A Decision Toward Vitality: What Are You Choosing More Of This Summer?
- Trie Angeleva
- Jun 22
- 5 min read
Summer has a way of changing the questions we ask ourselves. The longer days, the stronger light, the easier mornings and later sunsets can make ordinary life feel a little more open. Not necessarily simpler, and certainly not magically transformed, but more available to us.
There is something about this season that invites us to notice what gives us energy, what drains it and what we may have been postponing until some imagined future version of life when there is more time, more clarity or more motivation. A version of life that, suspiciously, keeps declining to arrive on schedule.
That is the spirit behind A Decision Toward Vitality, our Summer Solstice series from The Blissful Badass™. Over the next two weeks, we are featuring women choosing one thing this summer that brings more energy, joy or possibility into their lives. The idea is intentionally simple. This is not about a dramatic reinvention or a giant life plan. No spreadsheet requiring 17 tabs. No personality transplant. No ceremonial burning of your current life. It is about one meaningful decision that points us toward feeling more alive in the life we are already living.
A decision toward vitality can look many different ways. For one woman, it may mean returning to movement after a long stretch of putting herself last. For another, it may mean less time online and more time in actual connection. It might mean meditation, Tai Chi, strength training, better food, more sunlight, more rest, more beauty, more courage or more attention to the small rituals that make a day feel cared for instead of merely completed. The decision does not have to impress anyone. It simply has to matter to the person making it.
That matters because vitality is not just a wellness word. It is the quality of energy we bring into our days, our conversations, our work, our relationships and our choices. When we have more vitality, we tend to think more clearly, recover more quickly and meet life with more interest. When it fades, everything can start to feel heavier than it needs to be. Work takes more effort. Decisions feel duller. The things that once felt meaningful can begin to feel like obligations we are dragging ourselves through.
This is why I see vitality as deeply connected to leadership, even when we are not talking about formal leadership at all. Self-leadership begins with noticing what we need and choosing in a way that supports the life we say we want. It is the ability to pause long enough to ask, “What would actually help me feel stronger, clearer, more awake or more engaged right now?” That question may sound simple, but it is not small. It can change how we move through a season. And that matters because the seasons — and life — fly by fast.
My sister Leah and I are beginning with our own decisions. Mine is to get into the best shape of my life. Yes, it is a big, bold and crazy goal, and exactly the kind of stretch that excites me. I am devoting now until September 1 (will assess a that point!) to building strength, deepening flexibility, raising my energy and fully devoting myself to expanding what my body can do. Because if not now, when?
Leah’s decision is different and just as true to her. This summer, she is choosing to care for her skin with more attention, softness and joy because she loves herself and wants that love to show in her glow. It is such a Leah decision: beautiful, sensory, loving and rooted in the way she turns care into a daily practice.
That is what I love about this series. The decisions are not supposed to be the same. Vitality should not look identical from woman to woman. The power of the series is in the variety. One person’s vitality may be about strength. Another’s may be about softness. One may be choosing discipline. Another may be choosing rest. One may be choosing to protect her health. Another may be choosing to let more joy into ordinary days.
The common thread is not the specific choice. The common thread is intention. Each woman is naming something that helps her feel more alive, more connected or more able to participate in her life with energy and meaning. That is what makes the decision powerful.
Over the next two weeks, we will be sharing these women’s decisions and the stories behind them. Some are tender. Some are joyful. Some are practical. Some are bold. Together, they create a kind of chorus around a question that feels especially right for this season: What are YOU choosing more of?
Maybe your answer comes quickly. Maybe you already know you need more movement, better sleep, more beauty, more time outside, more room to breathe or more honest attention to your own health.
Maybe your answer surprises you. Maybe what you need most is not a bigger goal but a softer rhythm. Maybe vitality, for you, begins with remembering that your life deserves some of your best energy too.
Whatever the answer is, it does not need to be perfect. It does not need to become a public declaration. It does not need to turn into a full system by Monday morning (not exactly the best approach to making change stick!). Though if you do make a beautiful little list, definitely no judgment here. We do enjoy a list with ambition.
It can begin as one clear decision that helps you move toward more life. This summer, my decision toward vitality is … That is the prompt. That is the invitation. What are you choosing more of?
I’m Trie — founder of The Blissful Badass™, a leadership strategist, vitality coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and personal yoga trainer.
My work brings together a former Deputy Mayor’s understanding of leadership, years of coaching and teaching, and deep study of yoga, breathwork, mindfulness, nervous system regulation and intentional change.
I help thoughtful, driven people and teams use movement, breath and attention to build stronger energy, clearer focus, steadier recovery and more meaningful momentum in how they live, work and lead.
At the heart of my work is a simple idea: life is too short to sleepwalk through it. Through personal yoga training, private coaching, retreats, workshops and immersive experiences, I help people identify the meaningful shifts they want to make and train those shifts so they begin to hold in the body, not just sound good in theory.
This is intelligent embodied vitality: practical, grounded work that helps people feel stronger in their bodies, sharper in their decisions, steadier under pressure and more fully engaged in the lives they are building.
