Welcome to Garden Notes

Smiling woman with glasses holding a bouquet of lavender flowers.

For years, I chased the idea of “having it all together—” the perfect routine, the dream career, the endless momentum. I thought the answer was working harder, moving faster, and ticking off boxes on the “dream life” checklist.

Then burnout stopped me in my tracks and taught me otherwise.

Garden Notes is my quiet corner for figuring out how to come home to myself—and live the life I always wanted, even in the messy in-between.

Here, I share slow mornings, travel stories, honest reflections, and gentle reminders that life doesn’t have to be loud to be meaningful. It’s for ambitious introverts, cozy rebels, and anyone craving something softer, truer, and real.

If you’ve ever thought, “Wait, I feel that too,” I hope this space feels like home.

Pull up a chair. The kettle’s on.

What if the in-between wasn’t something to rush through — but the beginning of a softer, truer way of living?

Slow Living Renee Michaela Slow Living Renee Michaela

Living the Dream Life Now: The Enough Audit (Part 2: The Permission)

We’ve been taught to chase a dream life always out of reach—moving the goalpost, climbing the ladder, never quite arriving. But what if the real trap isn’t that we’re behind, but that we’ve bought into the promise itself? In this essay, I explore how to step off the treadmill of striving and name the ordinary moments—coffee in your pajamas, tending the garden—as the dream life already unfolding. With a simple practice I call the Enough Audit, you’ll learn how to notice, honor, and nurture what’s here right now.

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