Creative Living, One Day at a Time
Soaking in the final moments before becoming a mom. Holding onto the slowness and magic of every day.
I’m currently in a phase of slowing things down as my husband and I prepare for the arrival of our little baby girl in March 🌸
Moving to where life feels easier
While we moved to London a little over 1 1/2 years ago, we decided to leave it behind, because it didn’t align with our energy, values, and needs. We chose to move closer to our families in Austria and Italy to have a stronger support system in place and just make things a little easier for us—especially during the final months of pregnancy and the first months with our newborn. We’re spending a couple of months in Austria and then the summer in Italy before deciding where to settle next. Life never gets boring. :)
Slowing down — with tension
Slowing down and thinking about mat leave has been an interesting challenge. While I feel a strong drive and momentum to continue building the next chapter of my life with Out of Office and stepping into my power to help more people design creative ways of living and working, I also am trying to find peace with pausing to engage with all the possibilities I am constantly seeing, and embracing a season where other priorities take center stage.
While I had initially thought I would be stepping away from work for six months or even a year (which is quite common here in Austria), that idea now feels strange, given the energy I feel for what I'm building.
Navigating the external and internal expectations around motherhood has been another layer of this transition, whether from friends, family, strangers, or the curated stories we come across on Instagram. Right now, my plan is simply to follow what feels right, whether it’s six months or six weeks. A friend recently reminded me, “Alice, you’re such an intuitive person. You’ll know what works best for you.” I’m holding onto that.
One thing that helped me with this transition is putting together a transition plan, embracing trust in the talented team and collaborators I'm lucky to work with, and being okay with pausing some things. The goal is to set things up well and then let go, knowing that others can step in and lead with care and expertise.
Observations & Practices from This Week
This week, I felt a new spaciousness after wrapping up some projects and delegating more tasks. While I typically spend quite a few afternoons on calls with clients and collaborators, I've cut back on calls and reintroduced my commitment to no (client) work on Fridays—something I’d been slipping on. Over the past years, Fridays have become a small experiment in doing things differently. Instead of diving into emails or meetings, I try to use the day to step away from my usual routine. It’s a chance to reconnect with curiosity—whether through a museum visit, a long walk, or simply slowing down enough to notice the world around me. This intentional shift helps me return to my work with more clarity, ideas and creative energy, reminding me that productivity isn’t just about doing more, but about thinking differently. Sometimes this leads to me sitting down again and writing about a new idea, and sometimes it just leads to no “outcome,” simply time well spent.
So last Friday, I went for a market brunch with my husband, strolled through the city, and visited a museum. I left my laptop in the cloakroom and let myself wander through the exhibition without distraction. Later, I treated myself to a spontaneous haircut and picked up a bottle of non-alcoholic Martini to enjoy with our Valentine's dinner. It was a refreshing reminder of how nourishing it is to step away from our screens and immerse ourselves in the physical world around us.
Seeing vs. Seeking
Over the past 10 years, I’ve lived a life full of movement—spending months living (and working remotely) in beautiful places such as LA, Mexico, Barcelona, Cape Town or Tuscany, and moved to new cities every couple of years such as NYC, and London. Lately, though, I was reminded to shift from seeking to simply seeing. To fully appreciate what's here, now, rather than looking for the next thing. There will still be moments for seeking new inspiration—like traveling to a new place—but for now, I'm leaning into expansiveness with what I already have. Thank you, Megan, for that beautiful reminder. 🧡
I’m curious to hear about how others navigated their transition into motherhood, so feel free to share your experience or thoughts (if you’re currently going through this transition as well) in the comments!
Sending sunny wishes from slow Austria,
Alice
Congratulations on becoming a mom! It’s one of the most rewarding experiences. I recently became a mom back in October. I will say that being a creative (actress, writer, painter, and acting coach) has been a process of getting back to those things. Especially being a person who thrives on creating. I have to tell myself to take it one day at a time. Every day doesn’t look the same nor feel the same, but it’s a new season of life and therefore requires a new way of operating. The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is to surrender to the moment. Everything else will fall into place.
I loved reading this piece and look forward to hearing more about your journey into motherhood!🫶🏽
Alice, I can relate to most of what you're writing about but especially two things
1) Changing your Fridays: my husband and I had a really interesting conversation this week. We are two people who crave flexibility in our everyday lives and what you're doing with your Fridays sounds exactly like that. We said that in the traditional sense, each day we have pockets of the day assigned to specific things: time blocks for work, leisure, errands etc. and they rarely shift on a day to day basis. Sometimes no matter how much fun you have during that leisure time block, it can still feel constricting. Having one day a week where you have the freedom to just move things around however you want to throughout the day can really increase your happiness! Hope that makes sense :)
2) Seeing vs. seeking: I hear you on this one. I think we often forget that we are "human beings" and not "human doings".