First name / Friend—you signed up for this monthly newsletter at Hello Brio to learn more about User Experience Design, copywriting, and/or intentional living. (Or maybe you’re an old, old friend from the hand lettering days… hi.)

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Holy guacamole, First name / friend.

Since I wrote to you at the end of February, a lot has happened:

1. I re-launched Hello Brio with a brand new vibe and suite of services.
2. We got furniture to sit on in our new house. (Makes a big difference, unsurprisingly.)
3. I got booked out until May with my Whole Website Package (design, copy, + UX). Mind you, this has never happened for me before.

And the cringe-worthy, personal thing? I haven't share this with you yet, because quite frankly it's embarrassing, but I think it's important to highlight because it affects every aspect of my life.

I'm suffering from severe eczema on the palms of my hands leaving me with raw skin and multiple cracks, and it totally incapacitates me as a person:

• I can't open doors without pain
• I wince when I type
• I can barely hold my phone
• My husband has to cut my dinner up for me
• I can't sleep sometimes because of it

It's not a good look for a type-A mom of two.

I'm on the path to healing, as in I'm working with a nutritionist and naturopathic doctor who specialize in eczema… but it may be months or years before I get relief because the root cause is needs to be discovered. 

The emotional pain is real:

• I feel like a failure as a mother and a wife because I can't contribute as much as I normally do.
• I feel guilty when I take time off of work in order to prioritize mental and physical health.
• I feel like I'm watching my business slip through my fingers as I ease up on professional development and growth.

None of this is true, but it just shows how dark it can get with this illness.

I share this not to get pity from you, but just to show you that not everything is as it seems on Instagram and elsewhere.

Yes, I launched a new site with photos of me smiling (taken by the fantastic Nicole Maria). The photos look great, but you can't see the mangled skin or the 125th time I ask my husband to open a jar or do something for me that day.

Yes, I'm posting nearly daily on Instagram, but you don't see the stress I'm under to do so, scheduling out posts in advance so that I can reduce stress (ironic, huh?).

Just remember—everyone is going through their own struggles. Be nice to people. Give them—and yourself—some grace.

Literally. Ask for help. Ask for deference. Do what you need to in order to prioritize your mental and physical health.

Need to get a bigger project done, but can't seem to make it happen? 

Join the Hello Brio community for the next free business journaling and accountability call on Friday, April 2 at 11am EST.

The Clarity Crew meets every 1st and 3rd Friday. Come check it out!

Want to hear more about User Experience Design, explained out loud? Join me as I chat with Kendall of The Candid Collective for her Straight Talk series on Friday, April 1.

You'll learn: 

• What User Experience Design actually is
• How UX benefits entrepreneurs
• 3 easy ways to improve the User Experience of your website today

These tiny nifty gifties pack a punch and are oh-so-cute to get in the mail. I send these to my new clients to welcome them!

Here's how it works: you choose your packaging design (SO MANY great ones to choose from), then choose your one gift, then add a gift card if you want.

Send your friends and loved ones some affordable snail mail goodies, and support BIPOC creators with Greetabl by searching for “BIPOC Makers” in the filter dropdown.

Get 15% off with code HelloBrio15.

After listening to a podcast with meditation dude Sam Harris, he presented something that will help you achieve mindfulness in any moment. Here goes:

What would you do if everything you did today (or this week) was the last time you did it, ever?

Even the hard things, like getting your two-year-old out of bed when he wakes up at 4am?

How could you look at any minute experience with joy and gratitude, and really soak it in to enjoy it in the present moment?

Until next month,

Let's be insta-friends