Leaning in
Yolande Clark-Jackson | WDW October 2026
What does ease look like for you?
For me ease looks like walking slow and remembering to stop and smell the magnolia. It's no longer blooming, but its red seeds falling on the ground provide messages for how to let go. Both as a fall ritual and routine.
For a long time, I valued the results of hard work over the things that came easy. Ease somehow equated to lack of effort or value. Both my parents were hard workers, and I was raised to be one. I learned to attach my own value to production. I hated the idea of wasting time. And sitting down for too long made me uncomfortable. What helped deepen this into a way of living was the decades of teaching, planning, grading, and raising children. It created a pattern of non-stop doing. I wasn't taught that rest should be planned as well as protected.
Rest came after exhaustion and against my will. And it was often followed with guilt. Shouldn’t I be doing something?
Could I even say I was tired knowing what my mother did as a mother of 6 children? I believed I had to earn rest. But not anymore.
Now I see rest as necessary to show love for myself. I see it as a taking care of my health and a strategy to resource myself. Being rested helps me look and feel better so I can show up for myself and others in the best ways possible.
But I had to learn to relax. For the past few years, attending retreats has helped. And what feels like rest or ease is becoming a priority for me because it sits closer to peace. What that looks like has also changed and expanded over the years, and I'm leaning into that too. Before it looked like a nap, a solo lunch, scheduled massage or morning at the beach.
Now it has extended to include:
Walking
Listening to vinyl albums
Baking
Sipping warm tea or chilled wine in front of the TV
Flower arranging
Chasing sunsets
What about you?
October Writing Prompts
What the Light Does Now:The sun starts sitting lower, earlier. Write about the first evening this year the light felt different. What did it ask you to notice?
The Unpacking: Something from summer is still sitting in a bag, a car, a corner unpacked on purpose or by avoidance. Write about what it is and why it’s still there.
The First Cool Morning:Think of the first morning that felt like a shift.Where were you? What did you do with it?
If you'd like to go deeper with your writing practice this season, visit my self-paced offerings page.
October Haiku:
Vanilla and spice waft in (5)
a cool breeze brushes a branch (7)
fallen seeds of change (5)
Orange Wine
As October settles in, we can turn to an Orange Wine. It a perfect bridge between seasons. It has an amber hue reflecting the autumn leaves, but is actually a skin-contact white wine. Its unique tannins and savory notes make it an exceptional partner for hearty fall harvests, roasted root vegetables, and cozy twilight gatherings.
The only one I've tried is Sikele from Italy. We had at with pizza one night out as family. I loved the color as much as the taste but don't often find it among the reds and whites in the grocery store.
🌟 WDW Recipe of the month
It's pie season, and I've been making a tofu custard pie for the past few weeks. It's easy, sweet and my new favorite.
I'm hooked and so is my husband. In a recent blog post, I share why I'm skipping pumpkin pie this season and choosing this one instead.
Book Recommendation
Heart the Lover by Lily King
On the first weekend of this month, I attended a wellness retreat at Stony Point retreat center. While walking the grounds on that Saturday before dinner, I saw Ashley sitting in front of the mediation space with a book. Ashley, her mom, and her husband are the owners and operator of The Little Book Shop in Brooklyn. She said Heart the Lover by Lily King is a book many of her customers have flocked to. Reviewers say it’s a novel of desire, friendship, and the lasting impact of first love. Interestingly, the love story of the main character actually began one fall on a a college campus.
KIng is the New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers which I’ve also added to my list. It seems I keep getting introduced to new authors on the daily. Looking forward to digging into both books.
What are reading this fall?
📣WHAT'S NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
I celebrated Divine Day on Tuesday, October 13th. It's hard to believe it's been 25 years since my daughter Divine's passing. I didn't know what to expect on the Sunday I planned how I would spend the day when I wrote about it in a Substack post. But Tuesday came, I bought the flowers pictured above, lit a white candle, and I took a walk. Throughout the day I received so many messages from friends and family and knowing people still make space to hold both my grief and joy means so much to me that people took the time to show me they care.
I hope this newsletter feels like care. It's designed to encourage you to slow down, convince you to make time for yourself, and inspire you to make space for your creativity. I pray you make time to fill your cup in whatever way that looks like for you.
May those who you love drink from the overflow.
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Thank you for opening your inbox.
Cheers to you!
-Yolande
Below: A few moments captured from the retreat weekend and that bottle of Sikele I told you about.
Contact: yclarkjackson@gmail.com
