I am learning to return to myself -to love the life I already have, and notice the quiet beauty woven into ordinary days. 

I live in Mississippi, where the light lingers a little longer and the seasons still feel distinct.

Except maybe winter. Winter is less a season and more a rotating committee of the other three - all capable of showing up in a single winter day. It might frost in the morning, bloom by noon, and require sandals by supper. You learn to keep a sweater in your car, flip flops by the door, and your sense of humor close. 

For years, I thought growth meant adding more - more credentials, more proving, more striving, more noise. What I am learning instead is that most of a meaningful life is built quietly.  In small rooms. In steady habits. In ordinary days tended well.   

Southern Storytime™ & The Practical Muse™ were born from that shift - from choosing stewardship over striving and lived rhythm over rush. 

They are not businesses I set out to build. They are the natural result of returning to myself. And learning to live gently in what I already have.