🧠 Weekly MindSweep No. 206 | What’s On My Mind | Belonging
December 2025
Week 203: Curated Conversation: Belonging
Week 204: Mind Your Business: Belonging
Week 205: Manage Your Mind: Belonging
*Week 206: What’s On My Mind: Belonging
Week 207: Curator’s Perspective: Belonging
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In the MindSweep this week:
Weekly MindSweep: with curated GIF’s & puns (for your entertainment).
Jamie’s Second Brain Corner: Links to references. Need a map? I’ve got you!
What’s Inspiring Me: The Art of Self-Approval by Elaine Blais
Collaboration: with Shannon Giordano and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce (First Friday of every month)
My face and a link to schedule your free consultation.
Your Brain Is Tired of Auditioning
Why Belonging Shouldn’t Require Masking, Metrics, or Performance as an Entrepreneur
Belonging doesn’t make a grand entrance. It’s more like a quiet hum. Like the way a room settles when no one is bracing anymore.
It feels like a low, steady vibration in the body. There is delight without adrenaline, joy without pressure to perform, and connection without feeling overwhelmed.
A quiet sense of I can exhale here.
Last Monday in Curated Conversation, I witnessed belonging take shape in real time, not as a concept, but as a lived, full-bodied experience. And what stood out most to me wasn’t what was said. It was how safe people felt saying it.
Belonging appeared in small risks, unfinished thoughts, and in saying something out loud and realizing, oh—nothing bad happened.
Someone described it beautifully: “The fact that I can say that out loud here makes me so happy!”
That’s belonging.
Not because the thought was brilliant.
Not because it was impressive.
But because it was allowed.
Belonging Isn’t Earned—It’s Practiced
One of the biggest lessons last week was that you don’t earn belonging by trying to perform.
You feel it when you let go of that need and just show up as yourself. You practice belonging by letting yourself be seen, even before you’ve edited or explained.
When you’re performing, your shoulders might tense up, as if you’re bracing for acceptance. But when you’re truly present, your breath deepens, and your muscles relax, showing you it’s safe to just be. You start to notice that being seen doesn’t always mean you’re in danger, and you become more aware of where your body holds tension and where it lets go.
So many of us carry the memory that making a mistake in an “unsafe” space comes at a cost. Shame. Withdrawal. Judgment. Silence. That history stays in our bodies and lives in the nervous system, not just our minds.
Which is why someone said something quietly revolutionary:
“I do not feel shame when I make a mistake here.”
That’s not small. That’s rewiring.
The Month We Stopped Trying to Fit
Looking back over the past four weeks, I realize we weren’t just circling the idea of belonging. We were slowly letting go of everything that gets mistaken for it.
In Week 203, we started by noticing how early and how often many of us learned to earn our place. Creative and ADHD entrepreneurs, in particular, become experts at reading the room, tracking tone, energy, and expectations, because fitting in once felt necessary for survival. We talked about how quickly our brains seek safety, approval, and permission, often before we even notice.
Week 204 deepened that awareness. We talked about the exhaustion that comes from constant self-monitoring, from trying to appear competent, and from shaping ourselves to fit what we think a space values. That week was not about judgment. It was about grief—grieving all the energy spent trying to belong in places that were never designed for our nervous systems.
In Week 205, we faced a hard truth: belonging isn’t the same as being wanted. Being wanted depends on conditions and is transactional. It asks us to stay appealing, agreeable, productive, or impressive. Belonging, though, asks for something quieter and more radical. It means showing up as we are, without trying to earn approval.
Now, something had changed.
The question is no longer, Where do I fit? It’s become, Where do I feel safe enough to be myself?
The Safety We’re Searching for Can’t Be Outsourced
In Curated Conversation, a member shared an impactful statement: “We have to create a safe space inside ourselves first.”
That doesn’t mean community isn’t important. It just means that even the best community can’t make up for feeling unsafe inside ourselves. For creative and ADHD entrepreneurs, this is important because many of us look for permission from outside ourselves:
A system that will finally fix us
A mentor who will validate us
A room where we’re allowed to be human
But belonging that only comes from outside is fragile. True belonging starts when we stop bargaining with our minds and start giving them clear information.
“This feeling is information.”
“I’m not in danger.”
“I don’t need to perform to stay.”
This isn’t just positive thinking.
It’s learning how your nervous system works.
The Relief of Not Earning It
One of the most healing moments in our community last week came when someone said:
“I do not feel shame when I make a mistake here.”
Take a moment and read that again.
Mistakes do not cause shame. Shame is caused by what happens after mistakes.
Belonging is what interrupts that cycle.
It’s not that people never react, but their reaction isn’t punishment. When you belong, mistakes are just information, unfinished thoughts are invitations, and human moments are shared.
And slowly, something special happens:
You stop asking, Do I want to perform?
And start asking, Do I want to be here as myself?
Five Actionable Takeaways from a Month of Belonging
This month wasn’t theoretical. It was lived—in real conversations, real bodies, real moments of choice. Our current cultural landscape is one in which connection often feels fleeting, and communities are rapidly evolving.
For creative and ADHD entrepreneurs, moments like these demand immediate attention and action. Here’s an invitation for you to carry forward, not as rules, but as practices that align.
1. Track Your Body, Not Just Your Thoughts
Notice where you soften and where you brace. Your body is constantly giving you feedback about safety, alignment, and belonging.
2. Practice Micro-Risks in Safe Containers
Belonging grows through small acts of vulnerability with others. You don’t have to take a big leap; just start with a small step.
