A love letter to who we are becoming...

Stepping gently into our power in 2026

Hello my love. Give me your hands and take a deep breath with me. I want to remind you that you are doing an incredible job and your resilience to make it into a new year should be celebrated. 2025 was a tough year for so many of us, and I just want to give you all the credit you deserve. You got kicked in the teeth but kept getting up. You showed up in the arena every day and kept fighting…and you should feel so stinking proud of that. I know I am.

So as we close out a year that felt a little like being thrown into the universal washing machine, I want to remind you that a new year doesn’t mean you need to create a whole new you. This is not the time for crazy changes, a new body or to start listening to the mean voices in your head that are telling you “you’re not doing enough”! Because you are.

The collective resilience I witnessed this past year gives me hope for 2026. 2025 did everything in it’s power to drag us back into the dark days of the early 2000’s with the recentering of drastic weight loss, the heavy emphasis that was put on thin bodies and what felt like a regression away from the body liberation movement. On the surface it felt like a huge loss, but I’m going to encourage you to skim just under the waters edge. Not all is lost because as you take a closer look, you can still find people who are loudly cheering for bodies that don’t conform. Bodies that squish and wiggle. Bodies that feel like a home TO US and refuse take a knee to what society tells us it should be. And THAT is a huge win.

And I know babes, this is exhausting, it’s heavy and there is a not so quiet pressure creeping back in that is encouraging us to be smaller, quieter, palatable, polished. I want you to honor and hold space for that strange mix of grief and fatigue. Because it is sad. It is hard to witness. And I want to make sure that you know that the hard work you have done to get to this point was not a waste of time. You fought hard to get here, so don’t throw the baby out with the bath water just because the noise feels loud, the voices are questioning where you belong and it feels like the space we created in being diluted and erased.

So here is my love promise to you. In 2026 I promise to keep showing up and holding space for you and your body in whatever way feels good. I promise to be an embodied place for you to come back to when you need a reminder that your body doesn’t need to change. I promise to love you where you are and help you up when you stumble. I promise to be your cheerleader and troop leader when you skin your knees in the obstacle course of life. And I promise to ALWAYS be a space that creates opportunities for all bodies. Not just the ones that fit the mold, that conform, that squish into what society expects.

So this year, we are taking our turn at holding the torch of this movement. We are not going underground. We are not getting quitter, in fact we are getting louder, braver, more tenacious in our pursuit of finding a home in our skin. This is about choosing ourselves when no one else is clapping, it’s about existing without apology and it’s about witnessing the incredible humans we are. That’s who we are becoming.

In 2026, I’m committing even more deeply to this work, the kind that feels slow, intentional, and rooted. I’ll be back on the road again, traveling to photograph humans exactly as they are, meeting you where you live, breathe, soften, and unfold.

I will be in Seattle January 13-15th, Tampa, Florida February 8th-12th and Savannah, GA February 15-17th. If you are called to any of those locations or dates, here is your invite to get on the calendar. Stop playing small and start reclaiming your body in a way that feels empowered. What better way to start the new year than with images that remind you how much of a badass you are! Grab your date here!

Lastly on 1/11, I’ll also be opening the doors to something very close to my heart:
my next retreat experiences. I am stepping bravely into my power and answering my hearts call to hold space for all you incredible humans through a container that was formed through the last ten years of work. These are a culmination of healing through art, education, stepping powerfully into your body, down time, delicious food and feminine energy. This will be the first time we take The Nood Troop on the road and I am feeling wildly excited about creating a divine feminine space to help you return to your body.

It’s not about escape. It’s about return. Returning to your body. Returning to art as medicine. Returning to community that doesn’t ask you to be anything other than human. I don’t need you to be ready for anything we are offering in 2026. I don’t need you to be healed, or perfect. I just need you to be brave enough to show up. Just as you are. Just as unhealed, messy and real as you are. Because in this space, that is enough.

Thank you for being here. For staying through the clumsy start of this space. For choosing nuance over noise and for being the life blood that fuels my desire to show up. You are my reason, and I am eternally grateful you are here.

I can’t wait to witness how good it can get….together with you, hand in hand, blindly jumping into 2026 with an open heart, a squishy body and the knowledge that we are not alone.

I love you friend, more than you may ever know.

With so much love,
Katelyn 🤍
Your favorite traveling troop leader/spicy fairy godmother/photographer