Before the Leap: September Was for Building

The Tipsy Vagabond
Sep 29
3 min read

Updated: Oct 1

September Trilogy: Chapter Three

This essay is the final chapter in my September Trilogy — three pieces that map my season of transformation. From the ashes that forced me to start over, to the demons I finally chose to face, to the discipline that carried me forward.

Read Chapter Two here: Inviting My Demons to Tea

September was for building — rhythm, discipline, and roots. October is for stepping into it, not as who I was, but as the woman I’ve spent years becoming.

From Quiet to Discipline in Action

September was different.

I thought I would spend the month quietly practicing discipline. Slow mornings. Steady work. Brick by brick, laying the foundation for what comes next. And that happened — but not in the way I expected.

Life sped up. I moved into a new home. I built a nest for myself in the middle of everything else going on. I haven’t had a single day off since September began — between running my business, learning, stretching, growing, and putting down roots. Instead of breaking me, the momentum steadied me. For the first time, discipline felt natural — not as something I had to drag myself into, but as rhythm.

Finding Rhythm Without Burnout

I continued to wake before the sun. Scribbled down ideas before my eyes were ever fully open. Walked while the world was still soft and quiet. Work didn’t feel like dread. It felt like motion, like being carried by a current I’d been training years to swim in.

And I learned not to confuse discipline with burnout. Even in the nonstop days, I made space for small moments of grace — butterflies dancing in the garden, crafts with my nephew, late-night laughter with friends who remind me what love feels like in the everyday. That balance is new. It tells me I’m building something stronger than hustle. Something sustainable.

Facing Myself, Brick by Brick

Courage I’ve always had. It carried me through childhood modeling, too many years behind the bar, nearly a decade of full-time travel, and starting over city after city. But courage without discipline burns out. This year demanded something else: to face myself.

To choose rhythm over chaos.

To stay long enough to build something true.

It reminds me of a line from Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Wings and Ruin:

“It’s a rare person to face who they truly are and not run from it — not be broken by it. That’s what the Ouroboros shows all who look into it: who they are, every despicable and unholy inch.”

September was my Ouroboros. Discipline became that mirror — showing me every unpolished part of myself, every place I wanted to quit, and asking me to keep going anyway.

Building My Own Curriculum

I had to ask the harder questions:

Where am I really going?

What am I actually building?

The answer wasn’t in running to another country or another version of myself. It was in staying long enough to put down roots in my vision. I skipped the shortcuts and stitched together my own path — free resources, mentors, trial and error, legalities and long nights that are finally filling my dream with muscle.

Ireland as Fieldwork

That’s what September looked like. Four tracks, all moving at once:

Learn — Everything I can get my hands on, teaching myself things I didn’t even know existed a few months ago.
Build — My agency hub, my systems, the bones of a business taking shape.
Nest — A home of my own, grounding me as much as it challenges me.
Scout — Ireland on the horizon, not as escape but as fieldwork, the next step in a long plan.

Four Tracks Moving at Once

Now, as October begins, I carry that discipline forward. Ireland won’t be the start — it will be the continuation. Field notes from castles, storytellers, and Samhain fires.

Magic I can’t wait to share.