A Summer Sabbatical + A Book Club for Creatives
And a reintroduction, so start here!
Note: Hi! This is a long-ish post. Scroll to the end for all the details on the book club if that’s what you’re here for!
Summering, wintering, hunkering. There’s always a season and a reason to put a pause on your normal day to day. Sometimes it’s to go slower: to say no, to take care, to get a little more inward and introspective.
Other times, it’s a call to go a little wilder. To stop all the planning and plotting and instead, live a little more in the moment. To let instincts lead, follow your bliss, and allow curiosities take the spotlight. To see what it feels like to break routine for a bit.
In my last post in March, I shared about a loss that turned my expectation for this year on its head. And in coping with that, I found I couldn’t stand to keep my routine going as if nothing happened. I needed to get out of my head, and that included putting a pause on my writing.
It was a revolt, a tantrum, and I’m not saying it was always the best of decisions to stray from my daily yoga practice and morning pages and sacred starts. But, opening up that time for something different did bring a magical possibility that I needed during that period.
These last six months have felt a little more on the wilder side. But “wild” in the sense of organic and raw, rather than uncontrollable or crazy (thank goodness).
During this sabbatical, I’ve:
Traveled to Chiang Mai…twice. The first was with my husband, for an immersion into a home away from home that I instantly fell in love with. He’s half-Thai, and every day was an adventure in street food, temple wandering, shopping the night markets, and immersing in a culture that is so innately kind and spiritual. On our second trip, we took my stepdaughter, and what a wonder to re-experience it all through her eyes.
Got my first (and second!) tattoo. Honoring my body in this season has taken on many forms, and what made it even more special was finding the perfect shop in Chiang Mai for a spur of the moment ink session.
Nurtured my faith. Growing up without religion still left the question: what do I believe? And in this time, I’ve been sorting that out, and more comfortably sitting with what I personally feel called toward. I don’t have a name for it (or have yet to align with a particular practice out there), but I’m learning and building on my reverence for the natural world and nature-based spirituality. It’s been grounding to honor the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days in more intentional ways, and to relate the symbolism of the earth with the changes felt within.
Engaged a Notion renaissance for myself and my business. During my more restless moments, I putter. Which lately has meant upleveling my knowledge of Notion and how to leverage the power of databasing (nearly) everything. On the business side, it means so much more organization and easy-to-integrate systems. On the personal side, I’ve been able to create a playground for all this brain-firing exploration that has been fueling me. More soon in a future issue!
Earned my certificate in yoga teacher training at Y7. This was definitely not on my 2023 bingo card, but a last-minute decision to just go for it turned into two of the most rewarding months of the year so far. June and July were filled to the brim with hours of lectures, lessons on the mat, homework, reading, and architecting my very first 60-minute flow from the ground up. This was a case where going wild was simply a way to invite a new type of discipline to my day, as every minute and hour had to be carefully planned to keep up. A beautiful way to get out of my head and step into the student mindset, for which I am so grateful to my fellow practitioners and teachers at Y7.
Sprung for that Eras tour ticket and solo trip to Philly. It was on my Taurus season bucket list to experience live music for the first time since the pandemic. And what better way than doing so with tens of thousands of others, to the live vocals of my favorite artist, on a Mother’s Day that was just so bittersweet.
Launched a referral program for my business. What! This has been so long in my brain and finally out in the world. We landed on a rather high commission percentage, and it’s exhilarating to practice Tosha Silver’s money principles in this way—because it’s not my money. And I’m so excited to spread the love and generosity right back to the people who say such nice things about our work. (If you’re interested, check it out here. And I’ll be doing a deep dive soon on my referral systems and set-up in an all-new Substack for my agency, coming soon!)
In retrospect, the mantra for the summer really was to get out of my head. And I’m taking that energy now to share and relaunch this publication that I never stopped thinking about while I was gone. It’s the part of the internet that is all mine. I’d love for you to join me.
So! A reintroduction is in order….
What is Mind Brew?
Mind Brew is a place to explore systems for creative living.
We all have our wild moments and flashes of genius. But what does it look like to bring rhythm and intention to every day creativity? To nurture our creative practices in a sustainable, ongoing way? That’s what I love to explore: building structure to unleash artistry.
Why? Because nurturing our creativity expands our resilience for the everyday. It’s an outlet for identity and honoring our multitudes. And there’s nothing quite like the pride and care that comes from creating something with your very own mind.
Some of my favorite posts to start with:
And quite candidly, Mind Brew is a place for me. We all need a little place on the Internet, and this time is such a throwback to the heyday of blogging back in the early 2010s. My whole senior thesis in college was on the phenomenon of the (problematic yet pioneering) Girlboss era of owning your work and striking out on your own creative pursuits. I love this resurgence with the rise of Substack—this 2.0 version for us all to find our inner writer, blogger, creator and have digital homes beyond the Insta handle, for deeper sharing and connection.
And a little about me
Hi, I’m Marisol!
🗽 I’m New York-based, going between upstate and the city. But my favorite place is lakeside in Vermont.
🖤 I’m a stepmom, dog mom, and living the blended family life with my husband. They are the loves of my life.
🕶 I run a brand and digital design agency called Together. We do cool work.
☕︎ I’m a morning person by nature. My introvert brain savors the minutes (and sometimes hours) I have to myself in the early part of the day — reading, stretching, centering.
📓 After a decade of writing for my brand and author clients, I’m itching to start some writing projects for myself.
Introducing: Paid Subscriptions ✧
I’m taking inspiration from my good friend and mentor
to open up paid tiers of the Mind Brew publication. Launching paid tiers is a system/structure in itself, pushing me to (once again) get out of my brain and show up for myself and you all.Click below to learn more about your options to support this publication as a paid subscriber. Regardless, I’m just happy you’re here :)
Launching: The Mind Brew Book Club
I’ve always wanted to do this. The Mind Brew Book Club is a book club for creatives, diving into the old greats and breakthrough newcomers on all things writing, creative living, and nurturing our inner artists.
I’m aiming to structure this in a way where we can all have the time and space to read and integrate/try each book’s prescriptions. So, we’ll start by reading one book quarterly, with monthly discussion posts and bonuses.
While access to book club discussions and posts will be for exclusive to paid subscribers, I’d like to celebrate the re-inauguration of this publication by opening up our Fall book club to everyone.
This season’s pick: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. This is a classic for finding your creative flow, and its 12-week program is just perfect for launching into autumn and ending this year with inspired momentum.
Be sure to subscribe for updates!
Enough about me now! What’s your favorite memory from this past summer? What books would you recommend for our book club? What’s calling to you during this shift in season? Share in the comments below.
Much love to you all,
Marisol
I love everything about this wonderful update!! I learned so much about you and what you’ve been up to ☺️❤️ How amazing and long overdue to have a place just for you! I love your writing and brilliant mind, the name and the mission, and can’t wait to keep following along as it unfolds. Next: tattoo pics pls!! 😆 Big congrats on turning on paid subscriptions too, woohoo!!!