Reads I Love Archives - Kayli Schattner

Kayli Schattner

Curate a Joy-Filled Today + Own Your Inner Muse

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April Reading List

April Reading List

No mini essay today: Just a lovely collage that th

No mini essay today: Just a lovely collage that the amazing @bcsdoodles made because she said it reminded her of me and a note to let you know that The Elevator won’t go out tomorrow, but will return next Friday! 🌸

Someone out there RIGHT THIS MINUTE is caring about you and you’re inherently worthy of needing a break. How amazing is that? Happy (almost) Friday, friends. 💫

A day late but #FormalFriday was just what the doc

A day late but #FormalFriday was just what the doctor ordered last night. A lot of grieving, release + sitting in discomfort this past week. Learning to find calm in the chaos + to keep going within within within — even when my insides are twisting into a knot of “but I don’t want to’s”... there’s relief in me always waiting to be found, I know. But the journey can feel so sticky. I described it to Aaron this week as a peanut butter sandwich getting torn in half. The two halves parting is so messy + the stickiness makes it tough to tear, but it has to be that way unless you keep it all together...and sandwiches are always better cut into two triangles, right? {{my brain was on overload + somehow this made a lot of sense at the time??}} I guess enough with 🥜 butter metaphors + I’ll leave it at this: I hope you’re finding joy this week — sending lots of encouragement, hugs + a cheers to you! We can do hard things. 🥂 || PS: Chose this photo because one of my very favorite things about my home is that GOLDEN HOUR light. 🌤 Magical.

I was in a journaling class recently led by the fa

I was in a journaling class recently led by the fabulous Emily Chertow. In a nutshell, it was a wellspring for connection, a breeding ground for creativity, and maybe above all, a space to spend two hours with a group of other people just trying to human (as a verb, please) the best they can too. ⁣
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About an hour and a half in Emily screenshared her laptop and we were able to see the words of Charles Harper Webb’s “How to Live” poem splayed across the screen. I instantly felt a tenderness in my heart and a remembrance ignited in my soul — she gave us a few minutes to free write and encouraged everyone to not lift pen from paper. I didn’t need to.⁣
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Within’ five minutes these words poured out of me:⁣
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〰️ Eat fruit from a roadside stand while laughing next to people you love. Let the juices run down your arms and stain the damn shirt — who cares?⁣
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Travel to new places often + let the wind caress your face in spots you’ve never been before; but never forget that home has the friendliest faces, most hearty belly laughs and best chocolate chip pancakes. ⁣
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Stand firm in the belief that you were made for something great, but never forget that every human being is — stay humble.⁣
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Dance with a cocktail in your hand alongside your lover while cooking by candlelight on the stove. Whatever it is, add white wine + let yourself feel sexy. Your body is sacred.⁣
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Make time for the things that make you feel alive. Let tears stain your cheeks with gratitude. Tell people what they mean to you. Kiss. Swim naked. Jump. Hug. Get on the plane. Ground yourself into the grass. Sit and listen to the water. Smell the flowers. Taste the bakery goods in that storefront window. Roll down the windows and let the wind tousle your hair. Life’s too short not to. 〰️⁣
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What I noticed about everyone’s poem? Not one person mentioned their career. The money they yearned to make. The body they craved more than that slice of triple layer chocolate cake. ⁣
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We wrote about things that exhilarated us, experiences that made our bellies feel tingly and our soul’s feel warm. We wrote about what it means to love, feel alive — feel truly ourselves. ⁣
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Food for thought. ❤️⁣

The Elevator Issue #6 (!!!) is out tomorrow + I’

It’s been on my mind a lot lately as to what it

It’s been on my mind a lot lately as to what it means to be someone who feels most themselves *out there* and how we can cope + stay at peace *in here.*
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There’s the usual things I do: Take a walk with Stabes, have my weekly call with my girlfriends on Zoom, and Aaron + I have weekly Friday date nights that we take turns planning. But what do those things all mean on a deeper level? They mean that I’m not pausing my life during this time — as my therapist so eloquently put it, I won’t look back on this time and think it all blurred together to amount to nothing special — I’m creating new memories that make me feel alive, they just look differently than planned.⁣
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While I’m not sitting outside at a cafe listening to the birds sing, I’m running along an empty beach barefoot in the sand. ⁣☀️
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While I’m not gathered in the living room of one of my friends, sharing a bottle of wine, I’m seeing their beautiful faces in the glow of my laptop screen; connecting over books we’re enjoying, the current state of our mental health and laughing over unprecedented situations we’ve gotten ourselves into. ⁣👯‍♀️👯‍♀️
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While I’m not on my planned New York City trip with Aaron, in the bustling streets of the city, feeling that electricity you only feel among other souls, we’re still dancing in the kitchen, generating our own special spark, creating experiences that will strengthen our relationship. ⁣❣️
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And that makes me feel alive — both out there and in here.⁣
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Some days, just getting out of bed seems like the only thing I can muster, but when I feel alive — most like myself — that’s where my personal magic is curated. ⁣
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What about yours? ⁣🌟

The face of a girl who just drafted her first news

I haven’t showed up that fully in my own busines

I haven’t showed up that fully in my own business or creative projects in a long time. In the summer of 2018 I felt like I was *finally* “figuring it out.” My Marketing business had just broken six-figures, I launched a podcast that was quickly picking up traction + I truly believed I was helping women in my community feel heard and supported — which is all I really wanted. ⠀
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And then life happened. ⠀
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I started to feel tired ~like really fucking tired~ + my hormones went ape shit + I was supposed to be moving (!!) but I met a man + I was living on my own for the first time + I started questioning a lot of the relationship dynamics happening in various areas of my life + stress felt like it was a baboon constantly sitting on my shoulders getting heavier and harder to shake off + I got offered an amazing salaried position with a client I loved that literally could NOT have come at a better time because, clearly, I needed a break (see above).⠀
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And so I stopped. No explanation. Many “hi, are you alive?” messages ensued via DM. But how could I explain that I was so worn out + so deliriously happy at the same time? How could I articulate that I was so proud of my podcast but that after only a few mere months I no longer felt aligned with the woman I portrayed myself as? Who was I to think that people even wanted an explanation? Would I offend people if I showed my monthly massages + talked about financial woes? Could I present myself as a marketing professional + still talk about how I crave swimming naked in the wild from time to time? I felt trapped in a box of my own making. ⠀
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