Eat. Pray. Write
“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them."
- Elizabeth Gilbert
Opening the Door
I was deeply humbled to be invited as one of the event leaders at the Big Magic Retreat—a creative gathering led by the incomparable Elizabeth Gilbert. From the moment she walked into the space that first morning, she carried an energy I can only describe as permission. Permission to be messy. To be uncertain. To be wildly, beautifully human in our creative longings.
Naming the Fear
Liz opened the retreat by asking everyone to write a letter to their fear—because fear is always the first to arrive when we dare to create. One brave woman read hers aloud with her back to the room, and Liz invited us to stand if we heard something we’d also feared. By the first line, the entire room was on its feet.
It was the kind of moment that quietly rearranges you.
Liz reminded us: “Fear is not that interesting. It’s a story on repeat.”
Most of us carry the same handful of fears. The real question is—what happens when we stop letting that tired old story decide our path?
Carrying the Magic
Watching a space where souls gathered not just to write, but to rise—to name their fear and still choose to create?
That was its own kind of magic.
Eight months later, I’m still carrying it with me.
It’s not about becoming an artist, though you might. It’s about approaching your life with the curiosity of a creator, the openness of someone who believes in magic, and the courage to follow what calls to you—even when you can’t see the whole staircase.
The question is never whether you’re creative enough.
It’s whether you’re willing to meet your creativity where it lives—in the messy, imperfect, gloriously human act of making something that matters to you.