Peddling Hope

04/14/2026

It is easy to think about community when things fall apart. When the diagnosis comes, or the relationship ends, or the world outside feels like too much, we reach for our people.

But what if we reached for them now, before any of that?

Community is not something that just appears in a crisis. It is something that has to be built and tended consistently, long before the storm arrives. Like a garden, it needs attention in the ordinary seasons so that it has the strength to hold up in the difficult ones.

Think about who is in your corner right now. Not who you hope would show up, but who you know without question would. That is your village.

If the list feels shorter than you expected, that is not a judgment to have against yourself. It is just information, and it is also a place to begin.

Who do you need to reach out to this week?

04/12/2026

Something I've noticed, both in my own life and in the people I work with, is that we have a lot of almost plans.

We should get together. We keep saying that. We mean it. And then life moves fast and the almost plan just kind of sits there.

So today's Self Care Sunday practice is a really concrete one.

Reach out to someone and set up one actual thing. Not a maybe. A coffee with a date and a time. A walk that goes in both of your calendars.

You know, there's something our nervous systems get from being in the physical presence of people we feel safe with that we just can't get any other way. It's not something you can replicate through a screen, as useful as that can be.

We need each other in person. That need doesn't go away just because the world has made it easier to stay home.

One in-person hang-out this week.

04/09/2026

There is a difference between hope and toxic positivity. It is worth knowing which one you are reaching for.

Toxic positivity says: look on the bright side. It avoids the hard thing, softens the language around it, and sometimes pretends it is not there at all. It is well-intentioned. It is also, ultimately, unkind. Because the hard thing is still there. And now you are alone with it.

Honest hope is different. It doesn’t mean erasing the difficult thing. It means you’re dealing with the hard thing, AND you’re finding hope. That you’ll find a way through. That it’s going to be okay.

One dismisses your experience. The other honours it.

We do not find meaning by looking away from the difficult parts of life. We find it by moving through them with our eyes open. In being willing to face the hard times.

The question is not whether things are hard right now. They are. The question is whether you are being honest with yourself about that.

04/07/2026

There is a difference between shutting down and choosing stillness.

One is your nervous system telling you it has had enough. The other is you, deciding to rest.

Both may look the same from the outside. You might be alone, quiet, away from the noise. Maybe you're just sitting on the couch or maybe you're dedicating some time to being still, like I do. But inside, choosing stillness and shutting down feel completely different.

Shutting down often comes with a kind of heavy isolation. A pulling away. A sense that the world is too much and you have run out of energy.

Choosing rest is an act of self-awareness. It's you telling your body: I know what I need right now, and I am giving it to myself.

The question worth sitting with is not whether you are spending time alone. It is which one you are in. Just notice where you are without judgment or an expectation that you have to DO something. That's all you need to do for now.

04/05/2026

This week's Self-Care Sunday is a simple one. And also, for a lot of us, one of the harder ones.

Take your phone and put it down for the day.

Avoid scrolling the news or checking in on what’s happening out there. Just take this one day of being here in your own life with your own people.

I did a social media fast at the beginning of the year and have not fully returned to it. It gave me room to notice things around me that I had stopped noticing while consumed with what was happening in the world.

Putting the phone down for the day will give you room to be present in your conversations. And to take a break from things you cannot control.

Notice how your body feels when you wake up without reaching for your phone. Notice what fills the space. The noticing part is the self-care.

04/02/2026

Every spring, I start my veggie boxes with so much hope.

And every spring I'm reminded that a good harvest doesn't happen by accident. The soil has to be ready. The conditions have to be right. You have to tend it consistently, even when nothing visible is happening yet.

I think about that a lot in the context of the people I work with. And in the context of myself.

We live in a time where the soil is depleted. A decade of extremes. Collective grief that most of us are carrying without even having a name for it. And underneath all of that, this pressure to still show up, still give, still be okay.

My latest blog post is about what it actually looks like to tend your own garden first. Because you cannot share abundance from a garden that has nothing left to give.

