I’m Back (And This Time, It’s Different)

Sharing is caring!

April 13, 2025. That was the last time I put words to digital paper here. Nearly half a year of silence from someone who built her world around sharing every gut-healing thought, every supplement discovery, every raw moment of the journey.

So where the he#$ have I been?

The simple, unvarnished truth? I was completely and utterly burned out.

But here’s the thing that might surprise you—I wasn’t burned out from A Gutsy Girl.

I wasn’t tired of supplements, or books, or even the endless stream of gut health questions in my inbox.

I was burned out from the performance of it all. The exhausting mental gymnastics of trying to write for algorithms instead of humans.

Do you remember when blogs were just… blogs?

When they were messy, honest, real-time chronicles of actual life?

When you’d stumble across someone’s corner of the internet and feel like you were reading their diary—in the best possible way?

That’s what this place used to be.

Heck, that’s what all our favorite spaces used to be before we got caught up in the relentless chase for SEO optimization and social media virality.

I watched my favorite OG bloggers transform into content machines, churning out algorithm-friendly posts that felt more like marketing copy than authentic human expression.

And somewhere along the way, I realized I’d become one of them.

Google changes its rules daily. AI has made organic discovery nearly impossible. The mental load of keeping up with it all was suffocating the very reason I started writing in the first place—to connect, to share, to help.

So I stepped back. I stopped trying to crack the code and instead asked myself a fundamental question: What brings me joy, and how can I share that?

What I’ve Been Up To (And Why It Matters)

These past five months haven’t been idle. They’ve been intentional.

Here’s what’s been filling my days and, more importantly, reigniting my passion:

I joined the Food Babe team.

The day after my last post here, Vani Hari offered me a position as her Brand Manager. Talk about divine timing. Working with her has been like getting a masterclass in fearless food advocacy—something that’s always been at the core of what A Gutsy Girl represents, only from the gut-health standpoint.

I’m cooking again.

Really cooking. Daily. Not just heating up leftovers between writing deadlines, but actually creating meals, experimenting with flavors, getting my hands dirty in the kitchen. There’s something profoundly healing about returning to the fundamentals of nourishing yourself.

My succulent farm has exploded.

What started as a few plants has grown into a legitimate operation—probably 1,000% larger than when I began. This summer, I spent hours outside with them, preparing for Minnesota’s inevitable indoor growing season. There’s a meditation in tending to something that grows slowly, steadily, without rush.

I’ve been testing products the right way.

No more rushing to share the latest discovery after a single use. I made myself a promise: three experiences minimum before I’ll even consider talking about something publicly. The result? About 10 products I’m genuinely excited to share when the time is right.

I’m creating a holiday recipe e-book.

For free. Just because I want to. Just because this holiday season feels like it needs some extra delight. I haven’t done this since 2013, and the nostalgia of creating something purely for the joy of sharing feels revolutionary.

I’ve been updating everything.

The Master Gutsy Resource Spreadsheet is now free. Hundreds of articles have been refreshed. Products and courses have been fine-tuned. Not because I had to, but because I wanted them to serve the next person who needs them.

I dove headfirst into AI.

If you can’t beat it, learn to dance with it. I’ve been working on a completely unrelated side project that’s taught me how to use AI as a tool rather than see it as a threat. Several AI platforms later, I’m more fluent in this new language of creation.

The Answer to the Question I’ve Been Asking Myself

So, IF and HOW do I want to be around A Gutsy Girl?

The answer is yes, but different.

I’m staying.

I’m returning to writing.

But I’m going back to the olden days, back to when this space was about genuine connection over algorithmic approval.

Back to sharing thoughts and ideas simply because they’re worth sharing, not because they might rank on page one of Google.

Everything I’ve been doing these past months—the deep dive into food advocacy, the return to my kitchen, the patient cultivation of both plants and products, the embrace of new tools and old joys—it’s all been preparing me, I guess. This return to optimal gut health meets authentic expression.

I want to tell you about the products that have genuinely changed my daily routine after months of testing.

I want to share recipes that have brought life back to my kitchen.

I want to talk about the intersection of AI and health, about what I’m learning in the food industry trenches, about the simple pleasure of watching succulents thrive.

I want to write the way I used to write—raw, real, useful—but informed by everything I’ve learned during this intentional pause.

Welcome back to A Gutsy Girl.

Welcome back to a blog that’s just a blog, where the only algorithm I’m optimizing for is human connection.

Let’s see where this takes us.

P.S. Know someone who is looking for real gut health meets authentic connection? Pass this article along to them.

P.S.S. Some images to show what I’ve been up to.

Xox,

SKH