The Dig List: October 2024

Spooky season digs and a longer-than-usual personal update.

First, THE SOBER 90 begins this Friday, November 1. If you’re ready to stop drinking for good or are already sober but need community, structure, and support, this is the place. Register now.

Second, in my last newsletter, I wrote about my experience with Hormone Replacement Therapy so far, and the comments are rich with women having similarly positive (life-saving?) experiences. Same for my post on Instagram.

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October has been a flash. After co-hosting a women’s event in Boston in late September, then traveling to my mom’s 70th birthday and celebrating my ten-year sober milestone, I rolled right into a two-day photoshoot and teaching my now annual October retreat at Kripalu.

The photoshoot was unexpected and a big push for me physically and emotionally. I’ve wanted new professional photos for about a year—my author photo is from 2017, and none of the others I have look like me anymore—but I couldn’t fathom getting in front of a camera. Barf. I had a small one scheduled with a friend in August, but it was so swampy and windy that day that we called it off. Then, late September, my friend Elena told me her dear friend and the genius behind all her photos was, by chance, going to be in my area in October. She said I had to do it. I didn’t want to. Then he emailed me. Still didn’t want to. Then I got on a zoom with him and his partner. Felt like I probably should do it. Still, it was a big investment, and being photographed and all it would take to prepare for it sounded awful. It’s a lot for a couple of hours; they were proposing a couple of days.

I held my breath and said yes, and y’all, I am so glad I did. It was a pretty transformative experience and I haven’t even seen the pictures yet! Just one, this one! I got way more than some new professional photos from it; it felt like a ceremony for where I am now, in this season of my life.

Credit: Pete Longworth. Unedited and untouched.