four. Move forward as if you are complete. A third is there if one day you want another, but today you are complete.”

For context, I put my life on a bit of a pause while I became a mother. I have quietly wrestled for years with the idea of a third baby. Which means, whether I realized it or not, I had been making some life choices from a place of waiting. Staying in a safer job. Keeping options open. Not fully moving forward because of some hypothetical future what-if.

She wasn’t saying, you can never have another child. She was saying, stop stalling your life for a maybe.

There was nuance in it. There was tenderness in it. There was also a spirit-baby layer to that conversation that I’m not getting into today.

But the part that mattered most was this: I felt released.

Not controlled. Released.

It was like someone took my hand and said, you can move now. You do not need to keep your whole life on pause for a possibility.

That changed me.

This is not your mama’s crystal ball

This is another thing I want to say clearly because movies have done all of us dirty.

This is not your mama’s Ms Cleo, dim lighting, crystal ball, dramatic eyeliner, evil trickster, beware-of-the-cursed-message psychic situation.

At least not in my experience.

The most compelling thing about Christina is actually how grounded she is. She is wildly gifted, yes, but she is also normal. Smart. Funny. Practical. Boundaried. She comes from a tech background, which delights me to no end because there is something very Life at Play about a former software-world woman becoming the channel for spirit.

It’s not every day you get to work with a psychic who used to work in tech and is still grounded enough to say “I don’t know” when she doesn’t know. Or admits she is extremely gullible for being a psychic. :)

That matters to me.

She’s also become a real friend, which has given me an even more interesting behind-the-scenes look at this world. One thing I’ve learned by watching her is that these practitioners are just people. They’re not public property because they’re intuitive. They need boundaries. They are not on call because you ran into them after grabbing lunch and suddenly want to unpack a cosmic emergency on the sidewalk.

I’m saying that because I genuinely would not have known either.

And I think the more human we make this world, the less scary and weird it becomes.

—

And then there’s the part I’m not even getting into today: the practice circles.

Because one thing is having a one-on-one reading and thinking, huh, that was powerful. Another thing entirely is sitting in a group, practicing it yourself, and realizing this world might be a lot less rare than we’ve been taught.
I’ll tell you about that next.

If you want to go deeper

You can find here on Substack, through her work at Spiritual Curiosity, and on IG @christinatriferooo. She offers one-on-one sessions and intuition practice circles.

And there are all sorts of spiritual, energy and wellness practitioners in and around Serenbe. Learn about them all in the Around Here Directory.

One more thing (for you, not the masses)

I’ve been building some things quietly behind the scenes. It’s for anyone with that subtle, nagging feeling of “wait… is this it?” or “okay… what now?”

A deeper container (coming in May)
Something I’m calling The Reset, part awareness, part clarity, part actual next steps. Waitlist just dropped.

+ I opened up 3 free 30-min 1:1 spots in April to talk through your own “what now” moment. bc I want to build this thing with you not alone in a room.

Tell me where you land

Have you ever had an experience you couldn’t explain?

Have you ever had a gut feeling that was right?

Do you think this is all nonsense, quietly interesting, or fully your thing?

No wrong answers. I’m genuinely curious.

Leave a comment

Talk soon,

xx, Gina

It’s still easy to get buried in work and logistics and screens and errands and the noise of the world, and forget to actually enjoy the life right in front of you. (guilty)

That’s part of what this newsletter is for me. A little nudge to look up. To notice what’s growing. To try the weird event. To do something kind for someone for no reason at all. To take the walk you keep saying you’ll take.

To remember what we moved (or visit) here for in the first place.

Anyway, I hope this gives you a reason to step out of your normal routine and try something new this week.

Around Here is supported this week by Acorn to Oak Health

Membership based, so more access, more time, more relationship. You can actually text your doctor, get in quickly, and not feel rushed. Big focus on staying well vs. waiting until something’s wrong.

Dr. Blackmon (adults) is waitlisted. Dr. Escalante (kids) is open but shifting to a waitlist later this year.

