Sabrina Giacalone

Tag: boundaries

  • The Unsung Cost of Our Society

    The Unsung Cost of Our Society

    The choice between providing and being present, and the family bond we build in the hours we’re given.

    Storybook-style painting of a mother and three children sitting together in a glowing forest clearing, symbolizing family bonds and quiet moments of wonder in the spirit of the Netherwood.

    Familial bonds are one of the core themes woven through Sera, Lily & The Fox Prince—not only between the two sisters, but through their mother, too. Even in the dark Netherwood, she is with them. In the lessons she taught. In the boundaries she held with gentleness. In the internal voice she helped shape inside her daughters.

    I wrote that relationship the way I hope to shape my own children.

    But I haven’t always been this version of myself.

    I became a mother at seventeen—young, independent, still wrapped up in the shallow worries of high school, and then suddenly confronted with a sacred new reality: someone else needed me. It brought me back to my center. It taught me what love asks of us.

    And then life demanded trade-offs.

    In the years that followed—through instability, a rocky first marriage, and the weight of being the provider—I entered the workforce and slowly fell prey to the corporate machine. Long days. Early drop-offs. Late pickups. Minutes together in the morning. An hour at night. Weekends filled with adventures meant to “make up for it.”

    But the truth is: when you’re gone that much, other people begin shaping your children’s inner world more than you do.

    The pandemic brought us home—and it showed me, with aching clarity, what presence actually does. It gave me the chance to relearn my children, to rebuild connection in the daily, and to rewrite the voices in their heads with kindness, steadiness, and truth.

    This week’s full Letters from the Netherwood letter goes deeper into that story—how familial bonds are built, what absence costs, and why so many parents are forced to choose between providing and being present.

    📜 Read the full letter on Substack: Unsung Cost of Our Current Society

    Question for you: Have you ever had to choose between providing and being present—and what’s one small way you protect your family bond this week inside the life you actually have?

    Content note: the full letter includes references to relational instability and abuse. Please read gently.

  • Integration: The One Key to Living Authentically

    Integration: The One Key to Living Authentically

    This is a note for anyone who’s ever felt they had to compartmentalize themselves to be accepted.

    Quote graphic on parchment with gold speckles and purple flourishes. Text reads: “You are who you are, every part of you.” — Sabrina Giacalone. Purple butterfly emblem at top and website at bottom.
    A reminder I’m carrying with me as I write and share this journey: you are who you are—every part of you.

    Today I am going to write something even more personal from me to you because I think someone out there needs permission to stop splitting themselves into pieces.

    After reading yesterday’s post, you might be wondering:

    “What on Earth could she be sharing today, considering her previous post?”

    First off, if you are new here, start with the aforementioned previous post, “Winter Has Never Been My Season.”

    Well, for a long time, I believed I had to present myself in pieces, depending on the room and who was in it with me.

    • There was the professional version for certain spaces.
    • The creative for private hours.
    • The spiritual kept soft, quiet, tucked away like something too tender to carry out loud.

    I am choosing to write this here, because maybe, just maybe, you know that feeling too.

    Like you have to edit yourself down to what’s easiest to understand. Like your joy needs a label, to be understood by others, to be valid and accepted in that room you are in. Like your depth needs to be toned down so it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable.

    But here’s what I have learned–slowly, and sometimes the hard way:

    We are not meant to be split.

    We are not meant to be sorted into neat categories or compressed into one “acceptable” identity. You can be intelligent and imaginative at the very same time, and one does not detract from the other; it actually enhances it.

    You can be grounded and whimsical.

    You can be logical and deeply feeling.

    You can be ambitious and devoted.

    You can love structure and still crave mystery.

    You can be all of it, every single piece, even when it doesn’t “make sense” to others. I think it is because somewhere along the timeline, we were taught to be neat. Categorized. Easier to place. Easier to collect, even.

    And when you challenge that narrative of old, when you stop apologizing for your complexity, well, something beautiful happens.

    Your life starts to feel like it belongs to you again.

    That’s what I hope this space becomes– a soft space to land for the parts of you that don’t fit into just one box. A reminder that integration isn’t messy or confusing…it’s powerful! It’s the most honest kind of strength and bravery.

    It is also how this story came to be. This story holds the parts of me I used to keep separate.

    Sera, Lily & The Fox Prince is a portal, yes…but it’s also a mirror. It holds the themes I return to again and again: trust, courage, friendship, the ache of winter, the pull of the unknown…and the quiet, steady truth that love isn’t always loud, but it is always real.

    If you’ve ever felt pulled between who you are and who you’re “supposed” to be, this story was written for you, too.

    So if you’ve ever felt like you had to shrink yourself to be understood…

    This is your reminder:

    You are who you are–every part of you.

    The most powerful lives are integrated ones.

    And the most meaningful work is the kind that stays true across every room you walk into.

    Welcome to the adventure that I call mine.

    Leave a comment below if you are brave enough, tell me: “Where have you had to split yourself–work, creativity, faith, parenthood, relationships?”

    –Sabrina Giacalone