Roots, Wings, and the Songwriting Journey

by Mothersense, posted in Musical Musings, This Life



We are breaking away from our standard alphabet schedule today because something beautiful happens when you are forced to pause your physical momentum: your creative spirit finally gets the room it needs to stretch its wings.
For me, that creative space belongs to storytelling, music, and a concept I hold close to my heart: Roots and Wings.
Every song starts the exact same way—with just a few raw, honest lyrics scratched out on a piece of paper. It starts with a feeling, a memory, or a heavy truth that needs a place to go. Years ago, when I first started planting those lyrical seeds, I didn’t know what kind of garden they would grow into. I just knew I had to write them down.
Take these lines, for instance, from a piece called Blackland Ink:
There’s a heavy kind of truth in the turning of the soil
A legacy written in the sweat and the toil
You can bury the past in the deep, dark clay
But the roots hold tight till the rain clears the way.
Today, those scattered pages have grown into a full, versatile catalog of over a hundred songs. They are rooted in the grit and honesty of Americana, Red Dirt, and Country music—genres that don’t shy away from real life, hard truths, or unexpected grief.
And right now, behind the scenes, a major shift is happening. I am currently prepping this entire master catalog to be published through Broken Fence Publishing.
But the goal isn’t to just throw these songs out into the void of the massive commercial music industry. The goal is connection. I am preparing to pitch these pieces directly to independent, niche boutique producers.
Why boutique producers? Because music isn’t a one-size-fits-all product. These songs carry specific messages, deep roots, and unique wings. By working with independent producers who value the craft, I can ensure that each song finds its way into the hands of just the right singing artist—the one whose voice and heart match the story the song was born to tell.
It is a massive milestone in a journey that started with a single pen and a blank notebook. It’s a reminder that even when our physical bodies force us to slow down, the work of our hearts never truly stops. It just waits for the right season to fly.

Happy Friday y’all, just breathe!

J is for Journey, Joy, and Justification

by Mothersense, posted in This Life

J



We are stepping back into our alphabet journey today, landing right on the letter J. After a weekend of practicing the “Friday Freedom Exhale”—where we gave ourselves permission to do everything or absolutely nothing—stepping back into Monday can feel a bit jarring.
When you’re navigating health challenges or the erratic shifts of midlife, the pressure to “get back to it” on a Monday morning is heavy. That’s why we need to talk about three words that change how we approach our progress: Journey, Joy, and Justification.
Journey: When you have a “full steam ahead” personality, you are naturally obsessed with the destination. You want the completed project, the perfectly organized space, or the day when your health finally feels 100% predictable again. But life doesn’t happen at the finish line; it happens entirely in the messy middle. Embracing the journey means accepting that healing, organizing, and growing are slow, looping paths—not a straight line.
Joy: We often treat joy like a reward we get after we finish the hard work. “I’ll enjoy myself when the house is perfect, or when I feel better.” But true “mother-sense” tells us that we have to find pockets of joy right in the middle of the unfinished business. It’s finding joy in a hot cup of coffee even if the living room is a mess, or enjoying a quiet moment on the porch even if your body is forcing you to sit out the next round.
Justification: This is the most important one for today. You do not need to justify your existence by your productivity. You do not need to justify taking a step back, taking a nap, or putting a big project on hold. Your worth isn’t tied to how much steam you are running on. You are allowed to take up space, rest, and heal without offering an explanation or an apology to anyone—including yourself.
This week, let’s stop treating our lives like a race to be won. Let’s focus on the journey we are actually on, look for the quiet joy hidden in the pauses, and completely drop the need to justify our rest.
Take it one slow mile at a time this week.