And yes… they’re as good as everyone says. + in my experience: one kid’s urgent care visit covers the cost for the year.

You Should Know

• If you were moved by the Rescued Hearts documentary the other weekend and feel pulled to be closer to the horses, that experience exists right here at Soul Barn. Karen Jones’ Equine Experience (I’ve done it - its incredible)

• Georgia Renaissance Fair is almost here: April 11 - May 31. Get weird, put a costume on, have a turkey leg. People drive from all over to attend and its just a 15 min drive away.

• Bianca Cavandi’s Bread Mobile is taking April off. This Saturday (at the farmers market) is the last pickup, back May 2. If you want to stock up, pre-order.

On the Calendar

A few things that caught my eye:

• March 27 | GATHERROUND at Birdhouse Café An intentional evening around intuitive living, conversation, and connection with new resident Cathleen Miller. 4–6 pm. Free to attend.

• March 29 | Grass Roots Pizza will be at the General Store this Sunday 12pm-4pm. For orders of 4 or more pizzas, call (770) 657-7600.

• April 4 | Easter Egg Hunts

  • 9am | Serenbe Social committee Easter Egg hunt at the Selborne athletic fields, If your child is participating, you’ll need to drop off 20 pre-filled eggs by April 2.

  • 2pm | The Brett’s Pasture Easter Egg Hunt at 6301 Campbleton-Redwine rd

• April 9 | Growing Microgreens at home at Serenbe Farms

📅 Browse Full Event Calendar

See everything happening →

Tiny, fun poll.

If You Missed It

• Start your spring cleaning! April 19 | Kids Clothing Swap Free community swap for gently used kids + teen clothes. Bring what you can, take what you need.

• New neighbor, Tara McNamara, is baking small-batch bread using freshly milled wheat berries and delivering it warm to your doorstep. She’s baking a limited number of loaves each week if you want to try it reach out on FB.

• Save the date: April 25 | Terra Fête Dinner, drinks, live music, dancing, and auction. A fun night that also supports Terra School.

• Save the date: May 9th | 20th Anniversary of Community Brickworks at the Backyard Bash. Tickets are live and sponsorships are open.

• Terra School at Serenbe is hiring Montessori, 4th/5th Grade, and High School Math educators. Apply here

• Hills & Hamlets Bookshop has a gorg new logo + the new owner, Shree Sumerlin is bringing cutie behind the scenes of owning a bookstore to our instagram feeds.

• Sheri Salata had Steve Nygren on The Practiced Life podcast. If you want a deeper look into how Serenbe came to be, it’s worth a listen.

• Barre is back at The Gym at Serenbe. Low-impact, high-energy, no dance experience needed. $25/class.

Currently in Season Locally

• Forage: Redbud flowers (perfect for salads), morel mushrooms, wild onions/garlic, dandelion leaves, stinging nettle, greenbrier shoots (similar to asparagus)

• Buy Local: Mashbakes is selling fun Mini Easter egg decorating kits, cupcakes (mini & regular), and cakes..

• Buy Local: Bulk beef buying opportunity from Woodsong Farms (it will sell out). Grassfed, pasture-raised beef for your freezer.

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown.

1

2

3

Enjoy!

If you do one thing this week, make it something you wouldn’t normally do.

xx, Gina

PS I’m making the Play Date (for grown women) a monthly thing in 2026. First Friday. 8:30am. Serenbe.

A walking club… and a small nudge to do something out of your norm. Sign up and then add it to your calendar once, and I’ll send the details before each one.

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍Explore the Local Directory

Want in? ➕Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

Forward this to your group chat that always asks ‘what’s going on this weekend?

And something is happening right now. No, I don’t mean politics or AI or the economy or whatever headline is yelling at us this week.
I mean something quieter. Stranger.

Have you heard of The Telepathy Tapes?

(I know… after last week’s very practical life finance post, this is not where you expected me to go. And yet, here we are.)

The quick version: it’s a documentary-style podcast hosted by filmmaker Ky Dickens exploring claims of telepathic communication between nonspeaking autistic individuals.

