Do you ever look up from your phone and realize you’ve been on auto-pilot and feel like maybe your life is living you instead of the other way around? Do you look up and wonder “How did I get here?” “Where am I?” “Who am I” “Is this it?”
You don’t have to live like this!
You know that drawer with all of the manuals in it?
- Manuals for appliances you no longer have. Manuals that cover what the function of each part is and how they fit together.Manuals that go over the most common issues that will come up.
- Filled with guidelines on how to maintain the longevity of the device.
- Tips on how to troubleshoot and when to call customer service.
- Recommendations for how often, and in what capacity, you need to have this appliance or vehicle or device serviced and checked by a professional.
Imagine having a manual like that for…YOU!
If you’re like me…
…when you do find you have a stretch of time for yourself (whether it’s 10 mins or 2 hours) the possibilities are so overwhelming that you spend the time panicking about what the BEST thing to do would be.
I see you.
I am here to give you tools and accountability to create, take, and hold some freaking space for yourself in a way that feels exciting, fun, and sustainable.
Story Time!
I’m on a road trip and cruising down the Merritt Parkway which is so beautiful during the day and absolutely terrifying at night. I’m driving a borrowed, new, delicious Mercedes Benz when a light pops up on the dashboard. I panic.
It’s a cup of coffee.
I mean… I know the gas light tells me to get gas. I know what the check engine light means, tire pressure, but the coffee cup??? What kind of car needs coffee? Is it telling me to get coffee? DOES THIS CAR MAKE COFFEE????
I pull off at the next rest stop and grab the manual out of the glove compartment bewildered.
I pass the normal stuff, what the tire pressure should be, this car likes the fancy gas (I mean, duh), and finally see the coffee cup.
I’d been driving for two hours without stopping and the car was suggesting I take a break from driving to walk around, move my body, get coffee, whatever I needed to do to avoid an accident.
THE CAR WAS TELLING ME TO TAKE A FREAKING BREAK!
My first thought was, “How do I get this light to turn off and leave me alone? You don’t know me!” because I was so conditioned to, accustomed to, and dependent on silencing the warnings in my life.
I’m really good at overriding the warnings.
Motherhood changed everything.
I can’t simply override the system over and over again. Because when I do I fall apart. And then everything falls apart. And can I be honest? It feels like complete shit.
I deserve better. AND SO DO YOU!
That’s why I decided to create…
YOUR Owner’s Manual
Because we never got one. And honestly, if we had it probably would have been created by some colonial white man filled with white supremacy and no understanding of where the clitoris is.
What is it? This is a downloadable, interactive PDF for you to customize for…YOU!
1.
Journal prompts and exercises – yes, you’ll make yourself a playlist…
2.
Clarifying questions to help you navigate sticky decisions
3.
Boundary checkpoints to support accountability to yourself
4.
A place to write your own rules and live by them
5.
A living document meaning you can edit & revise anytime!
Oh! And this resource isn’t ONLY for you.
Making the implicit explicit, the intangible tangible, you give yourself the power to accurately articulate what you need to the people you love. You can say to your partner something like “this week is going to be really tough for me. I’m prioritizing these things and I could use your support in staying accountable.” or something like “I wish I could volunteer for that thing, but this week I need to [insert your thing].”
YOU CAN CREATE BOUNDARIES THAT FEEL GOOD AND NOT DISGUSTING OR HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a GD gift!
To you and everyone in your life! You could also show them the owner’s manual! “Hi loved one! Here is some insight into how I work and what I need and what’s important to me!”
This is something I clearly feel really passionate about and it’s for many reasons. One the big ones being that as women we have been conditioned to hand over our bodies, needs, selves to anyone else. We are still learning to take our power back. Hell, politically we are STILL fighting for bodily autonomy.
This is a fun exploratory tool fueled by love and curiosity for us to reclaim our bodies and ourselves. To take ownership of what is already ours and make our own decisions.
All of this can be yours for $18
Are you ready to find your self again?
Alissa Alter (She/Her) is also known as “The Amy Poehler of vaginas” because of her unfiltered determination to change the narrative around the female experience. Integrating her eclectic background as a Broadway performer, a personal trainer, and coach, Alissa’s work guides you back home to yourself with a sense of curiosity, potential, and possibility. Alissa is the author of Unstuck: From Understudy To The Study of Your Undercarriage, host of the podcasts Alter Your Life and Myth of Motherhood. Her one woman show Me Party #ilovemylife sold out performances at NYC’s historic Duplex Cabaret. She is also co-founder and head of content at pstprtm.com a media platform revolutionizing the postpartum experience through diverse stories, unfiltered articles, and sacred experiences. Alissa believes that if we as women spend as much time, energy, and discipline on our insides as we do our outsides, we will be unstoppable.