Essays

Personal essays and reflections on womanhood, motherhood, identity, relationships and the everyday work of becoming more fully yourself.

When Nothing Is Wrong, But Something Still Wants to Change

Essays

5 May 2026

When Nothing Is Wrong, But Something Still Wants to Change

On outgrowing old identities, listening to quiet inner shifts and allowing yourself to want a different life before there’s proof or permission to do so.

Essays

20 April 2026

When Self-Expression Becomes a Mask

When getting dressed became a point of friction. A journey through postpartum identity, perfectionism and the quiet shift from performing “having it together” to choosing authenticity.

Why We Don’t Need a Clear Vision to Change Our Lives

Essays

25 March 2026

Why We Don’t Need a Clear Vision to Change Our Lives

Feeling stuck waiting for clarity? Learn why clarity comes after action and how to begin even when feeling unsure.

Essays

23 March 2026

It Started with an Omelette

Sometimes the beginning isn’t a breakthrough or a grand decision. Sometimes it's a small act of care that reconnects you with yourself.

Essays

16 March 2026

The Quiet Call to Live Differently

For a long time, I thought the desire to retreat meant something in my life wasn’t working. That I needed to change everything or leave it all behind. But what if this feeling isn’t asking us to escape — only to listen more closely to what our bodies already know?

Essays

19 January 2026

What It Means to Keep Tending Your Life

When the calendar turns but your body hasn’t caught up, what does it mean to tend your life?

What My Garden Taught Me About Alignment

Essays

12 January 2026

What My Garden Taught Me About Alignment

Sometimes the smallest missing piece is the one that quietly determines whether something grows or not.

Essays

3 December 2025

A Slower Way to Close the Year

At a time when the world speeds up, I’ve felt a quiet pull in the opposite direction — toward slowing down, softening and closing this year with more presence, more pleasure and a gentler rhythm.

Essays

26 November 2025

The Magic of the Messy Middle

Learning to be seen in the in-between, before it’s polished, perfect, or fully formed—and why these moments hold the real transformation.

What They’re Learning Simply by Watching Us

Essays

24 November 2025

What They’re Learning Simply by Watching Us

A reflection on how our rebuilding, choosing, and becoming quietly shapes what our children will one day stand on — not through instruction, but through presence, truth and lived experience.

In The Space Between Who I Was and Who I’m Becoming

Essays

24 November 2025

In The Space Between Who I Was and Who I’m Becoming

Reflecting on the in-between season and how past experiences become the foundation for what comes next.

Essays

13 November 2025

When Love Becomes a Silent Blessing

When life moves on and the rituals of love begin to change, we’re invited to honour what once was in new ways.

The In-Between: What It Means to Outgrow an Old Version of Yourself

Essays

5 November 2025

The In-Between: What It Means to Outgrow an Old Version of Yourself

A reflection on endings, recalibration and learning to trust the quiet pause before the new begins.

The Beauty of Not Knowing What Comes Next

Essays

17 September 2025

The Beauty of Not Knowing What Comes Next

An update from the in-between

Essays

3 September 2025

Moments I Chose Myself

Chapter 5: From small choices at sunrise to life-changing decisions, here’s how I stepped into alignment, self-trust and the life I was meant to live.

Essays

27 August 2025

What It Costs Us to Stay

Chapter 4: We don’t always notice the slow erosion—of self, of spirit, of truth—when we stay somewhere we’ve long outgrown. This piece explores the quiet, painful cost of staying too long.

Essays

20 August 2025

We Seek The Redo

Chapter 3: We don’t cling to what feels good — we cling to what feels familiar. A reflection on unconscious reenactment in love and how the past often repeats until we heal.

Essays

13 August 2025

You Are Not Broken

Chapter 2: A poem for the woman whose heart is closed, whose body no longer reaches for touch. A quiet reminder that numbness is not failure — it’s wisdom. And beneath it all, you are still whole.

Essays

6 August 2025

The Things We Swallow in Love

Chapter 1: A tender reflection for the women who’ve learned to dim their longings to stay safe and what it slowly costs us.

I’m trying something different (and a little braver)

Essays

23 July 2025

I’m trying something different (and a little braver)

Laying down perfection, opening my voice and sharing more of the raw process — starting here.

Essays

22 July 2025

A Quiet Celebration of Capacity

A personal reflection on how far I’ve come, the shifts I’ve made in parenting and what happens when we learn to honour both our needs and theirs.

Essays

21 May 2025

Emptying Out as a Sacred Practice

When life feels too loud, I return to the quiet. A reflection on what it means to empty out, unplug and reconnect to the self beneath it all.

The Strength We Borrow Until It Becomes Our Own

Essays

20 May 2025

The Strength We Borrow Until It Becomes Our Own

A reflection on embodied presence, maternal anchors, and the quiet transfer of strength

The Questions I Carried Before Things Began to Shift

Essays

19 May 2025

The Questions I Carried Before Things Began to Shift

In the early days of motherhood, something in me began to shift. Not all at once, but slowly, through a few simple questions I couldn’t quite let go of. Looking back, they didn’t give me answers so much as they changed the way I was listening.

How I Learned to Leave Myself Behind — and What It Took to Return Home

Essays

15 May 2025

How I Learned to Leave Myself Behind — and What It Took to Return Home

Healing didn’t begin with answers for me. It began with honesty — quiet, aching honesty. The kind that rises in your chest when the life you’re living no longer has room for your soul.

Essays

When Nothing Is Wrong, But Something Still Wants to Change

When Self-Expression Becomes a Mask

Why We Don’t Need a Clear Vision to Change Our Lives

It Started with an Omelette

The Quiet Call to Live Differently

What It Means to Keep Tending Your Life

What My Garden Taught Me About Alignment

A Slower Way to Close the Year

The Magic of the Messy Middle

What They’re Learning Simply by Watching Us

In The Space Between Who I Was and Who I’m Becoming

When Love Becomes a Silent Blessing

The In-Between: What It Means to Outgrow an Old Version of Yourself

The Beauty of Not Knowing What Comes Next

Moments I Chose Myself

What It Costs Us to Stay

We Seek The Redo

You Are Not Broken

The Things We Swallow in Love

I’m trying something different (and a little braver)

A Quiet Celebration of Capacity

Emptying Out as a Sacred Practice

The Strength We Borrow Until It Becomes Our Own

The Questions I Carried Before Things Began to Shift

How I Learned to Leave Myself Behind — and What It Took to Return Home

Rhian Budd

A personal column about womanhood, motherhood, identity and becoming.