Returning to Yourself: Midlife, Craft, and the Work of Unlearning
Weekly Dose of Work Recovery Vol. 12.10.25
“A woman’s calling is to return to herself.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about middle-school me lately.
The girl who read Shakespeare for fun.
Who sat on a basement floor with a Ouija board and endless quizzes for fun.
The girl who was silly and dramatic and completely herself.
The girl who hadn’t yet learned to carry everyone else’s emotional weight.
And she’s been tapping me on the shoulder as I’ve been reshaping the way I think about my work and what I'm building in my business.
For so long, I treated my work like a project to manage, a list to complete, a set of obligations to meet. But recently, something shifted: I started seeing it as a craft.
Something I get to shape. Something I get to love and curate. Something I don’t have to perform for anyone else.
The way I see it, a craft invites me and you to whittle away what doesn’t belong.
Strip out the “shoulds” you force on yourself.
Remove everything that deadens your energy.
Reveal what actually lights you up.
The more I peel back and set down what I don't love, the more I recognize her — the middle-school version of me who was fully invested in what she loved most and didn’t apologize for it.
I'm learning that the real work of (mid-life) womanhood is about unlearning and unschooling everything that pulled me away from who I was before I started performing and chasing.
The more I treat my work like a craft, something I’m shaping as I learn more about myself, the more that younger version of me comes back online.
And maybe that’s the point.
Not to chase the girl we used to be, but to let her remind us what we’re capable of when we stop outsourcing our energy to everyone else’s expectations.
🦋There’s a steadiness that's returning
🦋There’s a relief in putting down the things where I felt resistance
🦋And there’s a quiet confidence in choosing the path that feels all mine
I can’t wait to share more of my true self — and the work I’m crafting from that place — with you in 2026 and beyond.
If you need cozy space to focus on your craft and soul goals, maybe even with a younger you in mind, join me next week for the Soul Goal Workshop below.
-Bree
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1. Soul Goal Reset Virtual Workshop – December 16, 2025
Mark your calendar 11:30 CST Tuesday December 16 for our free 2026 Soul Goal Reset workshop. I'll lead a breathwork, journaling, and reflection session to help you tap back into you and your desires for the upcoming year. Soul Goal Session waitlist here. If you're not able to make the session live, join the waitlist and I'll share the recording once we wrap.
2. The Creative Reset — January 17, 2026
A one-day gathering at The Coven St. Paul where we step out of the strong-one identity and into something lighter, more honest, more you. We’re going to flex our creativity muscle, reset, and reconnect with the spark you had before you started carrying the weight of everyone else’s lives. Register here.
If you're a business owner and want to share your business, we're also looking for amazing vendor partners for the event. Join us!
This Week's Did You Know? RTO Mandates Are Threatening Women's Work Gains
Women are disproportionately impacted by this year's return-to-office efforts because we’re still carrying the invisible labor of home, caregiving, and emotional management. Shocking, but these responsibilities don’t clock out when the workday starts. School schedules, childcare gaps, and family needs don’t bend to “ass-in-chair until 6 pm” expectations, which means rigid workplace policies punish women for realities men are rarely asked to navigate.
Source: The Flexibility Divide: How Global RTO Mandates Threaten Women, All Today
Links & Resources We Love Right Now
A listen: Olivia Dean’s SNL performance is the kind of soulful, stripped-back brilliance that stops you in your tracks and reminds you what creativity expressed sounds like.
A learn: Women feel significantly more holiday stress than men. It can't be the advent, elf on the shelf, presents for everyone, meal-planning, wrapping, magic-making, can it? If you need a recovery break, check out this 8 minute midday reset meditation.
A shoutout: My podcast guest and new friend Stephanie Wall Morrow of the Self Care Circle created a free Clarity & Focus guide while it’s still available — it’s the quickest way to recharge your energy and get clear on what actually matters.
Something I love: Following the moon cycles, because now it makes sense why lightning-bolt clarity hit during last week’s Gemini Full Moon. The relief of a recalibrated, revised vision is everything.
