Make a Home In Your Own Skin
Today, the world is swirling with noise, posts, slogans, sales, and surface-level encouragement. But as you know by now, here on Rosemary Road, we’re doing things differently. We’re slowing down. We’re leaning in. We’re choosing substance over sparkle. Even on the difficult days. Those days that you feel left out and excluded from the hustle and hype.
The theme resting on my heart is this: Making a home in your skin.
And if you're anything like me, you know how complex and layered that simple phrase can be. Moving from hustle to belonging is not a linear progression; sometimes, you find yourself right back in the middle of everything you thought you had left behind. Other times that nagging feeling in your mind tries to convince you that you are missing out if you are not in the thick of things.
Because we’ve all inhabited places where we didn’t belong, we also know the frustration and pain of trying to be someone we are not.
We’ve stretched ourselves thin, adapted, twisted, and performed just to fit in.
And it’s exhausting.
But what if we chose another way?
What if belonging wasn’t something we chased but something we cultivated?
Quietly, deliberately, starting in the soil of our souls?
Slowly amending the soil that is just right for us, not soil artificially fertilized to serve society.
Coming Home to Yourself
On the slowstead, I’ve learned that true belonging doesn’t start out there; it begins within.
Before you build a home, you have to be at home. And that means learning how to find your home inside your own skin.
This is hard-won wisdom.
For years, I measured my value by my productivity. Belonging meant blending in, saying the right things, and ticking the right boxes. But it left me disconnected from myself, my family, and the life I wanted to live.
Slowsteading taught me a different rhythm.
When I stopped hustling to be more, I began becoming more.
When I stopped believing the consumerist lie that the next thing would fix everything, I started noticing what already had beauty.
When I stopped rushing, I finally had time to listen to God, my body, my spirit, and the land beneath my feet.
Finding your home in your skin means accepting yourself before or even regardless of whether the world applauds you.
It means embracing your limits and your longings.
It means finally hearing that quiet voice saying, “This is who you are.”
Creating a Home, Not a Performance
This kind of belonging changes how we build our homes, not just the physical space but the emotional atmosphere. When rooted in ourselves, we stop projecting our insecurity onto our children, expecting them to validate us, or to perform there where we ourselves failed.
We stop overextending to prove something to our partners or peers.
We let home become what it was always meant to be: a haven, not a showroom.
A home doesn’t need to be perfect to be sacred. It needs to feel safe.
It needs to echo with laughter, silence, questions, and grace.
It needs room for slow breakfasts, long talks, and messy becoming.
Finding peace with who you are creates a ripple of peace that touches everyone around you.
Growing in Good Company
Slowsteading isn’t just about the self or the home; it’s also about the village.
Finding your people, your real people, starts with being your authentic self.
I used to think I had to shape-shift to fit into a community. Now, I know that I attract others who do the same when I show up as I am.
Slowly, a true community forms, one rooted in mutual respect, quiet joy, and practical support.
A community where we don’t compete but where we contribute.
We don’t compare, but rather, we connect.
Where we don’t pretend but practice being authentically present.
We build this community when we leave behind the hustle and the hype.
When we stop obsessing over aesthetics and start cultivating authenticity.
When we trade “more” for “enough” and “fast” for “faithful,”
The Invitation
I’m not here to push you toward yet another standard for perfection. I’m here to invite you home.
Home to your rhythm.
Home to your body and your breath.
Home to your family, not the idealized version, but the real, beautiful mess you’re building together.
Home to a community that nurtures, not drains.
Home to a slow, rich, deeply rooted way of life.
You don’t have to hustle to bloom and come home to your skin.
You don’t have to perform to belong.
You are allowed to slow down.
You are allowed to take up space.
You can bloom in your own time, in your way, in soil that fits you.
And when you do, you’ll find that the very thing you were chasing has been waiting inside you all along.
Here’s to blooming in belonging right there where you are.
Slowly. Gently. Deeply.
Together.
With muddy boots and a whole heart.
As you step back into your day, whether it’s into the rhythm of motherhood, the stillness of solitude, or the hum of your work, carry this truth gently with you:
You don’t have to rush the process.
Belonging isn’t something you win, earn, or decorate your life with.
It’s something you build slowly, with honesty and care.
Right where you are, with what you have, in your skin.
You are allowed to feel at home.
And from that place of rootedness, peace, and self-acceptance, you’ll find you’re not just surviving—you’re slowly, beautifully, beginning to bloom.
Best wishes and blessings,
Renata