It's over on the blog. https://www.peddlinghope.com/blog/you-cannot-give-from-an-empty-garden

03/31/2026

This month, I talked about how you cannot give from an empty garden.

Change begins with you. Your decisions. What seeds you sow in your life, your family, your community.

Change starts with you, and spreads outwards. What change would you want to see in the world?

03/29/2026

The spring equinox has passed. Equal light and dark, and then the light starts to win.

While I don't love all this March snow, I do love this time of year. I love what it represents. There's something really grounding about marking the seasons intentionally, about saying out loud: this one is ending and this one is beginning.

So for today's Self Care Sunday, I want to invite you into a small ritual.

Open a window if you can. Let the air in.

Clear one surface or one drawer. Just one, it doesn’t need to be the whole house.

And then, if you're open to it, write down two things. One thing you're leaving behind this season. Something that served its purpose and has run its course. And one thing you're welcoming in. Something you want to make room for.

You don't have to share it. Just the naming of it tells your body that you're paying attention.

Happy spring, everyone.

03/27/2026

When the world gets loud, and the news gets overwhelming, do you find yourself shutting down?

I always tell my clients to stop and notice. Without any judgment for how you’re feeling. Notice the patterns you have around feeling overwhelmed.

Do you pull away? Isolate yourself? Do you feel like you’re shutting down?

It’s important to notice these things without self-criticism. There is no need to judge how you’re reacting to the world around you.

Maybe you shut down when you’re stressed. Do you need to do anything about that, or can you just rest for a moment, understanding that shutting down is your way of coping?

Maybe that’s okay. For the moment, to get you through.

Today, just notice.

03/25/2026

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to help when you're running low yourself.

The world is asking a lot of us right now. There's a lot of pain out there, and most of us feel it even when it isn't ours directly. We want to do something. And sometimes that wanting to help can actually pull us further from the thing that makes helping possible in the first place.

You cannot pour from an empty cup. Or, rather my preferred saying, you cannot give from an untended garden.

When things feel out of control, I try to look at my surroundings. What seeds do I want to sow, so that what I grow can be shared?

I want to grow kindness. And conscious consuming. And I want to grow strong roots in my friendships.

After deciding what I want to grow, I tend the garden. I do little acts of kindness. I give back to my local businesses. I drive my friend’s kids home from their after-school programs.

And my garden grows. Until it’s overflowing, and I have more to give. And the people who’ve been affected by my actions have more to give. It spreads outwards from all of us.

That's the premise of this month's post, and it's something I keep coming back to, as a reminder that tending to ourselves isn't separate from tending to the world. It's where it starts.

If you've been feeling the weight of everything lately, I think this one is worth a read. Link in bio.

The whole garden feels it, not equally, but collectively. Some plants wilt. Others bolt and go to seed too soon. A few hold on, but only just. This is what collective grief and vicarious trauma look like. Collective grief settles over a whole community after catastrophic events like droughts, weath

03/12/2026

Rainy days are the best days to sit in your favourite chair, with your kitty on your lap, drinking a warm cup of tea, and playing Zen Colour on your phone. (Zen Colour is my new obsession - such a great way to relax!)

What do you like to do on rainy days off?

03/01/2026

Transitions can feel ungrounding, even when they’re something you’re excited for.

Whether you're planning a wedding, or you're graduating, or you're having a baby, or you're getting a new job–even the most exciting adventures in life make us feel a little unmoored.

It’s new, and it can be scary, so it’s hard to feel like you’re grounded and safe during any time of change and transition.

In moments of change, values act like a compass.

Today's Self-Care Sunday practice:

Grab some sticky notes or a piece of paper. Think about everything demanding your attention right now.

Ask yourself: What is urgent in my life right now? And what's important?

You know, it's easy to put all of our time and attention into things that are urgent. Versus the long-term things that are important, like our mental health, our friendships and our relationship with ourselves.

So today, just notice:

• What matters most in this season?
• What do I want to stay aligned with?
• What do I want this to look like and feel like?

Even just taking the time to make sure we’re in alignment with our values can help keep us on course in the long run.