Fourteen time zones, one pink bathrobe, and a week I didn't expect
One question kept showing up everywhere this week — in the articles, in the comments, in my own living room. Who am I when the thing I've been measuring myself against is gone?
Greetings and Salutations this Sunday, May 31, 2026
One question kept showing up everywhere this week — in the articles, in the comments, in my own living room on a quiet Sunday morning:
Who am I when the thing I’ve been measuring myself against is gone?
That question is what the comparison series is really about, underneath all the photographs and floor plans and measuring sticks. Not comparison itself — but the identity vacuum it reveals when you finally stop. When the career ends, the children leave, the role you played for decades quietly retires itself — and you’re standing there wondering what’s left.
In case you missed those two “ comparison” articles, here are the links:
Your responses this week told me we’re touching something real. The note about being tired of treating ourselves like projects that need fixing has now reached fifteen thousand people. Thousands. I don’t take that lightly. That’s not a number — that’s a collective exhale.
Mike and I also went began a podcast via live on Substack.. Pink bathrobe, no script, fourteen time zones between us. We’re still finding our rhythm, but I think that’s exactly the point. The goal was never to perform expertise. It was to have an honest conversation and see who recognized themselves in it.
Next week I have a feeling we’re going deeper into identity — what happens to a person when the old labels stop making sense and nothing new has arrived yet to replace them. I think it might be some of the most important writing I’ve done here.
One more thing. This week I started something small and unscripted that I’m calling Stories from Monica’s Kitchen — short video moments, nothing polished, just me and whatever is on my mind that day. The first one — 20 YEARS AGO THIS WOULD HAVE MORTIFIED ME — found its people immediately. I’ve tucked it in below if you missed it.
More of those coming. Consider it a standing invitation to pull up a stool.
Enjoy your Sunday. I mean that simply and completely.
Monica
If something here gave you a moment of recognition this week — a pause, a laugh, a thought you’re still sitting with — and you’d like to say thank you in the simplest possible way, you’re welcome to buy me a coffee.
No obligation. No upsell. Just one woman grateful for another few hours at the keyboard.
buymeacoffee.com/DPXLblxfF2