Glow Up from Within: How Soul-Care Supercharges Your Next Chapter
August is a season of fresh starts — new routines, renewed ambition, and often, burnout. The pressure to “get it together” can feel overwhelming. But what if this chapter isn’t about pushing harder? What if it’s about deciding to care for your soul as a strategy for rising?
As a (Live a) Dream Lifestyle™ Coach, I guide Black women in reclaiming their power through intention, alignment, and action. I call it my 3+ D’s Framework: Dream. Decide/Design. Drive. These are my steps to living a life rooted in purpose and joy.
But before the design and the drive, there must be soul-care.
Soul-care goes deeper than self-care. It’s not just about rest, it’s about restoration. It’s how we reconnect to our dreams, re-center our values, and make decisions from a place of fullness. According to licensed psychologist Dr. Thema Bryant, soul-care is “a return to the practices that heal us and bring us home to ourselves.”¹ It’s the foundation for any next-level move.
Here’s how to glow up from within this season:
Dream: Reimagine Resilience as Rhythmic, Not Rigid
Real resilience isn’t about endurance, it’s about recovery. Instead of grinding, listen to your rhythm. Pause when needed. Move with clarity. This shift helps you dream bigger without burning out.
Soul Strategy: Begin each week with a 10-minute check-in and ask yourself: “What do I need — fuel, fire, or flow?”
Fuel is nourishment and rest — sleep, nature, hydration, stillness.
Fire is bold action — speaking up, starting something, taking the leap.
Flow is alignment and ease — those moments of creativity, clarity, and joy.
Decide: Curate the Circle That Reflects Your Becoming
Your circle should support the woman you’re becoming. Choose spaces and relationships that nourish your evolution, not your exhaustion.
Soul Strategy: Create a “soulful sync” ritual. This is a monthly check-in with someone who reflects your light. A Harvard study confirms what many of us already feel strong, supportive relationships are a key predictor of lifelong happiness and wellbeing.²
Design: Show Up Like You Belong Where You’re Headed
Confidence isn’t about performance, it’s embodiment. When you nourish your soul, you step into rooms like you were born to be there.
Soul Strategy: Ask daily, “What does my future self need from me today?” Then move like her.
Drive: Let Joy Be Your Metric for Momentum
Joy isn’t fluff, it’s fuel. When we lead with joy, we activate energy that sustains our purpose.
Soul Strategy: Protect one joy ritual per day. That 10-minute playlist, walk, or journaling moment matters.
This season, resilience looks like radiance. It looks like choosing yourself before the world chooses for you. You don’t have to chase your next chapter, you can design it. And the first step? Decide that your soul is worth the strategy.
Because your Dream Life doesn’t start “someday.” It starts now — one dream, one decision, one design, one soul-aligned step at a time.
Sources:
1. Dr. Thema Bryant, Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self (2022)
2. Harvard Study of Adult Development: Waldinger, R., & Schulz, M. (2023). The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
Deneen L. Garrett is a Cultural Alchemist and Dream Lifestyle™ Coach who empowers Women of Color to choose themselves and live boldly. She is the creator and host of the podcast Women of Color: An Intimate Conversation, and uses her voice to inspire women to reclaim joy and wellness on their own terms.