In this episode, I talk about why I’m feeling unexpectedly—almost stubbornly—optimistic about 2026, and why optimism is often misunderstood as naïveté instead of quiet power.

I explore how cynicism has become the default posture of our time, and why choosing optimism now feels less like denial and more like rebellion. This episode is about building an inner world that can sustain you regardless of what’s happening outside—because the external world cannot be the authority over your joy, your creativity, or your sense of possibility.

I share why I keep returning to the idea of do whatever you want in 2026—not as escapism, but as a reminder that we are living inside a strange, beautiful, cosmic soup where meaning is something we get to make. I talk about why I’m excited to keep creating on Substack, Threads, TikTok, and beyond, and why continuing to enjoy your life is an act of resistance.

I also reflect on my reading year: the 35 books I read in 2025 (down from 75 the year before), and what that shift taught me about consumption versus creation. I unpack how this year felt less about ingesting endlessly and more about letting what I’ve already absorbed finally do something. I reference Ray Bradbury’s idea of feeding yourself with beauty until it explodes into creation—and how that’s shaped the way I think about art, work, and attention.

I share my favorite and least favorite reads of the year, the themes that dominated my reading (self-help, financial wisdom, and fantasy), and why this mix feels telling. And I invite you to reflect too: what you read, what fed you, and what you’re excited to create next.

We explore:

✔ Why optimism is often mistaken for ignorance—and why that’s wrong

✔ How to create an inner world that doesn’t collapse under external chaos

✔ The difference between consumption years and creation years

✔ What my 2025 reading habits revealed about where my energy was going

✔ Ray Bradbury, beauty, and letting what you love finally speak through you

✔ Why 2026 feels wide open—and how to claim it as yours

This episode is for anyone who feels quietly hopeful but hesitant to admit it. For those who are tired of letting the world dictate their inner weather. For the ones who want to keep creating, keep enjoying, and keep going—even when cynicism feels louder.

If you’re feeling the pull toward a life that actually belongs to you, this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

The best way to support the podcast is to become a patron of The Folklore Library Substack.

And if you have topics or questions you’d like me to cover, email me at [email protected].

The Art of After Workbook: How to Turn Grief into Art

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I talk about what it means to finally—quietly—learn to let go.

This morning, the phrase I think I’m learning to let go arrived in my mind like a whisper from somewhere older than me, and in this episode, I unpack how I got here: through radical self-acceptance, the law of assumption, and the slow reclamation of my own power.

I explore the inner shift that happens when you stop gripping your life with white-knuckled fear and start trusting your inherent worth instead. I talk about the moment a woman becomes self-possessed—not performatively, not intellectually, but somatically—and why we need more women living from that place. Women who are rooted. Women who are sovereign. Women who are not begging the world to choose them, because they have already chosen themselves.

We explore:

✔ What “letting go” actually means when control has been your survival strategy

✔ How the law of assumption becomes embodied instead of conceptual

✔ Why self-acceptance—not self-improvement—is the true beginning of empowerment

✔ The rise of the self-possessed woman: grounded, discerning, impossible to ignore

✔ How letting go creates abundance, ease, and magnetism without effort

This episode is for anyone who has spent years gripping life too tightly—out of fear, out of habit, out of trauma. For the ones who are exhausted by their own vigilance, who crave softness but don’t know how to unclench. For every woman who feels herself on the edge of becoming someone freer, braver, more rooted in her own power.

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to finally stop fighting yourself, this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

The best way to support the podcast is to become a patron of The Folklore Library Substack.

And if you have topics or questions you’d like me to cover, email me at [email protected].

The Art of After Workbook: How to Turn Grief into Art

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I talk about Pantone’s new Color of the Year—more specifically, the collective rejection of it—and what it reveals about where we are culturally, creatively, and spiritually. Instead of embracing the chosen shade, people across the internet gravitated toward a luminous, grounding green…and I unpack why that matters.

I share why I think this spontaneous, collective shift says something deeper about enjoyment, desire, and where we’re heading as a society. I read a thread I wrote about the “new frontier,” which isn’t about more technology, more convenience, or more products, but about people simply enjoying their lives again. I explore why meaning, simplicity, and inner richness are becoming more magnetic than consumerism, and why everything you truly need has always been within you.

