A Note on Sanity, Balance, and the Long Haul Ahead

Dear Friends,

Let’s just put it on the table: the Trump circus has been eating me alive. I’ve been tracking it, writing about it, skewering it, rolling my eyes so hard I nearly sprained something — and somewhere along the way, it started gnawing at my well-being in ways I can’t ignore. Stress has this sneaky habit of showing up in the body, and mine has been waving a giant red flag that says: “Hey, lady, step away from the chaos before you drop.”

Now, before anyone panics — no, I’m not abandoning the snark. That’s hardwired into me. I was born sarcastic, and I’ll die sarcastic (hopefully not from high blood pressure induced by watching press conferences). But I am recalibrating. The newsletters you’ll get from me going forward will still call out the absurdity of politics when it needs calling out — because God knows, the absurdity isn’t going anywhere — but I’m weaving in more threads of balance, humor, food, travel, creativity, roses, Paris, the sheer joy of being alive. The good stuff. The nourishing stuff.

Because this is a marathon, not a sprint. And as much as I’d like to pretend I’m a 25-year-old activist running on kombucha and outrage, I’m not. I’m me. And that means if I want to stay in this fight — if I want to keep writing and showing up with my mind sharp and my words sharp enough to matter — then I have to stop letting the daily madness run me ragged.

I suspect some of you know exactly what I mean. Maybe you’ve caught yourself doomscrolling until midnight. Maybe you’ve shouted at the television more in the past few years than in the rest of your life combined. Maybe you’ve noticed your blood pressure creeping up right along with mine. If so, welcome to the club. We’re living in a time when politics can feel like a full-contact sport, and most of us never signed up to play.

So here’s my promise: future newsletters will still contain bite, sass, wit, and righteous indignation when the situation demands it. But they’ll also contain more balance — little detours into the things that make life worth living. Maybe it’s a recipe that will make your kitchen smell like heaven. Maybe it’s a story about Parisian cafés or Hawaiian sunsets. Maybe it’s a reflection on resilience, or a laugh at the ridiculousness of daily life.

In other words, I’m giving myself permission to breathe — and I’m hoping you’ll breathe with me. The goal isn’t to ignore what’s happening in the world (that would be impossible). The goal is to survive it, with our humor intact, our spirits lifted, and our health not hanging by a thread.

I hope you’ll stick with me on this slightly adjusted journey. Think of it not as me walking away from politics but as me refusing to let politics walk all over me. The snark isn’t going anywhere — it’s just putting on more comfortable shoes for the long haul.

Thank you, truly, for reading, for engaging, and for caring. It means more than I can say.

Onward, with a little more balance,

Julie Bolejack, MBA