THE EDIT by La Vie de Zee: 10th Edition
Wellness, fashion and culture.
Welcome to THE EDIT by La Vie de Zee: a monthly missive at the intersection of wellness, fashion and culture.
On Wellness and Blooming 🌸 👶🏾🧍🏾♀️
One rainy Monday morning on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (because, of course), I decided to finally open up to my new therapist about what I really hoped to achieve from our sessions:
“I’m 27, and I’ve never had a boyfriend. Never been in a relationship. Starting a family is really important to me—I’d say it’s the most important thing to me—and yet, I’m struggling. I’m on the apps, but I hate it. It’s hard to connect, and I’m starting to feel like it might never happen. I’d hoped to be married and a mom by 29.”
I’d started therapy thinking it would be like bringing a car in for a tune-up: figure out what’s wrong, talk about it for a few sessions, fix the problem, and move on. After being told by well-meaning family and friends that finding a partner would “happen when it’s ready,” I began to have serious misgivings—having made it through high school, undergrad, law school, and a year-long master’s program with no romantic success.
I still remember the horror of what my therapist said toward the end of that session, after reviewing some of my deep-seated blocks around intimacy:
“It often takes almost as many years outside of the home to heal. So, 18 years at home... then you start to see real progress after about another 18 years.”
This—obviously—fell well outside of my carefully planned timeline. It sent me into a spiral, exacerbated by the fact that I grew up at a time when women were considered functionally obsolete by age 30. Something about having the worst of my silent fears confirmed—that we weren’t just dealing with “cosmetic issues” but things that would take a lot of time and healing to address—broke something in me.
And yet, it also broke something open in me.
After a year or so of purging those first waves of intense pain and grief, I started to pull on the threads at the corners of my reality. What if... I stop trying so hard at work (this was before “quiet quitting” was a thing)? What if I start leaning into being a content creator on the side, sneaking out of Midtown East to go to wellness events in Soho and showrooms off the West Side Highway?
The pandemic was a true test of “reality,” a time when everything we took as fact seemed to be turned on its head. I leaned into it with gusto, spending the first half of quarantine in Canada, then moving from NYC to Miami. It felt like I was finally riding the wave of the chaos I’d been feeling in my own heart for years—instead of being subsumed by it.
Amidst an endless stream of my poolside selfies, my friends wondered how I was handling things so well. For me, the world was finally ending on the outside the way it had always felt on the inside.
Even (or perhaps because) of the chaos, seeds of a new beginning were taking root: healthy habits being formed and maintained despite the moves; a newly forming willingness to open up and be seen; the flowers of honesty, reverence, and devotion blossoming within my own heart. As I began to heal, I widened my scope—finding ways to alchemize my pain and turn it into something useful for others.
Sharing my Pilates journey on social media. Receiving DMs from followers saying they tried it—or even became instructors themselves—because of my videos. Starting newsletters on Substack to help others combat loneliness and find connection, so they could heal in community like I was: a proto social wellness tool before “social wellness” was a thing.
Wellness became my savior: a way to heal my body, mind, and soul—creating a deep intimacy with myself that had been missing all my life. And wellness events provided a safe space to show up and be seen in a vulnerable state, cultivating a sense of safety over time. In trying to help my audience by sharing content, I was being profoundly helped: re-wiring my nervous system to acclimate to peace, calm and surrender. I’m forever grateful to every instructor, therapist and friend who has held me—sometimes literally—in this season of growth.
And in the midst of that healing, a surprising thing happened.
I started reaching for a miracle—and expecting to be answered.
As I journeyed within, I found both a sense of my own power and, simultaneously, a sense of my own human limitations. In realizing the limits of my (although considerable) powers, I turned to The Great Healer and found both healing and miracles. I started to cultivate a personal relationship with God—one that lived not only in my head as a concept but also in my heart.
We’re 17 years into the “post-home years” as of April 23rd (my birthday! 🥳). And while it’s possible that time is what has given my life meaning—à la Connie Coon’s epic monologue in The White Lotus S3—I like to believe that God’s love has also shaped the contours of what has been a magical past few years.
Wellness was the road that led me within. Like yoga in the Hindu tradition—a holistic path to the divine—my wellness practices led me back to Source.
Soon, I hope to report back with happy news on the relationship front. Right now, I’m immersed in leveling up my community offerings (more on the next Pilates with Zee below!) while using my deepened faith to actively prepare for this next season— leaning on my community and God for support. Each day yields its own pleasures, from the mundane (a well-made latte) to the extraordinary (a surprise gift from a friend).
If you’re going through something similar, I’d implore you to embrace the journey. It’s in this space in between that I was led to enjoy my own company first and seek out the divine, which is perhaps what I needed all along to bloom. 🌸💗
The Roundup 🤠🐴
What We Are…
Defending: Talking to Ourselves
Nowadays, the average person has a lot on their minds. Doesn’t it make sense that talking to ourselves would be a good way to organize our thoughts?
Sera and Mattina founder Chelcie May explains the health benefits of a self-directed yap session during her Miami hot girl walk:
Snag Chelcie’s “Health is Wealth” hat linked here. 🧢
Revisiting: Community Wellness à la the Black Panther Party
The tides of the world ebb and flow, each movement bringing its own unique flavors and qualities. As the tide towards unbridled globalism shifts, we’re brought back to a sense of the role of community and social welfare systems. Vanguards in the community wellness space, “radical” movements in the 60s including the Black Panther Party and the Women’s Rights Movement demonstrated how wellness was an essential pillar in the fight for freedom and cultivating resilience for long-term success.
Shop Dieux Skin
From top left, clockwise: Dieux Angel Eyes Eye Patches and Eye Serum Bundle, Dieux Tattoo Forever Eye Mask, Dieux Instant Angel Lipid Rich Moisturizer, Dieux Baptism Gel Cleanser.
Embodying: The luxe, artsy vibes behind our next Pilates with Zee event
You’re Hearing It Here First
The next Pilates with Zee event will be held on Thursday, May 15th at 10:00 AM at Faena Miami Beach, in partnership with Tierra Santa Healing House.
My personal relationship with Faena Miami Beach goes back as far as I’ve lived in Miami, from memorable spa visits to being my base of operations for every Art Basel Miami: including an enlightening interview with artist Sebastian Errazuriz (the mind behind 2023’s maze in the sand).
Now, we’re deepening that relationship— welcoming the Pilates with Zee community for a morning of movement and luxe gifting (sponsors to be announced soon!)
If you were forwarded this email, make sure you subscribe so you’ll be the first to receive our Ticket Drop email on Monday, April 28th at 8:00am.
Niche Wellness Girly Things
Herbaceous Hand Creams 🫱
Nothing hits quite like a plant-forward, vaguely medicinal-smelling hand cream. Botanical, but leaning more toward aromatic barks and crushed herbs than fruits and flowers. One tell? They’re rarely marketed as a “cream.” It’s always something vaguely work-related and artisanal, like a gardener’s salve, or utilitarian, like skin food—the Carhartt of skincare.
There’s something uniquely pleasurable and grounding about applying a balm meant just for your hands, with an earthy scent that evokes its own set of memories and associations—rather than tying into familiar floral or gourmand scent moments.
Shop Hand Creams
Loving this Salve by Jao Brand (currently floating around in my tote) and perennial fave Skin Food by Weleda (original formulation only, I’ll fight about this 🥊).
See you next month!
xo, Azeezah
TikTok & Instagram: @azeezahgoodwin
Would you like to have your work featured in THE EDIT by La Vie de Zee? Email us at admin@laviedezee.com