Issue 0: the beginning

Hello friend!

I'm so happy you're here for Issue 0. Thank you to the 20+ of you who are witnessing the launch of this newsletter, the new website of my coaching practice, and this community. Your support gives me the confidence and strength to choose and appreciate this life-altering, soul-searching and sometimes head-scratching journey every day. Your love and generosity meant the world to me.

In this special issue, I wanted to share my intentions with this newsletter, the structure of the container, and the topics I might explore, i.e. what kind of content you can expect on a bi-weekly cadence.

I wanted to start the Tiny Hills newsletter because I wanted to create a space that felt safe to share my honest experiences and reflections with you. This is a space we explore all aspects of life together - the laughter, excitement, curiosity, contentment as well as frustration, sorrow and grief. This is also a place open for topics we sometimes feel embarrassed to discuss with friends or family. For me, that was sex.

The newsletter container gave me the spaciousness and agency to expand and slow down, to explore and wonder (and wander) with you. I will share what I've been practicing, resources and tools I find useful, reflections on the challenges I encounter in the process. As I share the practices that sustain and nourish me, maybe there will be a thing or two that help you identify and strengthen the practices that do the same for you, whatever they may be.

The biggest question I want to help people address is: what does growth look like when you have a compromised or fluctuating capacity?

Capacity can mean physical or emotional energy level, headspace, or inner space. Our capacity can be compromised because of stress, depression, PMS/PMDD, menopause, pain, anxiety, overthinking, ADHD, autoimmune disorders and any health conditions – sometimes for a few days or weeks, and sometimes for years chronically. Identifying and reaching your goals might look very different when you are operating with a 40% battery vs. 100%.

Any time we discover that what we can actually handle or accomplish is different than we imagined, we must learn to adapt our priorities and our practices. Managing boundaries, decreasing overwhelm to regain capacity, even cultivating curiosity…all are critical but can also feel impossible when you’re not 100%.

In this newsletter,I want to share what I learned from the 20 years navigating my own fluctuating capacity. For example, I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, scoliosis, hyper mobilities, and endometrial hyperplasia, which have affected my capacity for twenty years. I have spent some of those years ignoring my body until she broke down. Now, I am learning to put her first, using what she shares with me as signals to find my rhythm and flow.

Because of a combination of my health and my upbringing, getting overwhelmed easily and frequently has been a major life challenge, and I was constantly navigating physical pain and emotional discomfort. My energy and resources were often consumed just to survive. Strengthening and expanding my capacity so I can experience life to its fullest became a lifelong passion and an anchor of all my curiosities, studies and expressions.

Mindfulness, journaling, yoga, drawing and making art, holistic pelvic care, Internal Family System (IFS), trauma-informed care...these are things I'm a practitioner of, and thus informed my coaching approach. Tiny Hills is a space for me to geek out about emotional health or cycle syncing, and to share things like how learning Notion led to a hugely improved writing process. It is my hope that I can continue to deepen these practices, through this newsletter, with you.

Another reason for starting this newsletter is a quest to build community. One of my conditions, endometrial hyperplasia, has a prevalence rate of 137 in 100,000 female bodies. Of all the doctors I've met in Taiwan and the US, only one of them has treated another patient with my condition. The journey of managing chronic or rare conditions is very lonely sometimes. By sharing how I reconciled with my womb, and how I found growth in debilitating chronic conditions, I wanted to support others and let them know they're not alone in their experiences. I might not share your conditions, but I understand your feelings and relate to your journey. If you’re resonating and want resonance and a safe space to process your experience, I’m here to listen (or read).

On a personal note - I did the quick math and realized that at my current rate of meeting new people, I was shocked that I might never meet another person with endometrial hyperplasia in my lifetime. Talking about endometrial hyperplasia here, is my experiment to increase my odds of meeting another person with endometrial hyperplasia.

The other thing that feels specific about my perspective is being part of multiple cultures. Living a multicultural life, or coming from a multicultural background, often means more quantity and variety of information to process, and a bigger capacity required to integrate and establish our own set of values. This complexity has always fascinated me. In the newsletter, I will explore how holding multiple different cultures in me affects my decision-making process, and how the different beliefs and values I received from each culture affect how I see, think, and feel on a daily basis.

The Tiny Hills newsletter is a love letter from me to all human experiences and the communications that foster connections. A through line of my past careers is my love of working with people and getting to know those from all walks of life. Every encounter and story has rejuvenated and inspired me. Now, through this letter, I'd like to share a piece of my own. Along with reflections on adapting to compromised capacity or integrating the influence of multiple cultures I will also be sharing some reflections on how my nomad experiment got me unstuck and landed me on this career path of coaching.

What you can expect from an issue of the Tiny Hills newsletter:

1. One mixed media essay around a subject that pulled me in or the topics I contemplate a lot about, incorporating a mix of writing, short video, audio, photos, drawings, and more.
2. One tiny experiment invitation that might support your needs, ranging from body-based exercise to scavenger hunts, doodling, mindfulness, journaling prompts and sensory experiments.
3. Fun one-liners! I’ll share small snippets from people who inspired me, herbal tea recipes, essential oils experiments, stationery, stickers, art supplies, good reads and TV shows.

I will also share upcoming events, programs, free resources, my creative project updates and behind-the-scenes stuff here! You, the newsletter subscriber, will always get first dibs on all the goodies.

At any point, if you felt an urge to share feelings or thoughts with me - hit reply! Relying newsletter could feel weird for some, I just wanted to let you know that I love anything you might want to share - even just an emoji! But there is never any pressure, just know that I welcome and love to hear from you.

I also wanted to come clean about the possibility of changes. As Tiny Hills and I evolve, I expect this newsletter to shift too. I am pursuing my passions and finding my voice, and that means that both my focus and my voice might evolve over time. If the newsletter stops interesting you, don't feel bad if you need to unsubscribe! You don't have to be a subscriber to be supportive of my work, and I respect and support your protection of your own inner space.

Beginning to talk and write about Tiny Hills helped me to better understand what I was working to accomplish**, but also made me realize that the writer in me was craving the work of creative expression. I love words, and the magic of writing. Growing up, I never got a chance to learn anything about creative writing, and always thought I'd missed the window to be a writer. Now, I am ready to practice weaving together my writing and my drawing, and to create content that's honest, intentional and holds space for both the writer and the reader. This newsletter is the playground and dojo to train that muscle, and I’m excited to embark on this journey with you.

**If you're curious about how I blend body-based, mindfulness, and creative practices to support people with fluctuating energy, click: