What lights you up
Good morning. I’ve been thinking about the power of making room.
Not just for the things we have to do. But for the things that make us feel a little more like ourselves.
Because sometimes the things we love get pushed to the highest shelf.
We’ll get to them when the house is clean. When work slows down. When the kids need us less. When life finally feels manageable.
But what if we stopped waiting?
Here’s what’s on the table today. We saved you the best seat.
Don’t miss your chance to get them talking!
TABLE WISDOM
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”
— Pablo Picasso
Readers are loving…
Your Money Gift Could Totally Steal the Show—25 Clever Ways to Give
I switched to money gifts to save time and sanity. But it turns out they’re more fun too. This is SO useful if you have a birthday or for Christmas coming up!
Who can build the best scarecrow?
600 readers have already rolled their way to a fun creation this month!
Every question is a chance to say, “Wait… WHAT?! ⬇️
STORIES FROM THE TABLE
Sofie used to keep her paints in a box on the closet’s highest shelf. Out of the kids’ reach, and honestly, out of her own mind too.
“Someday,” she’d tell herself. Someday, when things calm down.
Things never calmed down. They just changed shape.
One Tuesday evening, her daughter asked what was in the box. Sofie almost said “nothing important.” The words were right there, ready to brush it off like she always did.
Instead, she pulled it down.
She set up at the kitchen table, telling herself she’d paint for ten minutes.
Long enough to remember what her hands used to know how to do.
Forty minutes later, her husband found her still there, a half-finished watercolor of the backyard maple tree in front of her, paint on her fingers, and something in her face he hadn’t seen in a long time.
Not happiness, exactly. Something quieter.
Like she’d stepped back into a room in herself she’d locked the door to.
She didn’t finish the painting that night. She didn’t need to.
What she found wasn’t a finished piece. It was permission.
Permission to take up space with something that was just for her. That made nothing but a little bit of a mess and a little bit of joy.
Now the paints live on the kitchen counter, not the closet shelf.
Ten minutes still turns into forty, most nights.
CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK
Spend 20 minutes a day on a creative activity you enjoy
Paint. Write. Bake. Garden. Draw. Take pictures. Play music. Work on a puzzle. Make something just because you want to.
It doesn’t have to be productive. It doesn’t have to be impressive.
It just has to light you up.
AFFIRMATION OF THE WEEK
I make time for what lights me up.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
What’s the thing you put on the highest shelf, waiting for “someday”?
Maybe today’s the day to pull it down.
MORE FROM THE TABLE
The two new Halloween packs are up in the shop!
So, in celebration, I’m running a 3 Day early-bird Boo Bash Party Pack and Spooky School Fun Pack special in the digital store.
Use the coupon code BOOBASH at checkout for $8 off the School Pack & $13 off the Party Pack.
Ready-to-print games make things easy (no searching), screen-free, and a simple way to play in groups.
Ends tomorrow night.
“I cannot express enough how much joy you have brought into our family. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!” – Victoria
SOMETHING TO CHEW ON
What food will Americans consume 7 billion of between Memorial Day and Labor Day?
Find the September Trivia answer at the bottom of the email.
TABLE TALK
Almost time to pick out which mums to put by our front door and kill this fall.
Trivia answer: Hot dogs
Pull it down from the shelf. Today counts as someday.
Thank you for sitting with us. I hope you enjoyed today’s edition. If you have anything at all you’d like to share, ask, or say, just hit reply. I’d love to hear from you.
I appreciate you!
See you tomorrow at the table,
Jenn Kropf
Founder of Healthy Happy Impactful