We explore:

✔ What Pantone’s rejected color reveals about collective desire

✔ Why a single shade of green resonated more deeply than anything “official”

✔ The new frontier: enjoyment, presence, and living from the inside out

✔ How the world is shifting away from consumerism and toward inner wealth

✔ Why nothing outside of you can give you what you’re searching for

This episode is for anyone feeling overwhelmed by “more.” More products, more noise, more expectations. For the ones craving simplicity, authenticity, and the kind of wealth that doesn’t come from buying anything at all.

If you’ve ever wondered what the next era of life looks like, not in terms of tech or trends, but in terms of meaning, this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

The best way to support the podcast is to become a patron of The Folklore Library Substack!

And if you have topics or questions you’d like me to cover, email me at [email protected].

The Art of After Workbook: How to Turn Grief into Art

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I answer a listener request from one of my Library Keepers—thank you, Tim—and talk about my worldbuilding process, my writing process as a whole, and what it actually looks like for me to create a book from the inside out.

I share what it’s been like working on my third book, how my process differs from the more linear or structured approaches you hear other writers swear by, and why my imagination tends to lead me far more than any outline ever could. I explore the nonlinear, intuitive, sometimes chaotic way that stories come through me—and why I’ve learned to trust that instead of trying to fix it.

We explore:

✔ What my writing process really looks like behind the scenes

✔ Why imagination and intuition shape my books more than plans

✔ How worldbuilding happens for me—and why it’s not linear

✔ Why every writer’s process is different (and that’s the point)

✔ How to support the Insert Wisdom podcast and submit your own questions

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt like their creative process doesn’t look the way it’s “supposed” to. For the ones who write in spirals, jump around, follow breadcrumbs, or build worlds in fragments and flashes.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your way of creating counts, or if you’ve questioned whether you’re doing it “right,” this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

The best way to support the podcast is to become a patron of The Folklore Library Substack!

And if you have topics or questions you’d like me to cover, email me at [email protected].

The Art of After Workbook: How to Turn Grief into Art

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I talk about the way my inner imagery guides me—how certain images rise up from nowhere, carrying a message or truth I’m meant to remember—and how powerful it is when you learn to decode them. I also talk about the importance of sharing your art regardless of if you like it or not.

I share how I woke up feeling lost and frustrated, unsure of what I was making or why, and how a simple illustration of an “ugly” castle on a hill shifted everything for me. The artist thought it was “bad,” but it reminded me of something I had forgotten: that art, even imperfect art, can realign you with yourself. I explore why being attuned to your inner world is more potent than any plan, and how creativity reconnects us to what actually matters.

We explore:

✔ How inner imagery speaks to you—and how to listen

✔ Why self-attunement is more powerful than any strategy or blueprint

✔ The importance of sharing your art even if you think it’s “ugly”

✔ How creativity can pull you out of frustration or disconnection

✔ Why being human means creating, not competing

This episode is for anyone who feels stuck in their head, disconnected from themselves, or overwhelmed by the pressure to “figure everything out.” For the ones who forget how much power there is in simply making something, anything—even if it’s small, strange, or imperfect.

If you’ve ever needed a reminder of who you are, or wondered why creating matters at all, this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

The Art of After Workbook: How to Turn Grief into Art

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I dive into The Art of After—the workbook I wrote on transforming grief into art—and share the truths, myths, and surprising “cheat codes” that make healing possible.

I read a passage from the book on the most common misconceptions about grief, and I talk about what actually begins to shift when you stop trying to “get over it” and instead let it move through you creatively. I also share my excitement about Threads, and how magical it feels to finally connect the podcast directly to that space.

We explore:

✔ The real myths of grief—and why they keep you stuck

✔ The unexpected “cheat code” to healing (and why it works)

✔ How grief becomes art, and why creation is one of the most powerful forms of alchemy

✔ Why you don’t have to be “ready” to begin healing

✔ The joy of expanding the Insert Wisdom ecosystem into Threads

This episode is for anyone carrying a story inside them that feels heavy, shapeless, or unfinished. For the ones learning how to turn pain into something meaningful, beautiful, or true.

If you’ve ever wondered how to heal without erasing what you’ve lost—or how to honor your grief in a way that gives something back to you—this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

The Art of After Workbook: How to Turn Grief into Art

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I return after a two-month hiatus to share what’s been stirring beneath the surface creatively, emotionally, and spiritually.

I talk about the quiet season I’ve been in, what it’s taken to find my way back to creativity, and how writing my second book has challenged me in ways I didn’t expect. I reflect on how different it feels from writing the first—how there’s more resistance, more complexity, more unknowns, and yet… something still calls me forward.