3. Separate Visibility from Performance
You don’t have to be impressive to be seen. Let yourself show up as you are, even if you’re not finished. Try this once a week.
4. Talk to Your Brain Like a Teammate
When fear appears, answer it with information, not bargaining. “This is new, not dangerous.”
5. Build Internal Safety Before Seeking External Validation
Community is powerful, but it works best when it matches the safety you’re already creating inside yourself.
Belonging: Full Circle
At the end of Curated last week, someone said, “I feel safe here, and anywhere you lead the conversation, Jamie.”
I felt that in my chest. And I also knew that safety didn’t come just from me.
It came from our community choosing to:
Arrive without armor
Stay present instead of impressive
They took the risk to be honest and found, again and again, that the ground stayed solid beneath them.
Belonging wasn’t created by perfection. It was created by permission.
Someone else shared that the safest place they’ve ever known was with a family member. They realized it was a space where they didn’t have to perform or earn anything, and where they didn’t have to brace for impact.
They could just be themselves.
That’s the blueprint so many of us have been looking for.
This is especially true for creative and ADHD entrepreneurs who have spent years trying to fit in, holding back, or trying to escape the feeling of being too much or not enough.
Belonging doesn’t require a bigger audience.
It doesn’t require a better brand.
And it certainly doesn’t require fixing yourself.
It takes honesty, people who see you, and the courage to stay even when you feel like leaving.
Belonging sounds and feels like a hum.
Like relief in the body.
It’s like finally saying what you’ve practiced in your head a hundred times, and realizing you’re still welcome.
And when you feel that hum:
When your shoulders drop.
When your breath deepens.
When your body tells you, I’m safe here, hold onto that feeling.
That’s not luck.
That’s not a coincidence.
That’s your body remembering what it feels like to be safe.
My questions for you this week:
What helps your brain relax enough to believe you’re allowed to be exactly as you are?
If you stopped performing competence for one week, what are you afraid would fall apart?
Reply and share with me!
✨ Join us for Curated Conversation
Mondays at 8am. Curated Conversation is a live, weekly space for creative entrepreneurs who are tired of performing and ready to be real. It’s a place to bring unfinished thoughts, honest questions, and the parts of your work and life that don’t fit neatly into a box.
You don’t have to be polished.
You don’t have to have the right words.
You don’t even have to speak if listening is what your nervous system needs that day.
If you’ve never joined us before, your first month is free—an open invitation to experience what it feels like to be in a room where you’re allowed to exhale.
We meet Mondays at 8am, and you’re welcome exactly as you are.
Come see if this feels like a place your brain and body can rest.
✨ You Belong Here. I can help.
If you’re done auditioning and ready to work in a way that actually feels safe and aligned, I can help.
I work with creative and neurodivergent entrepreneurs who are tired of forcing themselves to fit into systems, strategies, and spaces that weren’t built for their brains.
Through MindSweep Mapping and small-group experiences, we slow things down, make sense of what your nervous system is signaling, and build a business that supports how you actually think and work.
If you’re curious, start with a conversation.
No fixing. No performing. Just clarity.
🧠 Your brain. Your business. Mapped.
👉 Book your free MindSweep Chat: www.chickbookcreative.com/mind-sweep
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👉 Book a free consultation to explore how I can support your business and your brain — as a strategist, creative partner, and thought-partner who actually gets how you’re wired.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
The words in bold within the Weekly MindSweep are all topics we’ve covered in Curated Conversation. You can dig into them here:
Did someone say MindSweep MAP?!
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What I’m reading
The Art of Self-Approval: Midlife as a Sacred Return to Yourself
by Elaine Blais
Elaine Blais—friend, mentor, creative force, and a grounding presence in our Curated Conversations—writes with a truth-telling that goes straight to the heart. Hearing her voice rise from the page was a gift every midlife woman deserves to experience.
What if you were never the problem?
What if there was nothing to fix—only more of yourself to remember?
For generations, women have been conditioned to play small, chase perfection, and earn approval by being agreeable, productive, or “good.” But the truth is simple and liberating: there was never anything wrong with you. You don’t need fixing—you need remembering.
The Art of Self-Approval is Elaine’s invitation to reclaim the parts of yourself you’ve hidden, quieted, or abandoned. Through honest storytelling, grounded reflection, and practical tools, she shows you how to:
Break free from people-pleasing and self-abandonment
Rewrite your stories with compassion
Stop negotiating your worth
Trust your inner voice and choose yourself
Part memoir and part spiritual companion, this book is a gentle rebellion against a culture built on women’s self-doubt. Elaine’s midlife reinvention—marked by truth-telling, boundary-setting, and sourdough baking—reveals what becomes possible when you nourish what matters.
If you’re in the messy middle of midlife, craving change, or simply done asking for permission to be yourself, this is your guide home.
You are not here to improve. You are here to remember you are already whole.
Find it where you browse for books.
Collaborations!
Join us Friday, January 2nd, 2025 from 9am-11am.
Join Shannon and me at the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce
We'll discuss ways to cultivate business through Sales, Marketing, and Communication methods that support relationship building, showing up authentically, and connecting deeper with colleagues and the people you serve.
9-11 am - Open discussion, community support, brainstorming ideas.
Join us in meeting business owners in our community. You'll leave with new tools to help you make connections and build your business!
Free; Registration is required: https://bit.ly/MWCoC_January2026
In other news…
Feeling #FOMO about Curated Conversations? Join us!
