AM I DOING ENOUGH?
Early Signs of Spring + Staying Emotionally Grounded Right Now.
AM I DOING ENOUGH?
*affirmations + thoughts with my darling Stevie Renee of SRL Wellbeing.
Aria Sa’id: In moments of political and economic instability, many of us feel pulled into urgency or survival mode. What does it look like to remain spiritually and emotionally grounded when the world feels anything but steady?
Stevie Renee: I love that you’re starting here because this is exactly what I’ve been thinking and writing about lately.
We’re in a moment that feels very intense, volatile, and heavy.
You don’t even have to watch the news to feel it.
We’re experiencing a lot of grief, fear, anger, exhaustion, and with that comes activation: the urge to respond, the urge to protect, the urge to do something.
I think that for sensitive people, myself included, it’s really common to swing between that urgency you mentioned and just completely shutting down.
“One minute you’re fired up and ready to act, and the next you’re depleted and just trying to protect your own nervous system. And that’s by no means any sort of character flaw. I would say that’s a nervous system response to an abnormal world.”
I’ve noticed this pattern in myself.
When there’s a lot of collective fire—outrage, responsibility, passion—I find myself absorbing that energy, burning hot and fast, and then I crash.
When I crash, I start to feel guilty: Am I doing enough?
Am I showing up enough?
As someone who lives with anxiety and panic disorder, with agoraphobia rooted in safety trauma, I have to be especially honest about my capacity in moments like this.
And I really want to normalize that for others, too.
There is so much heated discourse on social media right now that essentially says, “If you’re not posting about or reacting to what’s happening 24/7, then you don’t care.” And I understand where that energy comes from.
I find myself side-eyeing people sometimes when I notice complete silence—not a repost, not a story share, nothing. But the truth is, we don’t know what someone is navigating personally.
And we don’t know the ways they may or may not be showing up offline.
So if someone feels like they can’t access the version of themselves that usually “shows up” in moments like this, that may not be negligence.
It may be their nervous system doing what it does best, which is trying to keep them safe.
So the question becomes: How do I stay informed without sacrificing myself?
How do I stay open without absorbing everything?
For me, it’s about sustainability.
Tending to ourselves is not separate from the work.
Regulation—not as “perfecting” the way we manage our emotions and not as emotional suppression, but as a way of steadying ourselves in this highly unsteady moment—is part of collective care.
I do think wellness spaces sometimes over-idealize regulation, as if we’re meant to be “calm” in the face of injustice. That’s not what I’m saying.
Anger has wisdom.
Fire has truth.
If our fire burns so hot that we collapse, the people who care the most are the first to burn out.
And frankly, systems of harm rely on that burnout.
They rely on us exhausting ourselves and giving up.
Grounding, in this season, looks like learning how to channel fire without scorching ourselves.
It looks like pacing ourselves. It looks like remembering that liberation is a long arc.
We can be passionate without being self-destructive. We can be engaged without abandoning ourselves.
That balance is the work.
Stevie Reneé (she/they) is a Gaja-certified well-being coach, Ayurvedic educator, meditation instructor, and embodiment facilitator whose work bridges ritual, ancestral wisdom, and Vedic philosophy. A celebrated writer for ESSENCE and Refinery29, she brings over 15 years of storytelling rooted in identity, healing, and liberation into her practice.
Through her platform Soft Alchemy, Stevie guides soul-led women and femmes in reconnecting with their bodies, regulating their nervous systems, and returning to themselves with clarity, care, and embodied power.
EARLY SIGNS OF SPRING
I’ve been itching for the arrival of the Spring season, injecting rich does of yellow into my wardrobe.
It’s funny because historically, it’s always been green. and orange.
I have had an obsession with green for as long as I can remember- be it a rich kelly green or a hunter green or even a mint green.
I’ve shared at great length previously with you all on my love affair with orange accents, orange lipstick, and beyond.
Yellow surprised me. It was certainly not on my bingo card that I’d be obsessed. But I think it’s a sign that I needed to spark joy, a rush of dopamine to my everyday. You guys know I only wear heels, so thankfully these lovelies have been getting scuffed and bruised from all of my stomping around.
I don’t know if it’s a sign of being chronically online within the fashion algorithm, but i’ve been yearning to see a splash of yellow here and there.
As Spring arrives, I’ve been reaching for my new favorite: The BAACAL Delia Trench in Gray/Wool. I didn’t expect to love it nearly as much as I have- and with sizing up a few sizes to gain the length, I feel incredibly victorious that I now have a maxi trench coat in my arsenal.
If you’re someone who lives in neutrals, consider adding a dose of color in the form of accessories- like fun, vibrant colored sneakers, heels or sandals or boots! a bright colored bag, or maybe even bright and bold colored glasses?
If you’re someone who lives in neutrals, consider adding a dose of color in the form of accessories- like fun, vibrant colored sneakers, heels or sandals or boots! a bright colored bag, or maybe even bright and bold colored glasses?
Big or small touches make a tremendous impact.
And of course, it makes me smile- which is what it’s all about.
While a few of you have noticed that last fall, I made the return to dressing exclusively in “tonal dressing” (opting for a wardrobe entirely comprised of Black, White, Creams, Ivory + bits of Gray)- I will forever and always need punctuation to my outfits to feel most like me.
ADD TO YOUR FILM QUEUE:
From AppleTv: When Ellen and Paul’s son Josh introduces his new girlfriend at their 25th anniversary party, no one suspects that it is the beginning of the end for this happy family. The new girlfriend is Liz, Ellen’s former student, who left the university, some years before, after Ellen called her out in class for her radical ideology.
From Aria: Promotion for this film was abruptly cancelled this past Autumn due to how it too deeply mirrored the direction so many of us see our country going into.
After spending millions to create the film, Lionsgate abandoned dedicated promotion for fear of backlash from the Trump administration.
It’s like other politically themed thrillers we’ve all seen or read before- bits of 1984, bits of Brave New World, bits of what’s been happening.
It’s less of the what- and more about how the characters adapt (and don’t) to the shift.
NEW ARRIVALS | BAACAL
“in a world of so much noise, our attention span becomes more wealth than money itself.
choosing the classics in my wardrobe, has helped me find ease.
ease in getting dressed each morning.
ease in my constant and often growing decision fatigue.
deciding what to eat, filling my iphone notes app with to-do lists and follow ups, looking for receipts for my accountant that i misplaced, oops i forgot to text back, remembering to walk the dog, getting everything from the store except for what i came to get: the list goes on.
for spring/summer 2026: @baacalofficial ‘s focus has been on perfecting the wardrobe icons. the unsung heroes. the tried and true. “unbasic basics”.
the thing you know you need, and you say “thank goodness i scored it”.
in a world with so much noise, so many decisions to make: this one is one i appreciate: classic. elevated. goes with everything.
the trench coat i fully intend to be wearing 50 years from now.
the heirloom someone will find in a thrift store long after i’m gone, and say the same:
“thank goodness i scored this”.
discover spring new arrivals + future vintage @baacalofficial AD.
Shop Animal Print Trench Coats | Shop BAACAL Favorites for March 2026
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