Somewhere between raising a family and keeping everything running, a lot of us quietly lose track of what we actually like.
Not what the kids need. Not what the house needs. What we like.
That is exactly where my conversation with Kathy Stowell starts. Kathy is the founder of Bliss Beyond Naptime, and she teaches something I have not been able to stop thinking about since we talked: bliss crumbs — the small, almost-too-easy moments that light you up a little. A song. A walk. Ten quiet minutes with coffee that is still hot. Kathy says you do not have to plan a whole new life. You follow the crumbs.
Where “bliss crumbs” came from
Kathy told me the idea first showed up when she was pregnant with her daughter, in the form of cravings — her body guiding her, almost like a flashlight, toward what it needed. (Her craving was corn on the cob. Six of them. In one day. No judgment here.) It made her realize our cravings are not just about food. They are information. As she puts it, when you tap into that — what is my soul craving? — it will not guide you wrong.
Microdosing your bliss
One of my favorite parts of our conversation: you do not need a major life overhaul. Kathy and I talked about microdosing bliss crumbs — putting one small thing on the calendar on purpose. Her example was a massage gift certificate she had been holding onto since last Christmas. Booking it, she said, was “a declaration of this is important to take care of my needs.”
Start with the little things and work your way up. That is the whole assignment.
“I honestly don’t know what I like anymore”
We also took your questions, and this one stopped me in my tracks: “I get an evening to myself and I honestly don’t know what I like anymore. Where do you even start?”
Kathy’s answer is an exercise so simple I am doing it tonight: put on one of your favorite songs, and for the length of that song, brain-dump onto a blank page everything that sounds fun to you — no overthinking, be silly, be audacious. Then circle the ones you could actually do tonight.
We also talked about the identity shift when the kids don’t need you the same way anymore (yes, it’s normal — and no, you don’t have to hate the freedom), and about making friends as a grown woman. All of it is in the conversation.
Watch the conversation
If you are in your next-chapter era — kids getting older, time opening back up, and a woman in the mirror you are getting reacquainted with — this one is for you.
Then come tell me in the comments: what is one bliss crumb you could follow this week?
— Bree
Find Kathy at BlissBeyondNaptime.com and on Instagram @blissedbeyondnaptime. Her podcast is Mom Coaches Getting Clients. Kathy is a certified Simplicity Parenting Coach and Kaizen Muse Creativity Coach.
New here? Start with my free 40’s Somethings Starter Kit — the “Learning to Be Me Again” 7-day rediscovery journal: iamsimpleebree.com/starter-kit
