Last week, I mailed out the first edition of MUSE CLUB.

As I sat addressing, sealing, and stamping each envelope by hand, I felt blissful. Accomplished. Until, while sealing one of the last envelopes, my eye caught on one little number that was downright wrong.

I had written 2024 instead of 2025 to label the first edition of MUSE CLUB.

I immediately broke into a cold sweat. Should I reprint them? No, that’d take too long. Should I fix them by hand? I tried on a few extra copies, each patch job coming out worse than the last.

And that’s when I just had to laugh and realize: it actually doesn’t matter at all. That little 4 instead of the correct 5? It didn’t mean anything!

It didn’t change the wonderful bits of writing I worked on all December—

• The artist date I painstakingly worked to make as succinct as possible, while still hyper-specific and inspiring.

• The thoughtful journal and art-making prompts I personally tested to make sure they felt generative and useful.

• The affirmation I landed on at the last minute, after searching all month for something that felt just-right.

• And most of all, certainly not the beautiful painting Katie Friend made exclusively as the first print for MUSE CLUB.

The fact that it says 2024 instead of 2025 is embarrassing, but it doesn’t actually change anything. Which pushed me to consider:

How often do I annihilate my own spirit for something that ultimately, doesn’t even matter?

The theme for January’s MUSE CLUB is, fittingly, EMERGING SELVES.

When new parts of ourselves begin to emerge from their chrysalises, they must do so with excruciating effort.

That’s because trying something new—particularly, trying to succeed in something new, which I think is what we’re usually doing—is often at least a little bit humiliating.

This year, I’ve decided the word I want to live by is SHAMELESS. It’s a word that often gets a bad rap—people (usually women) are called shameless when they don’t hide their ambitions, their ego, their sexuality, their success.

I believe we live in a culture addicted to shame.

We are meant to feel bad about practically everything. This year, I am choosing to be shameless: in my work, in my creative pursuits, in my conversations, in my relationships.

I was recently watching the annual interview Billie Eilish does with Vanity Fair when she said something that caught my attention:

“I used to have this feeling with my music—like I liked it, but I was kind of embarrassed for people that I thought were cool to listen to it. Like anytime somebody that I thought was really cool said they’d listened to my song, I’d get all embarrassed and nervous, and kind of frustrated and annoyed, honestly. I’d be like, noooo don’t listen to that, that’s private… I wasn't as proud of it.”

As one of the most streamed artists in the entire fucking world, she still struggles with feeling ashamed of what she creates.

Why should I double down on my shame and beat myself up for struggling with the same thing?

So I sent out the first edition of Muse Club to the first set of subscribers, typo be damned.

It’s still a little painful when I think about my error. It’s easy to beat myself up about how I should have caught the mistake before sending it to the printer.

And at the same time, I can’t let one incorrect little digit determine how proud I am of this wonderful new project.

It may be embarrassing to put myself out there, but at this point, I’ve decided I cannot let the shame and fear rule me.

So whatever it is that’s emerging for you in this new year of 2025, I encourage you to do it before you’re ready. Have faith that you’ll figure it out as you make each move.

Because emergence requires action.

Flowers don’t bloom by sitting still—they must forcefully push their petals out from the bud and into the open sun.

Baby birds would never see the light of day if they didn’t crack through the safety of their shell and out into the world.

I am a little baby bird, and so are you.

As we begin this new year, I dare you to engage with the selves that are fighting to crack through their shells and emerge. To look them in the eye and ask them what they need. To let them take up more space as you move through each day of 2025.

Who knows what might happen if you honor the little beak that is just now tenderly poking against its shell?

Honey’s Toolbox is here to help you refill your creative cup and put your ideas into action—from prompts to spark your imagination to gentle nudges that get you moving. Grab a few tools my friend, it’s time to start tinkering alongside your creative spirit.

1. Watch Doechii talk about shamelessness

My word for the year was inspired by this vlog Doechii made for her Youtube channel back in 2019. Click the link to jump in at minute mark 7:55, where she talks about her vision for 2020:

“Be shameless. Just like not feel ashamed for loving the fuck out of myself, not feeling ashamed for being self-filled, not feeling ashamed for saying the things that I believe in, not feeling ashamed for being vulnerable, not feeling ashamed for feeling happy, not being ashamed for being optimistic—just no shame. No judgement. What would happen if I just lived a shameless life?”

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2. Get to know your emerging selves

Whether you’re signed up for MUSE CLUB or not, you can still consider these journal prompts I posited back in October to lean into the qualities of who you’re becoming:

• Who are my emerging selves, and what names would I give them?

• What qualities, habits, or desires does each new self embody?

• How does each self dress, move, or express themselves in the world?

• What are the guiding beliefs or values of each self?

• What actions can I take today to start embodying one of these selves?

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3. Create your own symbol for metamorphosis

As I’ve written about here—maybe a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, or a flower from its bud, or a baby bird from its shell. Maybe something else entirely.

Find your symbol and meditate on it. Journal about what it means to you. Find ways to engage with your symbol and bring it to life—visit a butterfly conservatory. Watch a time-lapse of flowers blooming. Listen to birdsong while you make your morning coffee.

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4. Listen to storytellers learning to sink or swim

So much about growing into the person we want to become is about doing so before we feel ready.

In this episode of the Moth Radio Hour, you’ll hear three storytellers share about times when they were thrown into the deep end and had to either sink or swim: Surgeon Anthony Chin-Quee finds himself in over his head during his first day on call, Nancy French marries a man she barely knows despite protests from loved ones, and wilderness guide Monte Montepare takes inexperienced hikers on a glacier expedition.

That’s all for now. 

Talk soon,

Katie