How I Create: Jen Wright - Life, Aligned

An interview with Jen Wright, slow business mentor and founder of Life, Aligned, on cyclical living, her creative process, and building a business that works for you.

Jen Wright, founder of Life, Aligned and the Aligned Community

I’m really excited to relaunch the How I Create interview series today, where freelancers and small business owners share how they work and their creative process.

First up is Jen Wright, a small business mentor and founder of the Aligned Community, (of which I’m a member!) a wonderfully supportive online space for those who want to live, work and run their business in a slower, more sustainable way, in flow with natural cycles - menstrual, lunar and seasonal.

In this interview, Jen shares how cyclical living has changed the way she lives and works, what her creative process looks like now, and where to start if you’re interested in tuning into how you feel and work best each day.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and story so far. How did Life, Aligned take shape and get started? 

That is a long and winding story! I was working as a printmaker, designing sustainable stationery and teaching letterpress workshops from my garden studio up until 2016 when I had my twin daughters. There is nothing quite like ongoing sleep deprivation (and parenting in general) to make you rethink and simplify everything. When I went back to printing after maternity leave I reassessed the work I’d been doing and realised that actually… I didn’t want to do it anymore. Printing took time and energy and passion that I simply no longer had.

A friend pointed out that the thing I loved about teaching the letterpress workshops was talking to so many different people, learning about their plans and their creative dreams (and quite often staying in touch with them afterwards to egg them on!), and that I’d be a natural at mentoring. So after some further research and studying, I pivoted into mentoring and absolutely loved it.

Now I work with clients 1-2-1 as they build a business that works for them, and I facilitate The Aligned Community, an online space for cyclical living and slow business support for gentle rebels!

Jen Wright, Life, Aligned, sets up an autumn picnic

What drew you to living and working in flow with natural cycles and what does this mean to you? How did you get started with this?

I started learning more about menstrual cycle awareness (MCA) in 2018 and all these seemingly separate things throughout my life - from health challenges, to my work patterns, to my mental health - suddenly made sense together. Through tracking and learning more about my own cycle I managed to really improve my PMS, and I also realised that as well as being huge for my overall health, MCA could be revolutionary for the way I ran my business. 

I had always felt at odds with the way we work for ourselves; I didn’t understand why we left the rat race but continued to work ourselves into the ground when we were our own boss. Everyone was complaining about (or glorifying) being so busy yet I didn’t see anyone stopping or changing until they burned out. It was like we were all stuck.

But now, through tuning into my own body and rhythm I could create when I felt most creative, promote things when I felt most confident, tackle tricky conversations when I felt feisty and articulate, and plan in time out or slower days when I needed them too. Why the hell didn’t we all know about this?!

Once I saw how hugely beneficial it was, I started encouraging clients to do it too and supporting them in this by designing my first downloadable tracker and having cycle check ins on our calls.

The Life, Aligned downloadable cycle tracker

It was the missing piece from my business puzzle and is now foundational to how I work, both for myself and with others. 

One thing that kept coming up was how hard it was to get and stay in the habit of cycle tracking. This lead me to design the Life, Aligned planner (for which I ran a successful Kickstarter) during the first lockdown, which never would have worked if not for planning it around my cycle!) and to creating The Aligned Community where we can work together, share cycle check ins, and see this slower pace of life normalised on the daily.

How do you organise your time between the different aspects of your business and life now? What does a typical day or week look like for you?

My days and weeks will vary depending on my cycle but I usually work Monday-Thursday between school hours. I try not to work on day one of my cycle (the first day of my bleed), even if I’m feeling good, and I love working with clients and collaborators who not only understand this but celebrate it.

I run co-working sessions in the Aligned Community on Mondays and Wednesdays and often am online for other live sessions through the week, or simply to chat with lovely people in there!

I schedule workshops and mentoring sessions for Tuesdays and Thursdays if I can, and I keep Fridays free in case of things shifting through the week (kids off sick, or a low energy day for myself, for example). This way I know I won’t have to scramble to get things done. If I don’t need the Friday for “overflow” then I’ll potter about in the garden, read, run errands, or just sit on my butt in front of the telly. 

I do block out time in my diary for writing my newsletter a few days ahead of each full moon but honestly I’m terrible at sticking to my own monthly schedule! I used to beat myself up about this (how hard is it to send one email a month, etc) but part of celebrating cyclical living for me has been to let go of this idea of showing up consistently. My family, friends, clients and my community know they can rely on me but any extras like social media posts and newsletters will just happen when they happen.

A portrait of Jen in the spring blossom

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned about your creative process at this point?

