MEET YOUR HOST: PAULA MARIE DAVIS
Always the creative.
That’s me sophomore year of college with my first Nikon. I couldn’t draw worth a darn or paint, and playing the organ at church made me reliable, not musical. 🤣 Still, I always found other ways to be creative: by fourth grade I was sewing and making my own patterns, and in college I took a photography class and was hooked. I never liked being in front of the camera, but I loved being behind it.
My first Nikon. 1986.
I kept studying photography while I finished my degree in journalism, advertising, and PR, then went on to a master’s in marketing communications. After that, I worked on the agency side, in film production, and in client-side marketing.
Then came five babies. I went from full-time to remote (yes, I had a very progressive CEO in the 90s), to freelancer, to stay-at-home mom. I’ve always liked keeping a few plates spinning. When my youngest was five, I became a health coach, because keeping my growing family healthy was my number one priority.
My youngest is 23 now, and I’m going back to her, the creative person in that photo. Only this time I’m in front of the camera. And let me tell you, I’m nervous. Being on camera brings up every one of my “not good enough” fears, and there are so many! Yet, I am doing it anyway.
Today, I cringe at the coach I once was.
I was all about fixing, lots of rules, and few exceptions. I could tell you exactly what and when to eat, when and how to move to hit a goal number, and how to breathe your way into ‘wellness.’ What I couldn’t tell you was how to trust your body because I didn’t trust my own. My body and I weren’t at peace; it was a tug-of-war. And this stayed with me into my silver locks and way too many birthday candles to count.
Knowledge and wisdom. Know the difference.
Thirty years of studying this — nutrition, yoga, breathwork, the metrics, the protocols — and even more years living it — home births and hydroponic veggies included. I’ll be the first to say it: knowing a thing doesn’t make you wise. Knowledge is what you collect. Wisdom is what lived experience does to it, slowly, usually the hard way. I’ve got the knowledge. I’m still earning the wisdom. At sixty, that’s not false modesty. That’s just honest.
What I am not.
I’m not a doctor or a licensed medical expert, and I don’t play one on the internet. 🤣 I’m not a registered dietitian either. I don’t diagnose or prescribe. What I bring isn’t a medical degree; it’s books, research, a bunch of certifications, a lot of my own reading and digging, and forty years of paying attention to what actually happens in a body, starting with mine.
I will wear the Crone Crown Proudly.
I turned sixty in June. I don’t want my younger years back. The wrinkles, the gray hair — I’m keeping all of it. Older cultures had a word for a woman at this stage: some say Sage, others Crone. I feel called to both — the confidence to stop apologizing and say the hard things out loud (hello, Ditch the Dogma). The insight only sixty years could give me, now put toward anyone who could use a Sage or a Crone in their corner, especially the younger ones. I now wear that crone crown with a nod, a wink, and a hell yeah.
My Why.
I’ve always been creative. Now I want to do the best work of my life, and this time I know what it takes. Without energy and presence, I can’t do that work, or anything else, as well as I want to. My body is the missing element in my creative process, and I don’t think I’m the only one. I want energy and presence for anyone who creates, whether it pays the bills or not.
We’ve confused getting healthy with staying healthy. Anyone can work out for a while or eat the right foods for a stretch. Checking those boxes for a limited time is so much easier than making good day-to-day decisions, consistently. That’s what a healthy lifestyle is.
But I get it. Some days I wake up and don’t want to workout. The guac and chips left in the fridge from the night before can look like a quick breakfast. Avocados are good for you, right? Honestly, I’ve hated the process for years as much as I’ve loved the results. But like it or not, health is a series of lifestyle choices, one after another. It doesn’t have to be hard, but it’s rarely easy. The same goes for consistent creative work.
I’ve started the whole live show thing several times. Priorities shifted: a parent needed me, a wedding needed planning, then another, and my own creative work went to the back of the line every time.
Showing up consistently for myself, my health, and my creative work isn’t something I’m here to preach. It’s something I’m working on every day, right alongside you. And it’s easier with friends. No doubt about that.
So that’s who’s on the other side of this. Not a guru. Not someone who’s arrived. A woman who’s spent thirty years studying this, sixty years living it, and is done pretending either one makes her done learning.
A selfie on my 60th birthday.
A little pooped. Very happy.
June 2026