Ky opens each episode by saying: “For decades, a very specific group of people have been claiming telepathy is happening in their homes and in their classrooms. And nobody has believed them. Nobody has listened to them. But on this podcast, we do.”

It got big-big. Apple even listed it among the most popular podcast series and #1 top episode of 2025. Not fringe. Top of the charts.

People are talking about it at dinner parties. Sending it in group texts. Listening while folding laundry. Joe Rogan is into it. And in Serenbe, second only to Mahjong, it might be the most discussed topic right now.

Yes. That probably just sorted you into a category.
Some of you just leaned forward. Some of you just crossed your arms and are considering x-ing out.

I’ll pause.

You can go ahead and [x] out…
or stay curious with me.

Subscribe now

The Woo Is Not a Niche Hobby Anymore

Whether you believe in any of this or not… something has shifted.

Almost half of Americans say they believe in psychic or spiritual healing. Astrology apps are a multi-billion dollar industry. Tarot decks are sold at Urban Outfitters. Younger generations are significantly more open to energy, intuition, and nontraditional spirituality than their parents ever were.

Also worth saying: this podcast is controversial. There are real critiques. I’m not ignoring that. I’m just… paying attention.

And it’s messed with me. In a humbling, “maybe I’ve been too certain about what counts as knowing” kind of way.

Here’s what got me

One of the telepathic children in the series describes himself as essentially a wizard… and the rest of us as “muggles” not yet ready to understand what’s happening.

That line has not left me. (Probably because I speak Harry Potter.)

• Because what if the people we assume are “limited” are operating on frequencies we don’t fully grasp yet?

• What if intelligence is not what we’ve been taught to measure?

Pause. Because if you haven’t listened to the podcast, you might be wondering...

How are they communicating any of this?

Some are using spelling boards or keyboards. Which is where a lot of the controversy lives. I’m not an expert. I’m not trying to solve it. I just found myself sitting in that tension. Believing Ky… while also thinking, okay, let’s stay grounded here.

I haven’t experienced this exact thing myself. But I have experienced things I can’t explain. And instead of shutting it down… I felt myself leaning in.

And then this part humbled me

I have an extended family member who is nonverbal. And I realized, uncomfortably, how narrow my assumptions have been.

If I’m being completely honest, I think my brain has been operating with a hidden file folder labeled “limitations” when I think about her. Not in a cruel way. In a default-cultural-assumption way.

What if the limitation isn’t hers?
What if it’s mine?

And that has changed the way I’m going to show up with her forever.

I assume less. I observe differently. I hold more possibility.

Even if telepathy gets debunked tomorrow, that shift feels like it matters.

Stay With Me

I keep coming back to the same thought.

What if this isn’t as black and white as we want it to be? What if it’s not “real” or “not real,” “proven” or “fake.”

What if it’s more like… some people can access or perceive things differently. Not because they’re magical, but because something about how they process the world is different.

One of the theories that comes up in the podcast is that we all have some sort of a “filter” or “shield.”

Something that regulates what gets in, what gets out, what we’re even aware of. And for most of us, that filter is pretty tight. But for some people… maybe it works differently.

Maybe it lets more in. Maybe it’s thinner in certain places.

Or maybe we’ve all had access to more than we realize… and most of us just learned how to tune it out really well.

I don’t know.

But I can’t stop thinking about it.
and when you start to look at things like highly sensitive people, ADHD, dyslexia… it makes you wonder if there’s more going on than we’ve been taught to see. And if that’s even a little bit true… then the idea of intuition, energy, or even something like telepathy or mediumship doesn’t feel quite as far away as we’ve been taught it is.

It starts to feel less black and white… and more like a range. Something some people are just more tuned into. Or more open to. Or maybe just… less filtered from.

Like…

And I’ve learned the hard way that any time I ignore that feeling, I regret it.

So here’s where this gets a little weird

So when I was planning a giant life change this last year, I wanted start paying attention to that part of myself. The part that knows before my brain catches up.