That it’s chaotic but valid.

I was told that I was slow and scatty at school, over and over again. I wouldn’t do things or look at things “the right way”, or I’d try and do too many things at once (don’t get me started on what is wrong with the British school system). The most valuable lesson for me is that while my way may not always make sense to others, it is valid and is what works best for me.

Social media has meant we have so much more awareness of other people’s methods and creative process, and while that can be really helpful in some ways, it can also be hugely stifling and cause us to negatively compare our own way of doing things.

If you’re struggling to create “the right way” or how you think you should be creating then throw the instructions out. Stop consuming other people’s content and following their rules. Remember when you were a kid and you thought, “When I’m grown up I’ll live by my own rules!”. Guess what? Now is that time! Go nuts!

Members of the Aligned Community at the spring meet-up

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start working or running their business in a more cyclical way (and has no idea where to start!)?

Start as simply as possible. If you menstruate, start checking in with yourself daily and jotting a word or two down to summarise how you feel along with the day of your cycle (day one is the first day of your bleed). It will take a few cycles to start seeing patterns emerge so be patient, and keep in mind it’s not going to give you an exact blueprint - you’re human after all! Your cycle will shift and you’ll be affected by external factors as well. I have a blog post introducing you to Menstrual Cycle Awareness here.

If you don’t menstruate but would like to align with a more natural and steady rhythm then you can still check in with yourself daily and track your energy using the moon instead. This is not as “out there” as it sounds. It’s simply about giving yourself an easy cycle to follow so you’re not constantly on the go. I’ve an Intro to Lunar Living here!

Once you start to see patterns emerging, you can begin to plan for your high energy and low energy days in advance. If you know you’ll be on the last few days before your period and feeling low, don’t plan a big launch or host a workshop that week, for example! 

As a self-employed parent I know it is not possible to just drop everything when you get your period or your energy feels zapped, and not everything is planned according to your schedule. This is about making small shifts where you can. If you can’t take a whole day off, can you schedule in some extra breaks? Or plan something really nourishing for the evening, or simply have an early night? 

Just knowing why things might feel easier or harder on different days and giving yourself grace around it is a huge help.

The autumn picnic, featuring a postcard by Life, Aligned

Along with the wonderful Aligned Community, are there any resources or books you would recommend for people who want to learn more about cyclical living?

Yes! For menstruators I highly recommend:

• In The Flo by Alissa Vitti

• You Can Have a Better Period by Le’Nise Brothers (and Le’Nise’s podcast, Period Story)

• Rtu Vidya: Ancient Science Behind Menstrual Practices by Sinu Joseph

• The podcast 28ish Days Later

If you’d like to learn more and about seasonal living and tuning back into nature I love:

• Lia Leendertz’s annual Almanacs

• The Earth’s Cycle of Celebration by Glennie Kindred

• And simply reading more about reciprocity with nature like the magical Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

• I also have a series on my blog on the Wheel of the Year and ways to celebrate each season.

October is World Menopause Month, so for those approaching or going through the menopause I want to recommend:

• What Fresh Hell is This: Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You by Heather Corinna

• Second Spring by Kate Codrington

• The podcast Menopause Whilst Black by Karen Arthur

• The wonderful work of Tania Glyde at Queer Menopause.

What does the coming season and year ahead look like for you and your business?

In the past I would have felt like I lacked ambition for this answer but honestly I just want to keep doing what I’m doing (especially in this time of global uncertainty). I don’t support the idea of infinite growth in any aspect of life, so why would I try and do that with my business?

I love facilitating The Aligned Community, but it’s intentionally a slow grower and I don’t intend to grow it much bigger than it is now. I love mentoring clients, but only have the capacity for a few a month, so that’ll carry on as is. 

In the winter and the run up to Christmas I sell a few physical products to support cyclical living alongside my other offerings, so I’ll be gift wrapping parcels and wandering down to the post office more often.

I’d also like to run a few workshops on slow business and cyclical living (outside of the community) and guest on a few podcasts, but that’ll be next year. Autumn and winter are a time for slowing down and focusing on what is already in front of me, not for planting new seeds.

The Life, Aligned Lunar Year Chart 2023

And finally, where can we find out more about you and your work?

You can read all about my offerings and see my latest blog posts at https://www.lifealigned.co.uk

I send a monthly-ish newsletter sharing cyclical living stories and journal prompts which you can sign up to here: https://www.lifealigned.co.uk/subscribe

I am spending less and less time on Instagram but you can still find me there at https://www.instagram.com/lifealignedco

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