May I Make a Suggestion? Turn Nice to Necessary.

This past week, I had a conversation with my ex.

He mentioned he’d need to wake up early the next morning, and I replied, “Same here.”

He cocked his head to the side.

“Yeah, but I have to go to work,” he said.

With just a hint of offense on my breath, I responded, “Ummm… I am working, too.”

He smirked.

“Getting up early to stretch and meditate is not working.”

And this lack of understanding, my friends, is one of the many reasons that he is an “ex.” More on that in a later blog.

Now…this wasn’t the first time I’ve heard that energy.

Sometimes I get good morning texts from friends or family who are on their way to work. They’ll ask what I’m doing, and if I say something like, “Just sitting outside watching the sunrise,” or “Lying in bed looking out the window,” I’ll get the same reply:

“Must be nice.”

And I’ll be honest, “Must be nice” makes me nervous.

Like I’m doing something wrong. Like I’m running away from responsibility.

But then I turn away from the text… and turn back to the sun.

Because it’s not “nice.” It’s necessary.

For years, I followed the program.

I woke up at 5:00 a.m. every weekday to stretch and meditate before driving an hour to work. I’d walk during my lunch break, come home, spend time with my son, and make sure I was in bed by 9:00 to get my eight hours.

I was doing all the right things, but I was fitting self-care around everything else.

My job came first. My son. My to-do list.

I treated myself like an afterthought.

But these past three years following my “forced separation” from the organized work-force have taught me something different.

I don’t need to wake at 5:00 a.m. unless my body chooses to.

Now, I wake with the sun. Earlier in Spring and Summer. Later in Fall and Winter.

Because I’ve realized something essential:

I am nature.

Soil Microbiome

Each season, the microbiology of the soil changes. The chemistry of the plants shifts. The microbes that cling to the roots, stems, and leaves shift too.

And when we eat what grows with the season, we don’t just consume nutrients, we participate in a necessary exchange with our environment.

In early Spring, the harvest is bitter and sparse—endive, dandelion, arugula. These are the scrubs of the gut, the detoxifiers of the liver and lymph. Agriculturally, it’s known as fasting season.

And spiritually, it is known as fasting season. There is a reason that many cultures fast in the early Spring. Before modern agriculture manipulated the growing seasons, there was very little to harvest coming out of Winter. We were in alignment. Fasting is natural.

Today is the last day of Lent, and I can feel this season spiritually and physically.

Fasting reminds me: I’m not just here to consume. I’m here to have life.

To feel it. To wake with it.

Outside my window, Spring is yawning.

Flowers are peeking through their buds. Birds are courting. The air is warmer.

It’s not a metaphor. It’s biology.

So, May I make a Suggestion?

If you’ve ever said “Must be nice” to someone who is centering self over the world,

or thought it to yourself as you rushed through your day,

You’re not wrong. It is nice.

But more than that... it’s necessary.

We’ve all been trained to fit care around the edges of our lives.

But what if we let care become the shape of our life?

You don’t have to change everything overnight.

Just start by tuning in to your own rhythm.

Step outside in the morning light. Breathe. Feel yourself.

I pray that through my own work (and the messages I share through MiMas) more of us can begin to shift the conversation.

From “Must be nice…”

to “Must be necessary.”

Because it is.

For all of us.

Happy Easter, y’all.

Take care of your soil/soul. 🌿