You don’t have to be who you were. You get to be who you are.
From the Sunday Self-Care Chronicles | 7/27/25
This week’s Sunday Self-Care Chronicles is a quiet reflection on identity, impermanence, and the ongoing evolution we go through—especially after a breast cancer diagnosis. Centered around a powerful poem by Emory Hall, this issue is for anyone who’s felt like a stranger to themselves and is learning to see change as part of the healing.
This week’s issue touches on:
✨ A poem that honors every version of who you’ve been
✨ The beauty of change, even when it’s hard
✨ An invitation to reflect on who you are now—and who you’re becoming
Read the full email below - and if something speaks to you please feel free to comment, share, or reach out!
Hello, dear one.
Sometimes I come across a piece of writing that doesn’t just speak to me—it names something I didn’t know I needed named.
This poem by Emory Hall did exactly that.
It’s called “I have been a thousand different women” and it holds so much tenderness and truth about the ever-changing nature of identity.
After a breast cancer diagnosis, we’re often expected, and hope, to go back to being who we were.
But the truth is, we can’t. And maybe we’re not meant to.
We change. We shed. We grow.
Not always in a straight line, and not always willingly—but we do.
This poem honors that.
It honors you, in all your forms.
Here it is in its entirety:
make peace
with all the women
you once were.
lay flowers
at their feet.
offer them incense
and honey
and forgiveness.
honor them
and give them
your silence.
listen.
bless them
and let them be.
for they are the bones
of the temple
you sit in now.
for they are
the rivers
of wisdom
leading you toward
the sea.
// I have been a thousand different women (from Made of Rivers)
If it speaks to you, try listening to it performed as spoken word lyrics by the author herself accompanied by her husband Trevor's music.
💭 Something to consider:
What if healing isn’t about getting back to who you were but becoming who you’re meant to be now? Did this land for you like it did for me?
💌 I’d love to hear from you:
What is one thing you wish to carry with you into a future version of you and what is one thing you'd love to let go of?
Hit reply and let me know!
Sitting in gratitude with all of the women I've been, and of course, I'm always in this with every version of you…
ps. Whoever you are right now is exactly enough for now.
pps. If you liked this week's email please consider forwarding it to a friend or sharing it from the archives on your socials.