res·o·nance| ˈrezənəns | noun
1 the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating: the resonance of his voice. • the ability to evoke or suggest images, memories, and emotions: the concepts lose their emotional resonance.
2 Physics the reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection from a surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object.
3 the condition in which an electric circuit or device produces the largest possible response to an applied oscillating signal, especially when its inductive and its capacitative reactances are balanced.

I leave the last hours of 2023 in awe.

Within 356 days, I have found a strength and understanding of myself that I had no idea was waiting for me.

I think of the voices who came alongside me. Those select family members, friends, and colleagues who didn’t let my self-doubt get in the way.

This year, I broke barriers of who I believed myself to be.

I trained myself to align with what would make my work and voice sound more precise, robust and profound.
I produced pieces that I knew would change the trajectory and plights of those in circumstances that needed help.
I connected and was softly mentored by local pillars in the audio medium.
I allowed myself to explore an arena I once believed was above me.
I applied my ideas and passion for a level of training that would change my approach and career.
I gained the awareness and tools to navigate generational and personal trauma.
I navigated the differences with grace, strength and tenderness towards others and myself.

I leave this year prouder and more robust than ever.

Yet as I say that, my eyes glisten with tears, and a deep ache presses against my heart.
I am learning to accept that with profound growth and progress comes a raw ache that exists hand in hand. One doesn’t come without the other.

I have lived a year of bliss and ache in a way I never have before.

Living reaching for resonance has reminded me of my values, abilities, and genuine pain.
They exist hand in hand.

Only hours are left on the clock of 2023, and still, I find thank-you on my lips.

Thank you to the pain.
Thank you to the bliss.
Thank you to the heartache.
Thank you to the courage.
Thank you to the ones who held me.
Thank you to the ones who hurt me.

These lessons are forever tattooed on my heart & with their sacred marks, I go.

Onwards,

Already in full bloom, the muggy, overcast and sometimes sunny days of a Nova Scotia summer are here.

This summer, I am approaching like summer rain.

Sporadic, unannounced and magical.

If you have danced in a summer rain, you know how it smells and tastes.
It’s something different and unique.

My approach this season is to push myself in my thinking and doing.
Rather than keeping the typical schedule, I am asking myself what makes sense today? What needs to be done? What project needs attention? What am I missing?
What am I needing?

It can be vulnerable to be without work, but it is also an invitation.

An invitation to discover and delight in the creativity that has brought me here today.

Onwards I go into these full magical summer moments discussing work, life and learning with family, friends and colleagues while dancing in the summer rain when it graces us with its presence.

When I pick a word to walk with for a year, I never know exactly what will happen on that journey. I can only know that the word came to me during reflection and processing of what I wanted for the coming year.

Resonance

came to me out of a deep desire to sink deeper into a medium and craft of audio storytelling I hadn’t let myself consider or even believe was possible for me. And yet, as 2022 ended, I found a new side of myself. A shiny new side that was there all along.

As I have worked the past six months to align myself with those that would help me develop quality, deep and evocative work and life, I have found something else. Something I didn’t expect.

I wasn’t only finding the fullness of others and the projects but a fullness in myself.

A deepening and broadening of horizons and. The point that I have had a hard time swallowing it all because everything up until this point has told me

• There is not enough money for you.

• You don’t have what it takes.

• Your role is ‘this,’ not ‘that.’

• You thought you were good at this, but you are not.

Etc.

Over the past two months, I have started to implement the concept of seeing what aligns with my values as a whole person. Not just as the person who pitches stories… but also as the woman.

The Amy Grace.

What does she want?

What is she capable of?

*it seems so silly to admit to these things… Haven’t I been doing this all along?

Yes & No.

The revelation is that I have been trying to be myself in a box. A box I still desperately wanted to fit.

I was never supposed to fit that box.

With this new understanding, I take resonances hand and explore what is outside the box and what is possible with the me that I am and the me I continue to find out I can be.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Tulips sprouting from garden earth. Text: Spring 2023 - byamygrace

When Spring arrived on March 20th, I was ill-prepared.

I felt the heaviness of the project I was working on (a project that highlighted the severe plight of paramedics in my Province) and the lack of connection to my faith, which usually feels closer during the Lent season. I felt the pressing in of my life and business partners' trip in early April coming all too fast.