And I somehow found myself in not one, but two psychic (aka intuition) practice circles. And meeting quarterly with , a psychic medium and intuition coach.

(If you had told me this a few years ago, I would have laughed and said yeah right… but here we are).

Not because I’m trying to become a psychic medium.

Because I realized I’m not listening. And in a world where everything is loud all the time (hi phone, I love you), it’s harder than ever to hear anything subtle.

So I figured… why not practice?

I know. Super weird. We’ll get more into that in my next post.

Where I’ve Landed (For Now)

If you’re somewhere between skeptical and curious… you’re my kind of person.

Because I don’t have this figured out. But I do believe there are people who are more attuned than the rest of us.

5 years ago? Curious skeptic. Today? I’m in.

Not in a movie character crystal ball tell me my future way (but, hey prove me wrong!). In a “there’s more going on here than we understand yet” kind of way.

But today I believe psychics, healers and intuitives are real.
Mediums - yup.
Telepathy - I mean… after this podcast, yeah. I’m open to it.
Spirit guides - my new kinda of language.
Astrology - here for it.
Human design - 100%. (and wrote about it here)

Do I think everyone claiming these abilities are legitimate? Absolutely not.
Do I think discernment is required? Yes. That’s with all people.
Do I think I understand how any of it works? No freakin idea.

Because this is really what I’m doing:

This is me documenting what happens when a skeptic decides to stay curious instead of dismissive.

And the more I explore intuition, the more I trust myself.

And that part? That part feels undeniably good in a world that is moving very fast… and getting faster.

Quick Pulse Check

• Have you ever had a gut feeling that turned out to be right?

• Have you ignored it… and regretted it?

• Have you ever just known something before you could explain it?

If yes… you’re already closer to this than you think.

Which is kind of my point.

We mock things publicly that we quietly explore privately.

Tell me… which one are you?

(Not sure people actually answer honestly on these. But I’m still asking.)

If you do one thing after this, go listen to The Telepathy Tapes.

Not to decide if it’s true. Just to notice what happens in your body while you listen.

You might roll your eyes. Or you might just feel something shift.

I did. Both are interesting.

Leave a comment

Next, I’ll share what it’s actually been like working with a psychic medium and intuitive coach this past year. What surprised me. What felt real. What didn’t.

Talk soon,
xx, Gina

Oh, and for my Serenbe / Chatt Hills people… I split out the “Around Here” local section into its own thing, so this main newsletter can stay more like… whatever this is 😅
If you want all the local happenings, events, and insider stuff, that’s living over there now.

The kids are back at the fields. Porch sitting returns. Bikes are out. Plants are popping up. Everyone trying to catch the good part before the pollen fully attacks and the bugs remember where we live.

And suddenly the calendar is doing that thing where it gets absolutely packed.

That’s what Around Here is for.

Not just to tell you what’s happening, but to help us all look up a little more. To notice what’s here for us. To support the people building good things locally. To remember to check the community before defaulting to Amazon. To get outside. To try something new. To play as adults.

Basically: a small reminder not to miss your own life.

So… let’s get into it.

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Around Here is supported this week by Soberish

Culture is shifting. Only 54% of Americans say they drink alcohol now, the lowest since 1939. Soberish is our local place to experiment with what comes next. Yes, there’s CBD and THC. But also alcohol-free drinks, adaptogens, herbal blends, and little helpers for whatever mood you’re going for: calm, energized, sleepy, silly, social.

Basically: a place to walk in curious and walk out with something new to try.

You Should Know

• Grady is building a 20,000-square-foot Emergency Center in South Fulton.

  It’s expected to open in fall 2026 and will be one of the biggest in the country.

• Serenbe Farmers Market is back outside Saturdays | 9 am to 12 pm. Read all about the vendors here.

• Terra School at Serenbe Re-enrollment is open. 3/16 is the final day to secure your child’s spot for the ‘26-’27 school year.