The Friday Freedom Exhale

by Mothersense, posted in Mental Health Recovery, Reclamation, This Life



We are hitting the release valve again today. No alphabet lessons, no self-improvement frameworks, and absolutely no expectations. Just a deep, collective breath heading into the weekend.
I’m calling today the Friday Freedom Exhale.
When you are someone who is used to operating at full capacity, the hardest part of navigating a forced health pause or carrying heavy grief isn’t just the physical limitation—it’s the mental trap. We tell ourselves that if we aren’t working on our big, full-steam-ahead plans, then we must be strictly resting. We turn rest into a chore, a rigid box we have to stay inside of so we can heal.
But true freedom doesn’t live in a rigid box.
So today, consider this your official, unfiltered permission slip to do exactly what your spirit needs this weekend—whether that means doing all the things or absolutely nothing at all.
If your body is finally feeling a spark of energy and you want to bake a mess of bread, dive into a creative project, or deep-clean the kitchen because that is what puts your mind in order—do it. Do all of it with joy, and don’t feel guilty for “wasting” your resting energy.
And if your body or your heart looks at the weekend and says, “I cannot move,” then let the dishes pile up. Leave the projects right where they are. Lie on the couch, turn on a favorite crime drama, and do completely, beautifully nothing.
Freedom is knowing that you don’t owe anyone a predictable pace. You are allowed to ride the waves of your own capacity. You can be a force of nature on Saturday and completely still on Sunday.
Drop your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. The weekend is here, and the choice is entirely yours. Let’s exhale.

I is for Intuition, Instruction, and Insight

by Mothersense, posted in Mental Health Recovery, Reclamation, This Life



Now that we’ve taken our weekend exhale and given ourselves permission to just exist, it’s time to step back into our alphabet journey. Today, we hit the letter I, and we are looking at three distinct words that dictate how we navigate our worlds: Intuition, Instruction, and Insight.
They aren’t the same thing, but when they connect, they create a beautiful filter for a chaotic life.
Instruction: We are buried under this every day. It’s the expert advice, the medical protocols, the organization books, and the endless “how-tos” on how to manage our homes, our health, and our midlife transitions. Instruction is external noise. It’s helpful, but if we follow it blindly, we end up living someone else’s version of order.
Intuition: This is your internal compass. It’s that quiet, deep-down gut check that doesn’t care about spreadsheets or expert consensus. It’s the voice that whispers, “This system doesn’t work for my home,” or “My body needs me to stop right now, no matter what my full-steam-ahead brain says.” When life forces us to pause, our intuition is usually what pulled the emergency brake.
Insight: This is where the magic happens. Insight is the wisdom born when you take the external instruction you’ve been given, bring it inside, and run it through the filter of your intuition. It’s looking at a chaotic situation and finally seeing the truth of it—discerning what to keep, what to throw away, and how to uniquely apply it to your own life.
True “mother-sense” isn’t about collecting the most instructions. It’s about being quiet enough to let your intuition speak, so you can gain the insight needed to heal and manage your world on your own terms.
This week, let’s practice turning down the outside volume. Stop looking for the next instruction manual for your life. Sit with your own intuition, and give yourself the space to find the insight you’ve been looking for.

The Forced Exhale

by Mothersense, posted in Mental Health Recovery, Reclamation



We are stepping away from the alphabet today. No letters, no structured frameworks, and no systems to analyze. Just a collective, heavy sigh before we head into the weekend.
I’ve spent a lot of time recently talking about the necessity of a pause, but if I’m being completely honest, I didn’t gracefully choose this quiet space. I was dragged into it. For anyone built with a “full steam ahead” default setting, resting feels a lot like quitting. We tell ourselves, “Just one more project,” “Just through this next week,” or “I’ll rest when everything is in order.”
But here is the brutal truth I’ve had to face lately: if you do not choose a time to rest, your body will eventually pick a time for you. And its choice is never convenient.
When you ignore the subtle warning signs—the creeping fatigue, the physical aches, the mental fog—your body eventually pulls the emergency brake. That’s where I’ve found myself, dealing with health issues that completely sidelined my best-laid plans. It turns out, you can’t negotiate with an exhausted nervous system or an ailing physical frame. It doesn’t care about your deadlines, your blog schedule, or the life you thought you’d be effortlessly managing at 50.
So this weekend isn’t just a casual break for me; it’s a necessary, forced evacuation from my own ambition.
Getting your life in order doesn’t always look like organizing a space or checking off a goal. Sometimes, getting yourself in order means surrendering to the couch. It means admitting that you are human, that your energy is finite, and that the world will not stop turning if you step away from the wheel for a few days.
If you are currently running on fumes, trying to outrun your own physical limits or the heavy grief that crops up when you finally slow down, please don’t wait for the crash. Don’t wait for your body to force your hand.
Let this Friday be your choice. Drop your shoulders. Unclench your jaw. Leave the unfinished projects exactly where they are—they will survive without you until Monday.
Take the breath now, on your own terms. Let’s exhale.