b’vive.

How small choices can shape our well-being.

Part 2: Your guide to an intentional summer

It was time for our annual block party, and while everyone else was pulling together dips and desserts, my mom was in the kitchen mixing up her greens.

I was a teenager at the time — full of opinions, as teenagers are — and I said: “Mom, what are you doing? No one wants to eat that.” Can you hear the indignation in my voice?

A thing about my mom: she had seven kids. I’m number six. So by the time I came around with all my sass and indignation, she’d heard it all before.

She just smiled and said: “Always bring something you know you want to eat.”

At the time, I rolled my eyes.

Now as an adult and a health coach, it’s advice I live by — and give to my clients.

Chances are, if you invite me over for a dinner party, I’m bringing a salad (and it will be delicious).

But this isn’t really about the salad.

It’s about the choices we make for ourselves — and the choices we let be made for us. It’s about how we show up for our own well-being — and what we let get in the way.

Summer can be like one big party.

The barbecues, the festivals, the travel, the heat, the late nights … they can sweep you away before you can spell out SPF.

And suddenly, you’re looking back wondering,
“What just happened?”

But what if this year were different?

What if you decided how you want this season to feel — and let that guide your choices?

That’s exactly what we do in my Let Summer Workshop.

We slow down, tune in, and set an intention that helps you stay rooted — even when everything around you is in full summer swirl.

You get to decide what kind of summer you want to have. Your season. Your choices. Your story.

Every good story needs a villain. 

Enter: Fear.

Fear of looking weird.

Fear of being judged.

Fear of not doing it “right.”

Fear of being seen before we’re ready.

Fear is a crazy b*tch who lives in our heads and obsesses over what other people think.

And somehow, we let that crazy b run the show.

We let fear talk us out of the very things that would help us feel better.

What kind of bullsh%$ is that?

Let me show you how it shows up — even in the smallest of ways.

The Sweetest Mistake

I love trying new coffee shops. And when I’m not in the mood for coffee, I love a good tea. Especially a legit chai tea made with real tea leaves and spices.  It’s rare to find — most shops use the pre-sweetened powder — but ever the optimist, I can’t help but ask.

One day, I visited a shop where the owner was very enthusiastic about his chai tea powder. I didn’t want to be rude. I didn’t want to seem difficult. So I didn’t ask how sweet it was or what it was sweetened with. I just ordered it.

And OH MY APHRODITE, goddess of love and pleasure — IT WAS SO SWEET.

And that my lovely is how fear — even a small fear like hurting someone’s feelings — talks us out of what we actually want.

Not because we don’t know what we want. But because we’re afraid of . . . what?

What someone else will think.

What’s Your Chai Tea?

I’m not telling you this because chai is life. I’m telling you this because I want you to notice.

✨ Notice when you go for the popular choice, when your heart wants something else
✨Notice when you choose something out of fear or obligation, when . . . 

Because you, my lovely, deserve to follow your heart and feel your best – mind, body and joy.

So here’s your invitation:

What’s your chai tea?

• Is there a dish you bring because you know it’ll be accepted?
  
• A thing you order because it’s expected?
  
• A choice you make because you don’t want to make waves?
  

Sit with these questions (maybe while sipping some tea of your choice, of course):

💭 Why are you eating/drinking/doing the thing?
💭 Who does it serve?

Let this be your practice.
A little space.
A little reflection.

A mindset shift. A choice with intention.

May it be one more way you choose to live well —
Mind. Body. Joy.

Ready for more? Let’s lean in.

Margaret Faintich

b’vive