As a child, I idolized Shirley Temple. Singing, dancing (especially tap), and performing came so naturally to me that it felt like breathing. I was alive on stage—radiant, whole, and deeply loved. I still remember the feel of the tap shoes and tights on my body, the thrill of the lights, and the audience before me. For those fleeting moments, I felt complete, like I belonged in a world that loved me as much as I loved it.

There was a time in my life when I had what most people would call a dream life.

I was successful by any measure. I began my career as an illustrator and artist, working for Walt Disney on Saturday morning cartoons, and went on to build a thriving career as a writer and creator in comic books, video games, film, and fiction. I married my best friend, raised two incredible children, and traveled the world.

And yet, inside, I carried a quiet, persistent ache for more.

In a world driven by polarities—light versus dark, masculine versus feminine, yin versus yang—we’ve been taught to seek balance. Balance, we’re told, is the key to harmony. But balance is inherently limiting. It assumes a division, a separation between forces, and a careful negotiation to keep them at peace.

True mastery lies not in balancing opposites but in DISSOLVING them.

What if the real power, the real freedom, comes from transcending polarity altogether? From uniting these forces so completely that they cease to exist as separate entities?

Growth doesn’t happen in the safety of what’s already known. It lives at the edge—the place where fear mingles with desire, where courage meets possibility.

The edge is the moment where your heart beats faster, your breath catches, and time seems to stretch.

It’s the gateway to transformation.

But too often, FEAR at the edge creates barriers: it blocks the path ahead or drags you back into what’s familiar. To truly grow and expand, you don’t need to eliminate fear—you need to bring it with you, allowing it to walk beside you.

The Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes have long guided women’s understanding of their life phases. However, these archetypes were born in a time—and often from perspectives—that diminished or bypassed a woman’s erotic, primal essence. To live fully embodied, women must reclaim and reintegrate the primal into each phase of their journey.

Have you ever found yourself trying to be “better,” “more,” or even just different in your relationships—whether romantic, platonic, or professional?

We’re often taught that we need to mold ourselves into a more appealing version of who we are to attract the right people or deepen our connections.

But what if the opposite were true?

Over the past few days, I embarked on a journey I didn’t anticipate would feel so sacred: purging photographs from my childhood, my 27-year marriage (now dissolved), and my years as a young mother. As someone shifting into a minimalist lifestyle, I thought this would simply be an exercise in decluttering. Instead, it became a profound ritual of love, forgiveness, and transcendence.

Sometimes the hardest part of growth is letting go.

Letting go of the people, groups, ideas, and paradigms that tethered me to the safety of my past. Letting go of the identities and beliefs I clung to in order to feel secure or seen.

This spiritual expansion—this evolutionary journey—has demanded that I release those old anchors.

Because here's the truth: You can’t create the life your soul craves by holding onto the energy of who you used to be.

Stop Shrinking Yourself to Fit in a Box That Was Never Yours

Have you ever felt the pull to dim your light so others could feel comfortable? To shelve your desires because someone might call you selfish or insensitive or too much? To stay stuck in the hamster wheel of society's expectations instead of stepping boldly into the life that calls you forward?

I used to.

Some people tiptoe through life, careful not to rock the boat or make waves. That has never been my path.

I am the wave.

I’ve come to embrace that my presence, my work, and my words can provoke discomfort. I’ve seen it ignite emotions, unsettle beliefs, and shake the very foundation of what people thought was true.

I’ve been called a disruptor, a catalyst, even a walking trigger.

And I’ve never been more certain that this is my gift.

I long for a life of ease—not the kind that comes from sidestepping discomfort, but the ease that comes from leaning fully into life. From letting every experience—joyful or challenging—show me something essential about myself and inspire me to shape my reality with greater clarity and intention.

Because even the moments that reveal what I don’t want carry their own gift. They awaken my desire to shift, to refine, to call in what I do want.

Imagine a life where every touch, taste, and experience feels like an intentional act of creation—where you are not only present but empowered to shape each moment on your terms. Sensual sovereignty is the art of living this way: reclaiming our fullest aliveness and harnessing the profound power that comes from embracing our sensual experience without reservation.

Through this Reclaiming Our Sensual Vernacular series, we’ve journeyed through the depths of sensuality, pleasure, arousal, intimacy, and the erotic, taking each word back to create a life that is radically and joyously ours.