On the Calendar

A few things that caught my eye:

• March 13–14 | Rescued Hearts Film Showcase Weekend

• March 16–18 | Citizen’s Police Academy – Chattahoochee Hills

• March 21 | St. Patrick’s Day Concert with live music at Serenbe Pavilion

• March 26 | Mushrooms and Mimosas: Lion’s Mane at Serenbe Farms

• Wednesdays | 9:30 am weekly Chatt Hills AI Meetup. All are welcome

📅 Browse Full Event Calendar

See everything happening →

Tiny, fun fact.

The omega-shaped neighborhoods at Serenbe came out of an all-nighter at The Inn, when Dr. Phillip Tabb stayed up redesigning the land plan with Steve Nygren. Tabb studies sacred geometry, which is really just the idea that certain shapes, like the patterns we see in nature, make places feel more peaceful and human.

Have a fun fact or poll the community would enjoy? Send it my way.

If You Missed It

• Chatt Hills has officially been named a Bird City Georgia community. Which feels very us. Bird City Georgia recognizes communities taking real action to protect bird habitat, reduce threats to birds, educate residents, and support sustainability.

• Minro has gelato now. Flavors include blood orange, hazelnut, stracciatella, and salted caramel. Gelato starts at 2 pm on weekdays and 1 pm on weekends. Picture this: you, a chair outside, a good book and an affogato.

• Train with Amber is back at a new location in Serenbe + offering strength training packages. She’s settling into a new space near Grange Green and is officially back open.

• Just dropped: a new Intuition practice circle for spring hosted by Christina Trifero, Spiritual Curiosity.

• The Around Here Local Directory crossed 115 local businesses last month and just got a refresh with better categories. It’s already been viewed over 5k times by people looking for local spots, events, and services.

• Kids Spring Gardening Program at Serenbe Farms Starts this week

• Palmetto voted to exclude data center developers from its zoning code. A notable move, and I imagine welcome news for a lot of people around here.

• New swings popped up at the Green slide park in Mado seemingly overnight.

• Serenbe Farms 2026 CSA is open (April–December). 30 weeks of organic produce, Tuesday pick-up on the farm.

• Homestead exemption applications are due April 1. Not sexy, but helpful. If you own property in Fulton County, don’t forget.

Currently in Season Locally

• Forage: morel mushrooms should be popping up right about now if you know where to look

• Preorder: Placemaking Through Myths, Experience, and Drawing. By local author Phillip James Tabb

• Support: Judy Walker’s beautiful new watercolor exhibit: Held in Pattern at Studio Swan. Now through 4.28. Contact Tom to stop by.

Lucky Links

Links to the unknown.
1

2

3

Enjoy!

Anyway, hope this gives you a reason to get out of your usual routine and try something new this week.

xx, Gina

P.S. Im working on some things over at Life at Play… If you are in a season of “ok. I built a good life… but wait, is this it?” then I’m building this for you. Waitlist for Beta has dropped.

Alsooooo. if you want emails on future Play Dates (for grown women), aka IRL walks and hangs hosted by yours truley. Then you can now sign up here for the invites.

Stay in the Know 📅 Browse Full Local Event Calendar •📍 Explore the Local Directory

Want in? ➕ Add an event • 🗞 Send a Scoop or Update • 🧾 Get Listed • 🤝 Partner

Forward this to your group chat that always asks ‘what’s going on this weekend?

But looking back, I realize they quietly wired me in ways that set me up financially and mentally for adulthood.

Lately I’ve been thinking about them a lot.
My nieces and kids are getting older. And I keep finding myself in conversations with friends about money, work, and how we actually prepare kids for the real world.

I am not a financial advisor.
I was never the “super smart” kid. I wasn’t exceptional at school. And as an adult I’m pretty sure I’m an undiagnosed dyslexic. The kind that flips letters around, smushes words together, and has absolutely zero sense of direction. (Thank god I was born in the era of spellcheck and Google Maps.)

But here’s the thing. I adapted. I worked really freakin’ hard. I learned my superpowers.
And I had a really great guide: my dad.

Now that I’m parenting in the messy middle of life, I catch myself saying things like, “My dad did this thing…”

And almost every time, people lean in.
Wait… he did what? Tell me more.
Can you share the template?

