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Hi friends,

 

The highlight of my week was the weekend when my mother returned from her longest trip away from us to take care of my sister and her newborn baby girl. The equilibrium has been restored, and I am grateful!

 

And yet, I still miss my sister, whom my mother left with her family. And I miss my brother, who is in another part of the world. It does not feel like we are back to normal.

 

What I've come to realize is that the “normal” days are rare, and perhaps even imaginary. 

 

What is “normal” anyway? Is it when all the family members are home at the same time, which might only happen once a year, if you’re lucky, for one summer week? 

 

Someone arrives, and someone travels, and we keep longing for “normal,” perhaps that part of our lives that felt the longest: our childhood days when we, our siblings, and parents were under one roof. Maybe that’s one “normal” we will all keep longing for. 

 

It is part of the human experience: longing for what was and what can never be again, accepting it, and cherishing the fond memories. May you open your eyes and treasure new memories as they are happening.

 

I hope this didn’t bum you out! I just felt like sharing this reflection with you, my beloved readers.

 

As we embark on the fresh start I’ve been raving about, I’m treating this week as a transitional bridge, a moment to set my goals and habits for the upcoming 8-week season (which I did not manage to do last week in the midst of the chaos and many family commitments). And no, this will not be a zero-week. I promise you. I have goals for these days! I’m aiming to make small, steady progress every single day on my key goals: walking regularly, podcasting, posting again on Instagram, committing to solid evening routines, and of course, setting up habit trackers on Post-It notes (I will share more about that later).

 

What about you? Share some of your goals with me! Let’s encourage each other along the way.

 

(New episode coming this week! Stay tuned)

 

Last week marked 5 years since I launched my podcast — and I just want to say thank you. Thank you for every listen, every message, every moment you allowed my voice into your day. Whether you’ve been listening from the start or just discovered it recently, your support has meant the world to me.

 

As I prepare to get back to publishing new episodes this week (!), I’d LOVE your help reigniting the spark and getting the word out, if you love the podcast THIS is the way to show it:

 

 

Here’s to five years and many more episodes to come. 🎙️✨
 

Snapshot from my week: 
Reunited after 4 months!

Here is your weekly dose of The Sunday Spark ⚡️ a newsletter listing 3 sparks that I thought were worth starting your week with:

 

1. ⌛I LOVE Timeboxing. It significantly improved my time management and focus at work. I was introduced to it by Cal Newport in his book, Deep Work. I renewed my passion for it when I read the book Timeboxing by Marc Zao Sanders last year. He encourages digital timeboxing to catch trends easily and manage them throughout the weeks, months, and years. I created more than one podcast episode about it. Marc created a 7-day email course about Timeboxing, which is helpful if you want to start this habit.

2.  ✅ An insightful blog post by author Marc that helped me understand what bugs me about the Eisenhower Matrix, something I hadn’t realized before: Introducing the Today-Week-Month method.

3. 💬 The quote of the week, perfectly captures the spirit of what I wrote about today:

"Don’t take the presumably unimportant moments for granted. Look for them and treasure them instead. Listen for the words unspoken. Notice the quick glance. Feel the soft touch. The long-held hugs. The sadness. The graciousness. The in-between. The magical sweet spots between tiny and massive moments are your life. Don’t forget to pay attention to them. In the end, this is really all we have." 

―Cyndie Spiegel, A Year of Positive Thinking

 

 

 

Some cool resources I personally use, love and recommend:

Note: some of the links above may be affiliate links, but always keep in mind that I don't endorse anything I don't use and love myself.

In case you missed these on Instagram…