Make the Invisible Real
My Ethos, Aries season, and building a life that actually fits.
Dearest dreamer,
I’ve been expanding.
I took an impromptu road trip last week and walked into a coffee shop in Boston on a Wednesday afternoon and felt like an alien.
Everything felt so familiar, people individually focused on their laptops, absolute silence and yet it felt strange. There was no human connection, no laughter, and I wondered what kind of lives they led to be there at 11am. Whatever it was, I felt the distinct feeling that I no longer belonged to that world.
For the first time in a long time I realized how much I had changed. Sitting there with nowhere to be and nothing to prove, feeling more like myself than I have in years.
That contrast, that quiet strangeness, witnessing life in the real world, that is what I want to talk about.
At the start of the year, I was commuting into the city for an office role and started to feel like I was wearing someone else’s shoes. It took me time to be honest with myself that this old way of living was no longer for me. Even as a consultant, setting my own terms, the lack of spaciousness in my mornings was too much. I wanted to follow rabbit holes at 2 am and be there for family in unpredictable moments.
So I let it go. At the start of Aries season, I let go of that gig and instead found myself in Boston on a Wednesday.
Aries Season
Aries is the initiator, the start, the first, the pioneer, the act first, think later vibe.
I’ve been soul inspired for over a week now and I am fully feeling the energy of Aries. This is the month to execute, to lock in and focus. All planets are direct. There’s nothing in the sky to block you from your goals, only you.
I’ve been on this freelancer/ consultant/ solopreneur path for a while now. And this trip helped me visibly see who I was becoming, but also ask the philosophical question,
What does it mean to be human?
I have always loved discovering language to describe who we are and the journey of matching the inner truth to the outer expression. Whether that was a company’s brand or a person’s voice, the skill was the same: make the invisible, the void, legible, tangible, real.
What made it possible to get here was crafting my own ethos. Beyond brand, it’s a focus, a direction, a philosophy for what will anchor me in this new season of life. The set of beliefs that have grounded me since the external structure of labels and titles fell away.
My Ethos
Discipline is devotion. Discipline, not hustle, is the only way forward in this life. A commitment to yourself and your dreams through the power of rituals help sustain energy and connection to source.
Movement is medicine. Your body and soul are one. Your heart is an electromagnetic field creating a literal vortex in your chest. Energy is held in the body. Move your body and things will shift.
Curiosity is your compass. In the liminal space, the space between identities, following what lights you up guides you to your next step each time.
Vision without form is chaos. Build containers during your lows in order to support your inspiration during your highs. Structure is what turns energy into something real.
Capacity is the craft. To get what you want in life you must become someone who can hold more. Success flows into your real capacity. Anchor on gratitude to maintain.
The Future is Female
Women are leading this revolution.
By opting out of a rhythm that was never designed for us and building something new in its place that reflects how our bodies actually work. Cyclically. Seasonally. With rest built in. We are nurturers, we slow down the pace to create something sustainable, something tangible, and something authentically human.
I see it on Substack a lot right now. Female writers, artists, makers are sharing what they’ve actually learned in the journey of entrepreneurship — not the highlight reel. And it’s inspiring me. It’s confirming that the direction I’m heading toward is real, is needed, and is mine to build.
To be human is to create.
To create is a revolutionary act.
This is the nature of Zigs N Zags, a place where strategy meets softness, and where the zig and zag of life is not a detour but indeed the path.
Hi, I’m Ashley, a strategist in HR and brand. My goal is to build fulfilling places to work and to help artists and entrepreneurs design fulfilling lives through their business. I write about the in-between to help people exit the liminal space and start crafting a life that’s actually theirs.
If this resonated, I’d love to know where you are in your own shift. I know my readers like to reach out directly and not in chat, so please do! Reply and tell me!
— Ash