For context, I crossed a $1M net worth by the time I was 32.

I’m not saying if you do these things your kids will magically hit that number too. More that I know, without a doubt, I would not have gotten there without this wiring.

And the reality is most parents and schools aren’t teaching this stuff. Kids get thrown into the real world with no framework, no confidence, and no language around money. So they avoid it. They hide from it. Which usually makes everything worse.

I also want to say this clearly. I know I’m privileged. My parents set me up in ways not everyone gets. That is not lost on me.

But here’s the thing.
Most of what they did wasn’t flashy.
It wasn’t a trust-fund.
It was just intentional.
And a lot of it is replicable.

I hope this might even inspire you to rethink birthday or Christmas gifts this year.

So here’s the stuff we just did in our house.

(If you’re skimming today, skip to Get in the Game.)

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Choose Your Hard

There’s a saying I’m pretty sure I first heard from my dad: Choose your hard.

Life is going to be hard either way. You don’t get to avoid hard. You just get to decide when you want to feel it.

Saving money now is hard. Being broke later is hard.
Studying now is hard. Scrambling later is hard.

My dad lived this.

His dad was a plumber. He grew up in a big Catholic family with five sisters and A LOT of red hair. And when it came time for college, my dad could have gone straight to a four-year university and taken on debt.

Instead, he went to community college for two years and then transferred into Mizzou.
Not because he couldn’t get in as a freshman. Because he could. He just chose the long game.

Why pay for four years when you can pay for two, save money and graduate with the same degree?

He put ego in the corner and chose strategy. He chose the hard thing early so his life could be easier later, and that mindset quietly shaped everything in our house.

Get in the Game

My dad always says, “Get in the game.”

He says this about everything. Technology. Business. Investing. Life.

It’s why he bought the first Apple computer. It’s why he experiments with new tech instead of sitting on the sidelines. Cybertruck? He’s there. Tesla’s humanoid robot? He’s on the waitlist.

That mindset rubbed off on me.

It’s why I bought a little Bitcoin back in 2015. It’s why I bought the stock my company offered me. Bought into the GameStop craze (yeah lost money there…). It’s why we own a 3D printer and use AI every day. Geesh, it’s probably why I moved to Serenbe and walked away from a traditional corporate job.

And it’s fun to be in the game!

The one game everyone should be in is the game of getting your money to work for you.

Which is why when I turned 16, he sat me down and opened a custodial Charles Schwab account with me. (this is just a investment account for kids that a parent helps manage until they’re adults).

He put in some starter money as my birthday gift. I think it was $2,000.

Quickie Note: When I did this with my nieces recently for their 18th birthdays, I started them with $200. The number is not the point. Just start, start with what you have.

The point is that he made me sit in the driver’s seat and “Get in the Game”.

I pressed the buttons. I selected the trades. He stood behind me guiding. He did not take over and tell me what stocks to pick. And yes, it was scary and I begged him to just do it for me.

Instead he asked what brands I liked and believe would grow in the future. When I said Limited Too, he helped me research what companies were actually publicly traded.

I ended up picking Disney and McDonald’s. (Not bad for a sixteen year old.)

The Yearly Match Program

There is more. My dad made a deal with me.

The Match Deal:

• If I saved $2,000, he matched it.→ $4,000 invested.

• If I saved $500, he matched it.→ $1,000 invested.

• If I saved nothing… there was no match that year.

The catch: This money was for savings and not to be touched for a verrrry long time. IE Retirement, a future house down payment.

Note: We always maxed out my Roth IRA first, which — funny enough — back in 2005 was exactly $4k.
(Hah. I see you, Dad. Touché.)

FYI for 2026 the max annual contribution for Roth IRAs is $7,500.

And you better believe I hustled all year because I wanted to max that match.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that he was wiring something much bigger into my brain. He was wiring my brain for delayed gratification. Ownership. Comfort with investing. And showing me in real time that money you save can grow.

