On undoing the all-or-nothing self, one slow breath at a time
I don’t know when it began, exactly.
This pattern of everything or nothing.
Of pushing to the edge of beauty, and then past it — into depletion.
Chasing meaning. Chasing love.
Chasing moments before they could dissolve.
I lived like a poem written in a rush — full of feeling, but missing pauses.
And somewhere along the way, I mistook that intensity for depth.
For truth.
For “the way I am.”
But Japan…
Japan is rewriting that story in a language I didn’t know my body understood.
A House With No Excess
When we found this place in Hokkaido, I thought I was buying property.
What I really bought was peace.
We baptized it The No Excess Home.
Not to be trendy.
Not to be minimalists for the aesthetic.
But because something deep in my nervous system whispered:
“I need room to breathe again.”
And so we cleared out the noise.
No clutter. No chaos.
Just a kettle, paper walls, soft light, and the scent of hinoki wood in the mornings.
The Sacredness of Enough
This home doesn’t just house me. It holds me.
Here, I’m learning that slowness isn’t laziness — it’s intelligence.
It’s kindness.
It’s reclaiming the rhythms I abandoned in pursuit of “something more.”
I used to believe presence was passive.
That softness meant shrinking.
But Japan is teaching me that presence is power.
That softness is strength that doesn’t need to shout.
And that the quiet dignity of “enough” might just be the deepest kind of wealth.
The Undoing
There’s no dramatic story here.
No big breakdown or burn-it-all-down pivot.
Just a slow, sacred undoing of what never really fit.
The part of me that needed to be the best, the fastest, the deepest…
She’s resting now.
Not because I’ve become less ambitious —
but because I’m choosing aligned over excessive.
True over loud.
Rooted over relentless.
If You’re Here Too…
If your soul is tired.
If your body is whispering for space.
If you’re craving a life with more pauses, more presence, more meaning in the mundane…
You’re not broken.
You’re breaking free.
Come closer.
This is the medicine I’m living and sharing — in real time.
No hacks. No hype. Just a return to yourself through the art of slowness.
🌿 A Gentle Invitation
If this stirred something in you —
a longing, a remembering, a quiet yes…
I’ve created a space for you to land:
👉 slow-secrets-tribe.kit.com/starthere
It’s for the ones who are tired of rushing.
Tired of performing.
Tired of asking, “Is this all there is?”
This is your soft place to recalibrate, reconnect, and rebuild from the inside out.
At your own pace. With your whole truth.
Start where you are.
Start messy.
Start small.
But start.
With love,
Julie
