The Nuance Diaries

Welcome back to the What Authenticity Means to Me series , where I talk to people I admire about what authenticity means to them! (You can also listen anywhere you get your podcasts.) Wild Cozy Free is a community for like-minded souls committed to being their authentic, vulnerable, messy selves. I post a personal essay or conversation from this ongoing series every week, and publish additional wo...

I decided to become a life coach out of nowhere while sitting on my friend’s parents’ back porch in Chicago. My friend Sonia’s mom (shout out to Linda!) was telling me about her unexpected journey into fitness coaching. (She’s a lawyer as well!) She told me how much this new career had added to her life. And then out of nowhere, I heard myself say, “I’m thinking about looking into life coaching.”...

Welcome back to the What Authenticity Means to Me series , where I talk to people I admit about what authenticity means to them! (You can also listen anywhere you get your podcasts.) Wild Cozy Free is a community for like-minded souls committed to being their authentic, vulnerable, messy selves. I post a personal essay or conversation from this ongoing series every week, and publish additional wor...

Originally from Chicago, Torrie trained extensively in classical ballet at Ruth Page Center for the Arts. After graduating from high school, Torrie began a ten-year run touring as a Radio City Rockette in the Christmas Spectacular before performing annually at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Torrie has danced for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Central City Opera Company, and the Chicago Symphony Orches...

I’m SO excited to bring you this week’s What Authenticity Means To Me conversation with Brenton! This series is one of my favorite things ever. It is truly the gift that keeps on giving, and today’s conversation is a prime example of that. Brenton Guice (he/him) is a provisionally licensed professional counselor based in Kansas City, MO. After spending 11 years as a dental hygienist, Brenton follo...

My brain is amazing at picking out one seemingly inconsequential detail about a person and then using that detail to spin an entire imagined narrative about why their life is better than mine.  That girl in the matching athleisure set jogging in Central Park? She works out every single morning; she’s more disciplined than me. The construction worker laughing with his buddies? He has more joy in hi...

This is another, I wanted to wait until I was ready , kind of post. One of my friends referenced the opening line of my very first essay over here at substack during class last week. The sentiment resonated with her, and many of our peers.  I decided to become a life coach shortly after starting this blog. I hit publish on my very first post over here in May, and started class at the end of June....

TW: explicit discussion of eating disorders and body dysmorphia. It’s okay to skip this week if you need to ❤️ My ‘Oy with the Poodles Already!’ Gilmore Girls T-shirt no longer fits me comfortably. Neither does my ‘In Omnia Paratus’ one. They’re tight in the sleeves, and cling to my forearms.  I want to snap my fingers and shrink my torso so that I can fit into them like I used to.  But I can’t do...

I’ve loved the phrase “God of the bathroom floor” ever since I heard it. It’s used by Glennon Doyle and Elizabeth Gilbert (in Love Warrior and Eat Pray Love, respectively) I used to say, people say that God is everywhere, but I think that God is in the bathroom because of the moments of rock bottom I’ve had on bathroom floors. That’s like my altar. -Glennon Doyle The bathroom has always held space...

I’m back with another poem! I actually technically wrote this as a song, but it also works as a poem. You can listen to the voice over if you’re curious about what the melody sounds like. Here we go! The pain bubbles up inside me  In ordinary moments  When I’m wearing a dress  Headed home from a party  - Or the next morning When I’m on my own drinking coffee - Unspoken wounds   Heavy like tombs  C...