'Alessandra Olanow' Wed, 07 Jan 2026 01:58:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.2 On Transformation /on-transformation/ /on-transformation/#respond Tue, 06 Jan 2026 03:18:19 +0000 /

Someone asked me recently how you know when it’s time to begin again.

I’ve been thinking about this because it’s January, and January asks. The decorations come down, the noise quiets, and what’s left is just the day itself and what you’ll make of it.

My third book comes out in March. Begin Again, and Again, and Again. I wrote it before, and now I’m living it again. The title, it turns out, isn’t metaphorical. You don’t learn this once. You practice it. Over and over. That’s the work.

This year I’m painting fruit. Small things. A pear, a lemon, whatever’s in front of me. Not because they’re profound but because they’re present. I like the simplicity of it—sitting down, noticing, making something that asks nothing back. Just attention paid to what’s ordinary and real.

Maybe beginning again isn’t about knowing when. Maybe it’s about recognizing you’re already in it—showing up to the practice, another day, still here. If that’s where you are—tired, showing up anyway—this is for you.

A Practice

I’ve been thinking about what anchors us when everything else is shifting. What we can hold onto that doesn’t change.

Trace your hand. Write one truth in each finger. In the palm, what steadies you when everything else is moving.

I made mine. If you make yours, share it with me. Also, I’ll be answering questions in future letters—if you have one, send it along: alessandra@alessandraolanow.com

Alessandra

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Beginning /beginning/ /beginning/#respond Thu, 18 Dec 2025 01:50:06 +0000 /

I’m starting something quiet here.

Not a project in the way you might expect—no strategies, no optimizations, no weekly promises I’ll struggle to keep. Just letters. The kind you might write to yourself, or to someone you trust with the tender parts.

These are meditations on what it means to keep going. To begin again when you thought you were done. To find that the work isn’t in becoming someone new, but in recognizing what was always there.

I paint small things—fruit, flowers, ordinary objects—and write alongside them. Not because they’re profound, but because they’re present. Because readiness comes from noticing, not from reaching.

If you’re here, I think you know what I mean. That sometimes the most honest thing we can do is sit still and pay attention. To let the ripening happen on its own time.

I’m glad you’re here.

Alessandra Olanow

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