nothing’s been the same since st lucia

Oh, hi! It’s been a lil minute. I think I’ve been waiting for something profound enough to share with y’all but I know the only way to get out of my rut of not feeling inspired to write an update is…to just write one lol so here we are!

I’m currently writing this on my hotel bed in NYC and just got back from St. Lucia a few weeks ago! I feel so blessed to even be in a position to travel right now because these times are a lil cray-cray. Check out the full St. Lucia Itinerary I put together if you’re curious! But in the meantime, there were 2 highlights of the trip for me: butler service and no social media.

“at your service”

The highlight of the trip was having butler service during our entire stay. It was for sure the bougiest thing I’ve ever experienced and I loved every second of it. I felt like Fresh Prince (shoutout Geoffrey). I even found out that Geoffrey is actually from St. Lucia himself so a full circle moment FOR REAL lol

In short, butler service meant having a phone to text/call our butler whenever we wanted for whatever we wanted. Not being limited to the room service menu, but calling our butler to deliver anything we wanted from any of the restaurants if we wanted to stay in and enjoy our food from the room. It meant getting picked up from our door and driven across the resort wherever we wanted to go, whether it was to the spa, main pool, or a dinner reservation…just to name a few of the perks! It was amazing to really kick our feet up and have someone who was dedicated to taking care of us the entire time.

It motivated me more than anything. While I do unapologetically aspire to allocate more budget toward convenient services, I don’t need to have a butler in my day-to-day to bring ease and comfort into my daily life. I value time to just be. I hadn’t checked in with myself the way I did during our trip in a loooong time. I’ve been reminded that it doesn’t take being on an island to find moments of peace to check in with myself. No matter where I am or what’s going on, the world is so much bigger than whatever may be taking up my mental space. There’s a lot of choice in what I allow to live rent-free in my head.

no more social media?

I was super intentional about not being on any social media whatsoever during our trip and I was successful! It felt SoOooOoooO good. For those who don’t know, there have been multiple spans of years at a time that I went without any social media. So it’s not that scary to me and I quite enjoy my life off-screen. So much so, that I’ve been avoiding posting content since getting back home weeks ago. But as a content creator, I don’t want to cut it off entirely.

I set a new goal to delete the apps from my phone and to only access the apps on my laptop instead. That way, I can be more intentional about the time I’m spending: solely posting and engaging. Responding to DMs and comments, but also keeping up with what fellow travel/foodie creators are sharing. No more doom scrolling. Owning back my free time and being intentional about my brain space. Checking in with God and with myself instead of grabbing my phone to see what strangers think about things I don’t even care about. In a weird way, I think spending less leisure time on socials and treating my content creation as a real life job like “clocking in and clocking out” of my social accounts will keep me more motivated, inspired and focused. I’m looking forward to the refresh.

ignoring the algorithm

The truth is: I found myself spending more time consuming than creating. There’s SO much pressure to post weekly on Youtube, to share newsletter blasts weekly, and to post Reels multiple times a week. All for the algorithm to work in your favor. And let’s not even talk about the behind-the-scenes work of pitching for brand deals or creating systems (you think funneling people from a Reel, to my blog, to an email list, to a longer form Youtube video happens on its own??).

I do think there’s a harmony to find between staying consistent for the purpose of strengthening my creative practice VS forcing consistency just to be on the algorithm’s terms. I don’t want to compromise the quality or satisfaction of creating. I’d rather have a brand where when I talk people listen because they know I only speak when I have something valuable to say…and not because I like hearing myself talk.

soon come

stay tuned for even more St. Lucia content and my recap from last week’s art fairs (and eats) in NYC.

let’s talk, reply to this email!

If you have any tips and tricks for how you craft ease in your own life…please reply to this email and let me know! I read and respond to all my emails, I promise!! My favorite part of doing what I do is the random conversations I have with friends and strangers alike.

Talk soon!

<3 Giovanna

P.S. check out the full St. Lucia Itinerary before you go 👀