the daily taryn
a writing project about everything and maybe also nothing
july 21st, 2019
Hi hi hi.
Happy Sunday or Monday or happy DAY it is where/when you're reading this. I hope you wake up and feel like things are good because no matter what the hell is going on, you're breathing and that's good. Like, super good.
About the subject of this email — I'm not actually in nature. I'm not like, camping, or hiking, or doing real-nature things that would warrant me saying I'm in nature. BUT — give me a break. I'm visiting my aunt and uncle in LA and this is my view as I write this email:
Their house is a straight up retreat. It's tucked away at the top of a curvy canyon that ends with a dead end, so there's no unnecessary traffic or cars flying by for fun. Gweneth Paltrow, Dr. Dre, and Harrison Ford live in this canyon (not together...), and despite how hard I've tried to manifest a sighting, it hasn't happened yet.
For those of you that listen to my podcast:
1) Thank you, I love you, you have no idea how much that means to me, wow. It's coming back soon ! I promise.
2) This magical house belongs to my first podcast guest, Dr. Auntie Paigie Marrs, who I am blown away to be related to. We talked about anxiety, which you can listen to here.
Ok. Back to the house. Everything about the way my aunt and uncle have set up this house is made to foster peace, love, and deep work. Those words seem trite but I mean it. In every room, they have the sensory basics — candles, comfy blankies, plants, speakers playing relaxing music. They keep next to no vices here — barely any alcohol, no junk food, no trashy celebrity magazines, and only one TV used to watch content that makes life better. As I pictured above, their backyard is a literally perfect garden, with a dreamy pool that I swam in with my grandpa when I was little. Their other rooms are all themed and crafted for specific things — one room is for meditation. Another, for studying and deep work — it's filled with books you've never heard of and plenty of space to have real conversation and transformation. They've also got a huge back room with two separate spaces for them to work, write, and do the admin stuff.
In a word, everything here has purpose. It's nice to be in spaces like that. Ones that aren't cluttered with distractions and vices and piles of things you'll never pick up. There's no excess, and when you look around, you only see things that are good.
Kris and I came down here for the weekend to hang with them. To pause and get away and go on walks and have deep talks and just breathe a little, from city life. It's so different from our life. I feel no pressure to do anything, other than maybe get to know myself a little more. That's always welcome.
This morning, I snuck outta bed and came into this sun room to go where the wind took me. Do I... read? I could. Go on pinterest? Meh. Answer emails? Certainly no. Journal? Hmm.. Yeah. And maybe share it with some people who tend to enjoy these ramblings. That's how I got to you — saying hi and just letting you know that IT'S OKAY TO SLOW DOWN AND ACTUALLY GOOD TO SLOW DOWN BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT AND SOMETIMES LIFE IS REALLY STRESSY AND THAT'S WHY YOU LEAVE WHAT YOU'RE USED TO AND GO SLOW DOWN IN A PRETTY BACKYARD WITH PEOPLE WHO DON'T HAVE INSTAGRAMS OR HIDDEN MOTIVES OR THE INABILITY TO FOCUS ON THE CONVERSATIONS YOU'RE IN AND CAN INSTEAD SIT AND LISTEN AND BE AND HEAR, LIKE REALLY HEAR, SO YOU FEEL A BIT LESS STRESSY AND A BIT MORE READY TO GO BACK TO IT ALL.
About the caps: sorry. I thought it would be good to capitalize to make a point, but the sentence kept getting longer and now I don't want to go back and de-capitalize it all.... So. I wasn't yelling. Just talking with intensity so you really heard, you know?
Talk soon, and as always, feel free to reply to this email with any thoughts or hellos or links of things I need to see.
Your friend,
Taryn
P.S. If you have friends, family, or idk anyone really who might like to be subscribed to this newsletter — help a sister out and it forward it on. You can also send them to my website or this landing page specific to the newsletter. Okay, love you. Bye. Also, you can listen to my little podcast iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Sticher, or Anchor.