We explore:

✔ The strange energy of creating after you’ve already made something that mattered

✔ Why the second time can feel harder than the first, and what that teaches you

✔ What re-ignited my creative spark and how inspiration actually returns

✔ Why you don’t need a perfect plan to start making something new

✔ How your creations can lead you somewhere you never expected—if you let them

This episode is for the ones circling the edge of their own next chapter. For the ones who feel called to create, even if they don’t know what it’s for, or where it’s going.

If you’ve ever doubted whether you could begin again, or wondered if you missed your chance, this one’s for you.

Thank you for being here. And thank you for listening. 🕯️

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Email: [email protected]

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

In this episode, I offer a transmission on something I’ve only just uncovered in myself—something I’ve been doing for over a decade that’s never truly been aligned with who I am.

Through the lens of Human Design, I reflect on what it means to live in your correct environment—and how easily we can fall into our “not-self,” choosing roles and behaviors that keep the peace but cost us our authenticity. I speak about the moment I finally stepped into the right environment on TikTok, not as the peacemaker, but as the truth-teller. And how that shift gave me clarity on how my energy actually wants to move in the world.

We explore:

✔ What the “not-self” looks like in real time—and how to notice it

✔ Why your Human Design environment matters more than you think

✔ How living misaligned can feel normal until it suddenly doesn’t

✔ Why this moment in history demands full authenticity from each of us

✔ How honoring your truth is what helps you (and the world) heal

This episode is for the ones who feel something within them cracking open—who are beginning to see that the way they’ve always been isn’t who they truly are.

For the ones ready to live how they were actually designed to live.

As always, thank you for being here. And thank you for choosing to return to yourself. 🕯️

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

Thanks for listening! 🥂

In this episode, I offer a transmission on something deeply needed in this moment: truth.

In a world that often rewards denial, obedience, and emotional suppression, telling the truth—about who you are, how you feel, and why you’re here—is a radical act. But now more than ever, it’s time to wake up to that truth.

I speak about the courage it takes to live in alignment with your deeper knowing, how emotions are not enemies but messengers, and why this chaotic time we’re living through may be the very reason we chose to come here—to anchor truth, to embody it, and to help others remember.

We explore:

✔ Why truth is a form of healing in times of chaos

✔ How emotions are sacred messengers—not weaknesses

✔ The link between obedience culture and emotional suppression

✔ What it means to live in full awareness of your purpose

✔ Why being truthful is one of the most powerful things you can do

I also share a personal reflection on my dad, who grew up in a time when emotion and truth were not allowed—and how that lineage impacts the way we see ourselves today. And I offer a glimpse into a new service I’m launching: mirroring sessions, (email here to inquire: [email protected]) designed to help you see yourself more clearly, and return to what’s been waiting within you all along.

This episode is for the ones who feel the weight of the world—and know that truth is the way through.

For the ones who are ready to feel deeply, live honestly, and come home to why they’re here.

As always, thank you for being here. And thank you for being willing to tell the truth. 🕯️

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

Thanks for listening! 🥂

In this episode, I offer a transmission on something that lives at the heart of being human: story.

From ancient myths to bestselling fantasy series, stories have always been how we make sense of ourselves—how we pass on wisdom, shape identity, and find meaning in the mess. But what is your story? What’s mine? And why does it matter that we know?

I speak about the structure of story, why characters need to be tested to change, and how that mirrors our own lives—where transformation is earned, not granted. I reflect on books like A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Stormlight Archives, and how the stories we love are often mirrors, letting us see ourselves more clearly.

We explore:

✔ Why stories are more than entertainment—they’re maps of becoming

✔ How character arcs reflect the real transformations we long for

✔ What it means to face difficulty and emerge changed

✔ How stories make us feel less alone—and more ourselves

✔ The quiet invitation in every great book: who are you, really?

This episode is for the ones who turn to fiction to understand reality.

For the ones who carry books like companions.

For the ones who know that story is not just how we escape—but how we return.

As always, thank you for listening. 🕯️

Under the Same Sky by Kate Hill 📖

Find me here 👇🏼

Become a patron of the Folklore Library Substack ✍🏼

Threads ✨

Ambiance Channel ✨

Tiktok ✨

Instagram ✨

Goodreads ✨

Thanks for listening! 🥂