“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” — Eckhart Tolle

January 6th, 2025

📍London, England, United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Greetings from the wilderness! 

I’m finally settled into my Trusted Housesitters gig for this week in England (more on this further down) and able to process my thoughts and pictures from Iceland. Words cannot express what that experience was like—Running my fingers through Black Sand Beach, bathing in the Blue Lagoon, and experiencing the Aurora Borealis overhead while watching midnight fireworks over Reykyjvek. What a trip!

Icelandair makes it easy to fly from the US to Europe with a stopover in Iceland (up to 7 days with no extra charge). If you ever find yourself heading east, do yourself a favor and stop in Iceland. Even in the arctic cold of winter, this beautiful country is a must-see.

I’m spending the first leg of this trip in London, looking back on 2024 and all the events that brought me to this point, experiencing the world in an exciting new lifestyle. While I am so glad to be at this point in my journey, I also recognize that 2024 was full of grief and painful changes. It could be so easy to look back and see only the hard stuff I had to overcome. However, I’m choosing a heart posture of gratitude to start this new year.

This time last year, I was grieving a major career shift. I had just left my role as Program Director and Board of Directors seat at This is Jane Project, a nonprofit organization that I had helped build from its start as a photo activism campaign back in 2019. Not only did I pour my heart and soul into that organization, but stepping down meant leaving daily activity in an online community that was a significant hub in my life. As I look back, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the formation of that online community and to have learned so much about trauma and healing during my tenure. The decision to leave so I could focus on Loto full-time and not just as a passion project “side hustle” was the right one, and the growth in myself and this business has been incredible this year, and for that, I am truly grateful.

I also packed up my life in Denver and left my beloved home of the last 12 years. While I miss my rooftop patio garden and “big sky” views, I would not be able to afford this digital nomad lifestyle if I was still paying Denver housing prices. I am so grateful to have learned so much about myself through the process of dismantling my old way of life. I have found so much freedom from stuff/things by living out of a suitcase for the last 6 months. I am learning to live with less and to be more than comfortable but satisfied with having less. This lifestyle change is ushering me into a more minimalist way of living, and is a design aesthetic that I plan to explore and develop for myself moving forward.

I was still processing a lot of grief over my little Lola’s passing in August 2023. Now that I’m here in England, house and pet sitting in exchange for a free place to stay through Trusted Housesitters (because travel is expensive), I am also appreciating the freedom from caregiving that I have in this season of life. While I miss Lola’s big personality and companionship, I am grateful to only have to care for myself these days. Even my plants that I miss so much, it’s nice to not have to worry about them anymore either.

As I look back over this past year with a grateful heart, what keeps coming up for me is the freedom I feel right now.

• Freedom to wander and explore.

• Freedom to care for myself unapologetically.

• Freedom from the burdens of my old lifestyle that kept me stuck in one place and a specific way of life.

• Freedom from in-the-box ways of engaging with the Spirit of God.

2025 is ushering in the freedom to redefine myself, care for myself, live wildly differently, and grow and evolve into the highest expression of myself… to become more and more the person God created me to be.

As we move into 2025, I hope you will join me in taking a look back at 2024 with gratitude for all you went through that paved the way for all you will experience in 2025. To get you started, I invite you to join me in journaling on this reflection question:

As you look back on 2024, what moments, relationships, or experiences are you most grateful for, and how did they shape your growth, faith, or perspective this year?

With love,

Jennifer

PS- This month, my love letters will take a past/future/present approach to the new year. If you are a planner or visionary personality like me, you won’t want to miss out on our annual Winter Envisioning vision board workshop this Saturday, January 11th. Click here to learn more.

PSS- The art featured here is from the MOCO gallery in London, one of my faves for modern and contemporary art.