Good morning Reader,

There's a part of you that's been trying to get your attention for years. 👀

You haven't been ignoring her on purpose...I know. 🫶

You've just been busy. You've had things to do, people to take care of, jobs to keep, fires to put out. So when she showed up — through the headache that wouldn't quit, the tension you couldn't explain, the fatigue that no amount of sleep seemed to fix — you took note. Maybe you took a pill or something for it, then you got back to work.

And? She kept showing up anyway...

The thing about your body is she doesn't quit. She doesn't get tired of being ignored.

She just gets louder.

The whisper becomes a hum. The hum becomes an ache. The ache becomes the kind of symptom you finally take to a doctor and walk out of with no real answer except try to manage your stress.

And you laugh, because of course it's stress. Of. Course. It. Is. The version of you who's been holding everything together for years?

Yeah...OF COURSE she's tired. Her body is screaming. What did you expect?

But you don't actually slow down.

Reason #1: Slowing down feels like more work than just pushing through.

Reason #2: You don't really know how to slow down.

Reason #3: Somewhere along the way, you learned that listening to your body was self-indulgent, that wanting rest meant you were weak, that needing softness meant something was wrong with you.

So you kept thinking your way around her...and kept clawing at you to wake you up.

What'd I miss, boo? 👀 ...

Tomorrow's podcast episode is for her. And for you.

It's a poem I wrote called Black Cat Syndrome. It's about what happens when the body you've been overriding for years finally stops being polite about it. About the part of you that's been hissing, recoiling, biting the hand that feeds her — not because she's broken, but because she's been trying to tell you something you weren't ready to hear.

Until you were.

I'll send the link tomorrow.

In the meantime, a question to carry with you today: Where in my body have I been calling something "an inconvenience" when it might actually be a message?

You don't have to answer it now, but encourage you start listening.

Reply back if you wanna talk about it or click here to attend a gathering in July. 🖤

X,
​Jess​