Good morning from New York City. I’m feeling fresh this morning but I’m not going to lie, coming back to New York City has been a rocky road. It’s not because of anything that’s happening or not happening, it’s more emotional Yesterday, I decided to do an experiment and I went on airplane mode.

I think most people think of airplane mode as not being available to others and for me the reframe of airplane mode was exactly the opposite. It was all about me reclaiming my space, an intentional way to come back to myself –  to rebalance my energy between my other focus, whether that’s messaging, scrolling, thinking of other people, just being outside of myself. It was my way to say Nope, you’re going to come back and be with yourself, and be uncomfortable. Be the observer of your energy, your thought patterns, your choices. And you’re going to stop the self-flagellation.

I always feel like I should be doing something or be productive in some way. Now everybody’s definition of productivity is different, and I’m not talking about that. It’s more the default of thinking Oh, you’re not doing anything. So airplane mode was my way of being very intentional and deliberate about coming back to myself. I was in airplane mode from about 9 30 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, more or less.

This morning I woke up with fresh energy and fresh ideas, and I do think it’s a residual of my intentionality yesterday. By the end of the day yesterday, I noticed that I had fallen back into some patterns I’m trying to break. That one-day experiment was not enough to reset my default mode. Yeah, I like that language. I want to reset my default mode. So, I’m going to double down and do it again today. In fact, I’m thinking about it as having a little party with myself, sort of like a staycation.

I’ll end by telling you a story. I had someone over for lunch the other day, someone who I met at an event some months ago. She listened to Dear Constance and sent me this beautiful message and we talked about getting together. It finally came full circle and many months later I opened the door to someone I wasn’t even sure I’d recognize. We had this lovely intimate conversation and we talked about cultivating our curiosity one of the things she shared with me was tied into starting a new life post-divorce. I can’t remember exactly how the story goes except for she had this conversation with someone and got this idea of doing 57 new things in her 57th year. Then she did it again the next year, and then she did it again. She said she stopped doing it because looking for new things to do and being open became automatic.

I found it so inspiring, and I woke up this morning thinking, Oh, I’m in my 62nd year And I’m going to start my own list of 62 things I’m trying or doing this year. It doesn’t really matter whether they’re big things or small. It’s really about being open and curious and consciously cultivating that mindset.

I don’t know who needs to hear that today, but I’m going to go into airplane mode, and today I get to do it from 930 to 530. Tat’s all for now. Until next time. From my heart to yours.