And without realizing it, he was also teaching me something I would use in my first corporate jobs: always max the match. (If you’ve ever had a job with a 401k match, you know exactly what I mean.)

Most importantly, he made the stock market feel normal instead of scary.

And that money became the down payment on my first house.
Thank you, dad. You are the best.

The Yearly “Finance Meeting”

It didn’t end there. Once a year we had a “finance meeting”.

Those meetings were serious business in our house. I would walk in oh so nervous.

Looking back, they were my first executive meetings. They prepared me for boardrooms long before I knew what one was.

We would sit down, review the account, and decide what to do next. Sometimes I invested in something new. Most of the time I left everything alone.

And we just talked about what was happening and why. I’m sure those meetings were packed full of lessons, some big feelings and frustrations. I can’t remember exactly but I do have a strong memory of feeling a sense of pride.

Make Money Visible

When I was 18, during one of those finance meetings. My dad showed me a spreadsheet he had been updating every January 1 for years. He told me something simple that stuck: it’s better to know than to be blind.

If you’re in debt, know it. If you’re ahead, know that too. Avoidance doesn’t change the number. It just adds anxiety to it.

The spreadsheet itself was simple. Each row was an age. The columns were assets, debts, and net worth. That was it.

I adapted it over the years, but the structure stayed the same. Every January 1, I update it. I also added a column for major life events, so it’s become this weirdly grounding money snapshot + life timeline.

It takes 10 minutes to fill in each year (if you know where your money is and all the logins) and it removes half the stress because the numbers aren’t lurking in the dark.

If you want the Google Sheet template, here it is.

Everything Is a Negotiation

The rule my dad had for me and my siblings was simple: Ohio has incredible colleges. He would pay unless we got a tattoo or went out of state.

But here’s what I learned early. With my dad (and honestly in life), nothing is ever a hard no. You could pitch him. You just had to be strategic.

My sister is the master negotiator in our family. I learned by watching her. When she tried to pitch him on going to school in Colorado, he told her she needed three solid reasons why Colorado was better than Ohio for him to pay. She came back with one. Skiing. She never came up with two others, so it was a no.

But did she convince him to buy her a convertible? Heck yes she did. I’m still over here wondering how she pulled that off.

There are rarely fixed rules if you understand what motivates the other person.

Earlier this year, I told my niece to pitch her dad on the exact stock market match program my dad had for me. I said, think about what he values. He wants to teach you to be independent and financially smart. So frame it that way. Tell him you want to learn how to invest and ask if he’ll match what you save.

He said yes.

And damn, that feels like the greatest gift I could ever give my niece.

None of this felt revolutionary growing up.

It just felt like our house. But now that I’m raising my own kids, I see it differently.

In my twenties I chose the hard of chasing achievement. These days I’m choosing the hard of building presence and balance. Ambition and softness.

Both are hard.

But I’m incredibly grateful for the foundation that lets me choose.

And now I’m curious about you.

What did your parents do that quietly set you up financially? Or what are you intentionally doing with your kids that more of us should borrow?

I’d also love to hear if you try any of this with your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews… anyone really. I’ve told these stories hundreds of times in conversation, but this is the first time I’ve actually written them down. So if anything is confusing or you have questions, let me know.

Let’s steal the best ideas from each other.

It takes a village.

Oh and by the way… My moms spectacular too. That’s a story for another day.

xx, Gina

P.S. If you’re in a season of quietly rethinking things — work, life, identity, money, all of it — I’m building something you might like. A small experiment where I’ll share the exact shifts and tools that helped me prepare for my own leap long before I made it. If you want early access to the beta, just send me your email and I’ll add you.

Local friends — quick FYI: The “locals-only” section now lives in Around Here, my biweekly Serenbe + Chatt Hills local scoop. You’re already subscribed and the next one hits next week. If you missed last weeks, you can read it here.

New here? Life at Play is where I share stories and experiments about building a life that actually feels really good — parenting, ambition, balance, money, a bit of woo, community, and the random lessons I pick up along the way. You can subscribe below if you want future stories like this one.