This month’s book club gathering felt deeply layered and quietly powerful.
We didn’t just watch the movie Tully, we used it as a mirror.
Through Marlo’s story, we explored experiences many of us recognize in our own lives: constant exhaustion, carrying invisible loads, and slowly losing touch with parts of ourselves while trying to keep everything running. Using the Heroine’s Journey, reparenting, and archetypal perspectives, we spoke about Mother and Maiden energies, sitting with pain, and the life–death–life cycles that show up in everyday life, not just in stories.
To understand Marlo more deeply, we worked with metaphors. With Jenga, we explored the blocks that make up her identity , responsibilities, expectations, emotional labor , and how a structure can look stable while being close to collapse. It naturally led us to reflect on how much weight a single person can carry before something has to change.
We also used the matryoshka (nesting) doll to talk about layered identities. As each layer opened, Marlo’s different selves became visible: the functioning outer role, and underneath it, parts that are tired, playful, unmet, or in need of care. Through this, reparenting became tangible , learning to notice inner needs and respond with compassion rather than self-judgment.
What stayed with us was a quiet recognition: Transformation doesn’t come from fixing ourselves, but from seeing ourselves more clearly.
Grateful for the depth, presence, and openness of this circle.