Day 17:

Trying to become the main character without losing my mind.

There’s a different kind of chaos when the ideas that excite you are also the ones you know you need to put on pause.

This morning I woke up electric—head spinning with ideas for Shadow & Lux(e), a luxury black cat brand that feels like it was born for fall. The timing, the aesthetic, the vibe… it’s all there. It’s rare that something clicks into place that quickly. I can already see the cozy reels, the styling shoots, the velvet textures and brass accents and Halloween-adjacent moodboards. I want to chase the idea. Hard.
Because obviously what the internet really needs is another moody cat account… but make it couture.

But the truth is?
I’ve done that before.

I’ve let momentum become obsession. I’ve skipped meals, skipped workouts, skipped the routines that actually make me feel like myself—just to wring every drop out of an idea before the spark fades.
Turns out, creative genius doesn’t count as a food group.

And I don’t want to do that anymore.
Not even for the good ideas.

So instead of sprinting straight into a brand build, I did the opposite.
I put on my noise-canceling headphones, started my ambient focus playlist, hit start on the stopwatch, and got to work on my actual list for the day.

The things that don’t feel urgent—but are important.
The boring-but-rebuilding ones.
The ones that don’t give me the thrill of newness, but do give me a life that works.

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Here’s what I actually did today:

• ☑ Wake + water + salt
• ☐ Journal (calibrate, not spiral)… emphasis on not spiral, because I’ve tried that before and it does not pay rent.
• ☐ Pilates/weights… which today was code for: scrolling Pinterest and calling it research.
• ☑ Vibration plate
• ☑ Deep work block (headphones + timer)
• ☑ Lunch regroup
• ☑ Blog/reel done
• ☐ Night ritual… aka trying not to doom-scroll myself into oblivion.

Not everything got checked off.
But most of it did. And maybe that’s the real win.
Gold star for adulting, even if the Pilates mat is still glaring at me from the corner.

I didn’t let the idea pull me off course. I didn’t chase the high.
I stuck with the rhythm — even when it felt like it was dragging a little.

And honestly? I’m proud of that.

The cats can wait in their sunbeam.
The velvet and brass can marinate just a little longer.
Spoiler: the cats are still winning at life.

Because this season isn’t about sprinting toward every spark.
It’s about learning to protect the spark… by choosing a pace that lasts.

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