Recently, I sat down with my journal to do a values exercise. I wrote down the values I hold most dearly: integrity, growth, joy, empowerment, and self-permission. Then came the question that stopped me: How aligned am I actually living in those values right now, in the specific, daily, ordinary moments of this season of my life? What I found was honest. Uncomfortable. And ultimately, clarifying. Two Voices, One Pattern When I am living in alignment with my values, my self-ta

By Ly Smith | UpCycle Coaching From the age of nine to seventeen, I was a competitive gymnast. I want you to sit with what that actually means for a moment. It means I was in a gym, doing the same skills over and over and over again until my body stopped thinking about them and simply did them. It means I fell. A lot. It means I got back up. A lot. It means I learned very early that the performance people see on the floor is never, ever the whole story. Nobody in the stands s