9.5.2026 | ✨ Releasing yourself from urgency with Erica Chidi

Happy weekend!

I’m delighted to introduce Erica Chidi as our guest curator this week. We had the opportunity to ask her some questions about how she recharges on the weekend, and it’s packed with insights about how to truly rest.

Erica’s robust portfolio is filled with brand names you’ll be familiar with, like goop, LOOM, and Refinery29. Her intuitive approach to wellness is deeply inclusive and grounding, and many on our team have been nourished by what she creates.

I personally read her book Nurture while I was pregnant with my daughter and then passed my copy on to my dearest girlfriend when she was preparing to welcome her own daughter into the world.

Erica’s work is a gift, and she gives all of us permission to be softer with ourselves. Enjoy.

Warmly,
Kate

💛 Welcome, Erica!

Hi, I’m Erica Chidi, a Los Angeles-based author, health educator, and strategist. Right now, I’m the SVP of Brand and Content at Refinery29 Unbothered. I’ve also written a book about pregnancy and early motherhood called Nurture. And some of you may know me from my time co-hosting The goop Podcast or from my women’s health company, LOOM.

How do you unwind on the weekends? Any rituals that help you transition from the workweek to the weekend?

One of the most important things, especially because my day job requires me to be on East Coast hours, is that I don’t force myself to get out of bed on the weekends until I’m totally ready to. I unwind by allowing myself to truly rest without feeling an immediate need to do anything. I spend a lot of time on my HealthyLine infrared mat — honestly, I’m on it most days. I live with chronic pain and nerve issues, and lying on it makes a significant difference in how my body feels.

My main weekend ritual is releasing myself from urgency. My work requires a lot of decision-making, information processing, and responsiveness, so the transition into the weekend is less about doing something elaborate and more about letting myself become unavailable for a while. Resting on my mat, reading, cooking, and spending time without a defined objective all help signal to my body that the workweek is over.

Any reflections on wellness or motherhood?

Something I think about often when it comes to wellness — and simply the experience of being in a body — is the importance of continually evaluating your pace. I’m not particularly interested in blanket instructions to slow down or speed up. I’m more interested in asking: Is the pace I’m moving at right for this moment and this season of my life?

Sometimes you need to slow down, put a few gates in place, and make sure each one is filled before moving forward. Other times, you may need to accelerate because you’ve been in a holding pattern that is ready to be released. Wellness, to me, is less about committing to one ideal pace and more about developing the awareness to assess and adjust it.

Any tips or tricks for staying off your devices?

I don’t have many tricks beyond being deliberate about which platforms I allow to have my attention. About six years ago, I stopped scrolling on Instagram because I noticed that it was triggering a fight-or-flight response in my body. I also largely stopped posting, which made sense at the time because I was running LOOM and deep in founder mode. I never really returned to using the platform in the same way...