Craving Old Chaos?

If you’ve been outsourcing your value to other people, today is a reset. We’re reclaiming worth from external approval, reading nostalgia as a signal (not a roadmap), and practicing boundaries that protect privacy and presence. Small, honest choices, and not perfection, move you forward.

Today’s Quick Overview:

🌟Self-Worth Spotlight: Stop borrowing worth…
🗣️ What Your Emotions Are Saying: Nostalgia for hard times…
📰 Mental Health News: Chatbots aren’t therapy; beware forced gratitude…
🙏 Daily Practice: Make room for renewal…

Let's check in with your breathing and what it's telling you:

How are you breathing today? Rushed and keeping pace with your to-do list, calm and steady, or holding without realizing it? Your breath pattern is honest feedback. Rushed breath needs slowing down, calm breath deserves celebration, held breath is asking you to let go of something you're gripping too tightly.

Time can feel like it races, drags, or shifts constantly. What's your relationship with it?

This Week's Challenge: The "Worth Through Others" Pattern

What it is: Notice how much of your value feels like it comes from other people, being associated with someone successful, getting their approval, meeting their needs, or reflecting their light. This week, examine whether you've been borrowing worth from external sources instead of recognizing that you have your own independent value.

Example scenarios:

Why it works: When your worth depends entirely on external sources, it becomes fragile and exhausting to maintain. You're essentially outsourcing your value to people and circumstances beyond your control.

Try this: This week, notice when you feel worthy and ask: "Is this feeling coming from me or from someone else?" Try naming one quality or strength you possess that exists whether anyone notices it or not. Practice completing this sentence: "I have worth because I am someone who..."

Reframe this week: Instead of "I'm valuable because of who I'm connected to or what others think," think "I have worth that exists independently, whether anyone sees it or not."

Celebrate this: Every time you notice yourself borrowing worth from someone else, you're seeing a pattern you can choose to change. You don't need to be connected to someone impressive or earn someone's approval to matter; you already matter, all on your own.

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Feeling Nostalgic for a Time You Were Actually Miserable In

You find yourself looking back on a period of your life with a strange fondness, maybe that toxic job or unhealthy relationship. You remember the struggle with a kind of warmth, even though you know you were unhappy then. Maybe you catch yourself saying "at least back then..." or scrolling through old photos with longing. It's confusing to miss something you clearly remember hating.

Instead of judging the nostalgia, ask: What is this feeling trying to tell me about what I'm missing now?

Hidden Question: "Was I more myself when I was surviving something hard?"

Why It Matters: Nostalgia for difficult times often isn't about wanting the pain back; it's usually about missing something that existed alongside the struggle. Maybe you had more intensity, clearer purpose, closer bonds with people who were surviving with you, or simply felt more alive when everything was uncertain.

Sometimes we romanticize hard times because they gave us a clear role or identity we're not sure how to recreate in calmer seasons. This misplaced nostalgia might be pointing toward a need for more meaning, connection, or aliveness in your current life, not an actual desire to go backwards.

Try This: When you feel that unexpected nostalgia for harder times, instead of dismissing it as irrational, ask: "What did I have then that I'm missing now?"

Maybe it was community in shared struggle, clarity about what mattered, permission to be messy, or simply feeling like every day meant something. Sometimes nostalgia fades when we figure out how to bring those elements forward without needing the crisis that came with them.

I can release what no longer serves me without erasing what it taught me. Letting go isn't about forgetting the past; it's about making room for what comes next.

Think of one thing you eventually let go of that felt impossible to release at the time. That surrender opened space for something you couldn't have imagined while you were still holding on.

It's okay to grieve what you're releasing even when you know it's the right choice. Letting go and missing what was can coexist.

Identify one thing you're gripping tightly, like a grudge, a plan that's not working, a relationship that's already over, an old version of yourself. Ask honestly: "Am I holding this because it still serves me, or because I'm afraid of what comes next?" Just notice your answer.

When Relatives Post Photos of You/Your Kids on Social Media Without Permission

The Scenario: You discover that a family member has posted photos of you or your children on social media without asking first. Maybe it's pictures from a family gathering, photos of your kids that you specifically don't want online, or images of you that you're not comfortable being public. When you bring it up, they might say "but we're family," or "I was just proud," or "what's the big deal?" They don't seem to understand that your privacy and your children's privacy aren't theirs to share.

Try saying this: "I need you to ask me before posting any photos of me or my kids on social media. Please take down the ones you've already posted, and check with me first going forward."

Why It Works: You're being direct about what you need without over-explaining, handling what's already posted and preventing it from happening again, and asserting your right to control your own and your children's digital footprint.

Pro Tip: If they respond with "but everyone posts family photos" or "you're being too sensitive," you can say: "This isn't about what other people do, it's about respecting my boundaries around privacy. I'm asking you to get my permission before sharing images of my family." Don't get pulled into defending why you want privacy.

Picture someone standing at the edge of a river, clutching a heavy stone. They believe the stone is valuable, that they need it, that letting it go means losing something important. But their arms are exhausted, their shoulders ache, and they can't swim or move forward while holding it. The moment they release the stone into the current, their hands are free. The river flows on, carrying new things toward them. Tonight you can consider what you're holding that's keeping you from reaching for what's coming.

Spend three minutes writing: What am I holding onto that's keeping me tethered to the past, and what might become available if I trusted that letting go creates space rather than emptiness?

Close your notebook and ask yourself: What did I cling to today out of fear rather than love? Where is my grip on the past blocking my view of the future? What would it feel like to open my hands and trust what comes next?

"Holding on is believing that there's only a past; letting go is knowing that there's a future." — Daphne Rose Kingma

What you're holding onto is taking up the space where your future is trying to arrive.

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Coming Wednesday: What to say when your partner expects you to keep “playing nice” with family members who are disrespectful to you, and how to ask for real protection and support instead of silently absorbing mistreatment for the sake of family harmony.

Researched and edited by Natasha. Designed with love by Kaye.

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*The Daily Wellness shares educational content only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice and diagnosis. Please consult a licensed provider for personalized care.