From the Well-Being Diaries
A Note from Traciana on The Journey I Didn’t See Coming
This is where it started: the moment I realized my old wellness rules no longer worked. The first crack in the armor. The first entry in what would become The Well-Being Diaries.
I thought I had well-being down to a science: keep moving, stay fit, push through. My routines were mapped with Virgo precision, a type-A creed I wore like armor. For years, it worked—until it didn’t.
At first, it was subtle. The workouts I relied on left me drained instead of charged. Sleep became unreliable. Focus slipped through my fingers. I caught myself thinking, Why does everything that used to sustain me suddenly feel impossible?
One afternoon, I finally said it out loud over tea with a friend.
“Do you ever feel like the things that worked before just… don’t anymore?”
She sighed with relief.
“Oh my god, yes. I thought it was just me. I’ve doubled down on yoga, added green juice, journaled at 5 a.m.—nothing’s landing. It’s like my body didn’t get the memo.”
We laughed, but it wasn’t really funny. It was recognition.
“Maybe,” I said, “we’re not supposed to just keep maintaining. Maybe we’re meant to keep learning.”
We sat in that silence, two women realizing how much time we’d spent mistaking routine for care.
What I’m Learning
That moment cracked something open. Well-being isn’t about maintenance—it’s about tending. Not a machine to keep running, but a garden to keep alive.
Thriving isn’t a destination. It’s a relationship.
Here’s where that shift has led me:
- Rest is abundant. Not laziness. Not absence. It’s a universe of renewal.
- Sleep is sacred. Not optional. The most faithful relationship I have.
- Movement belongs everywhere. Not scheduled, but woven into daily life.
- Stress has many doorways. I kept recycling the same coping tricks. There are so many more.
- Our rhythms shift daily. Seasons, moods, hormones—all asking for calibration.
- Slow living is real, not staged. Not a curated aesthetic, but a felt experience.
- Tending is thriving. The noticing, the adjusting, the small acts of care—that’s the whole point.
Where This Begins
A year ago, I thought I was doing everything right. Now I know: maintenance assumes you already know what’s needed. Tending assumes you’re always learning.
This is just the beginning. I don’t have it perfected. I’m still listening, still fumbling, still discovering.
But if there’s one truth I’ll carry into this series, it’s this: thriving isn’t a destination. It’s a relationship.
—Traciana
Want more reflections like this?
Join Letters from Traciana — my weekly offering crafted with care and sent every Sunday to help you reset, reconnect, and rise into your next chapter. It’s where I share the deeper insights that don’t make it anywhere else.
0 Comments for “Learning to Tend Instead of Maintain”