I decorated for Easter with lacklustre. I found agony in how other families gathered and celebrated bunnies, eggs and cute family photos in a way I have been unable to make happen again since childhood.

Yet as the sun begins its descent each evening, I have felt a promise of a world opening up. A new birth to a new version of the life we have been living.

And isn't that the promise of Easter in the first place?

New life, a rebirth.

The broken, the perceived dead could be risen out of the ground and made into something we couldn't have imagined.

This Spring, I am actively sourcing a new way, a new life, and the renewed soil ready for me; for us.

Enough of this life I thought would be.
Enough of this old narrative and the old way of doing things.
It is time to embrace the miracles. The right now moments are rich with potential and joy.

This Spring, I will leave behind

• Surface small talk to get me by

• Hesitating in scarcity mentality in my work

• Staying street bound in family movement

• Sinking into the weight of death.

This Spring, I will be

• Welcoming deep, intelligent connections and conversations

• Investing back into the work, I am driven to create

• Embracing collective family movement

• Celebrating life.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: a child reads a book in a chair beside a stack of books. TEXT: February Reads 2023 byamygrace overtop image.

An Offer From a Gentleman | Julia Quinn

Although I know Book #4 will be the focus of the next instalment of Shonda Rhimes Adaptation of the Bridgerton Series, I will not be trying to rush the series. I picked up book #3 for the month and enjoyed its Cinderella influence. This book focuses on Benedict Bridgerton, and it’s a fun dessert of a read. No complaints. Simply sweet.

Hungry Hearts | Jennifer Rudolph Walsh

A collection of essays from Jennifer and multiple writers on courage, desire and belonging. This passage from Jennifer has stuck with me since closing the book.

“We need both sides of storytelling-listening to others’ stories and telling our own - to embrace one another in our full humanity. In bearing witness, we allow ourselves to be witnessed. This is the life-changing power of storytelling - to connect those of us who will never meet or have just met, as well as to deeper our connections to the people we love the most. Listen with an open heart and without judgement to what others have to share, and take courage from these pages as you go out and tell the world your truth.”

The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue

Following a nurse in a maternity ward in 1918 during the height of a pandemic, aka “The Great Flu,” we get a peek into what it was like to be serving the many women who were coming in sick and pregnant. Many are without their husbands and support and are about to die. This read took me longer to get through than I would like, but topically it feels important enough to finish all the way around.

Beautiful Little Fools | Jillian Cantor

Jillian takes the classic The Great Gatsby and gives us the spin we all need. Form the eyes of the women. Daisy, Jordon and Catherine, Myrtle’s sister, all take the leading roles in this perspective shift. From Jordon on the golf course, Daisy on her mission to find a husband, and Catherine finding her own way in New York City, we get a whirlwind tale that, if I am being honest, I prefer significantly to the original.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Four books in a row: Hungry Hearts by Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor, An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

res·o·nance| ˈrezənəns | noun
1 the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating: the resonance of his voice. • the ability to evoke or suggest images, memories, and emotions: the concepts lose their emotional resonance.
2 Physics the reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection from a surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object.
3 the condition in which an electric circuit or device produces the largest possible response to an applied oscillating signal, especially when its inductive and its capacitative reactances are balanced.

I have been holding back.

All it takes is one quick scroll on Youtube, Instagram or Twitter to realize the number of voices on any one thing is endless. The number of vlogs, podcasts, blogs, essays, articles, series, tik-toks, memes, commentaries, and message boards on any topic is overwhelming at best.

I have found it alarming, overwhelming and, quite frankly, scared to be a voice that isn't adding anything but more noise to the cacophony.

To become part of the machine that doesn't make room for grace, compassion and courage.

Yet, now it's time to think differently. To think with a longer-lasting perspective.

Resonance.

To develop and evoke quality, depth and fullness in creation that echoes through life and work.
To practice the art of resonance is:
To fully express the fullness of thought and meaning behind a concept.
To seek collaborative hands to be the champions and refining behind the work.
To take in more than one angle of perspective on any one thing and be refined by all that surrounds a topic.

Onwards,

Amy Grace

res·o·nance| ˈrezənəns | noun
1 the quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating: the resonance of his voice. • the ability to evoke or suggest images, memories, and emotions: the concepts lose their emotional resonance.