Taking Inspired Action

Wednesday, November 26th, 2025

Hi, it’s me.

This is my first newsletter in a long time, a mailer like that Christmas card you get every year from your aunt who updates you about each family member down to what the dog accidentally ate at Halloween, except I’m not here to tell you what has happened so much as inviting you to what’s coming up, giving you a peek into what’s on my mind and sharing with you on this journey through art, comedy and life itself. 

This Thanksgiving as I prepare myself for the family experience, I’ve been thinking a lot about conditioning and living unconsciously. How many of us simply go through the motions of traditions, fall back into family patterns, and play out the same repeated dramas year to year? Or are you living life awake and inspired to make new choices at every turn? How do we even know the difference? I have some thoughts on this. . .

I’ve been thinking a lot about inspired action v. unconscious action. Every day when I open up social media I have to fight the urge to doomscroll until my eyeballs feel blurry. There is no lack of activities in the world right now that I can find depressing, it doesn't feel good to do this, and yet for stretches of time every day there I am sucked into the world on my phone. This is unconscious action. I’m aware, but also asleep, falling into a pattern that leaves me feeling a little lost - “oh what was I gonna do next? Wait, why did I open this app?”

The same thing can happen around the Thanksgiving table. My sister says something playful but with a little snark to it and without thinking I flip into my bratty sister self, jabbing back from the voice of a child of decades past. The next thing you know we are in a battle and we don’t even know why. We have evolved beyond this as grown women and yet, well. . . there is nothing like going home to provoke our old selves.  These are all unconscious actions.

We can’t create an inspired world, when we are living unconsciously from the brokenness of our past.

In contrast, these days I find myself wanting to take control of where my attention goes so that I am moved to conscious inspired action. I am wanting the opportunity to make a new choice. This looks like leaving my phone plugged into the charger and picking up a book instead. It gives me a mental break without leaving me foggy. Or looking at social media, but then instead of sitting with the terror of the world, taking action about it: the other day I actually clicked on one of those "get involved" links in an email and joined a Bay Resistance foot patrol. In exchange for an hour or two here or there of my time, where I simply show up to keep watch for the more vulnerable members of my community, I am rewarded with a lift in spirit. I don't believe everything is changing all at once, it is a subtle difference but an important one.

There is nothing like getting involved and seeing there are thousands of other people also involved to make you begin to see the world differently. Instead of being a passive observer of “the end of the world” I am actually boots on the ground witnessing what’s really happening - and it’s always more complex and nuanced than the click bait we receive on social media. The result is that I'm more informed, more open-minded and dare I say even more hopeful.

Inspired action at Thanksgiving might look like pausing after a jab and choosing to laugh at it instead jabbing back. It might look like surprising the dinner host with something thoughtful, disarming someone with a hug, or doing something completely outside of your normal patterns: bringing a game for the kids, coming early to help cook, or asking family members questions you’ve never asked before. 

These differences are subtle. Small turns. Tiny one degree shifts, but their impact is that they can send you in a new direction you’ve never traversed before. Inspired action isn’t always grandiose. More often it’s humble. You’re not going to save the world alone. You aren’t going to change your family in one fell swoop. But you can have impact and inspire the actions of others.

---

This idea of conditioning and living life more awake is what inspired me to take action and put together a new women’s support group. So many of us are still living from place of people pleasing and ‘Nice Girl’ conditioning. We have been pleasing everyone else for so long that we are out of touch with what it is we truly desire and to me that’s an epidemic which I strive to solve. 

When I first started writing Queen Lessons, it was meant as a love letter to women everywhere, to impart what I've learned through stand-up but also reflect your own power back to you.

And then I thought why stop there? Why not bring women together in community to discuss and practice some of the lessons from the book? And that’s what I’m offering in this 12 week online women’s group - 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓛𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓼: 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 - not only is it designed to help make this a delicious time of your life, but it also meant to reflect your own power back to you: the stuff you’re already made of.

This is for you if you are:

• Experiencing the challenges of perimenopause or aging as a woman and would love to find a more inspired, easeful and courageous way through it in a community with other queens going through the same thing!

• Looking for more clarity in your life and specifically getting in touch with exactly what you desire.

• Welcoming expert advice to help you ask for what you want more and move in the world more honestly and courageously.

• Interested in having a space to practice real tools like boundary setting, the craft of vulnerability, dealing with life’s hecklers, commanding attention and deepening your intuition.

• Enjoy sessions that leave you laughing, thinking and inspired to take new action in your upcoming week with a group of vibrant, powerful women like yourself through journaling, small group exercises, meditation and weekly challenges.

I’ve put together a 12 week group course with yours truly (because who better to teach courage than a stand-up comedian experiencing hot flashes?) using the themes in my latest book, 𝓠𝓾𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓛𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓼, as a jumping off point for powerful sessions that are part therapy, part masterclass, and heaps of queenly community.

All starting soon! I'm gathering the first group starting in January 2026 - because what a fabulous way to start your new year, am I right?

INTERESTED? Email me at hollyshawcomedyatgmaildotcom to learn more.