There have been sooooooo many times in my life where I’ve waited for a sign that I’m doing things “right.”

A nod, a comment, a gold star.

That little breath-holding moment where I wonder if someone out there will “approve.”

I’ve been dreaming about this lately — inspectors showing up, old workplaces reappearing, those moments where I’m tidying corners as if someone else gets to decide if I’m okay.

It’s funny how our old patterns follow us into sleep.

But something has been shifting as I dive deeply into building Karl’s world.

Karl — with his glowing pouch — here to help kids see their feelings… has once again been teaching me something too.

His pouch — warm, soft, and entirely his — has become a symbol I never expected:

Validation doesn’t live outside of us.
It lives in the pouch — the inner place where we know our own worth.

When I share a post that resonates, or a reader messages me with their heart opened by Karl’s story, I feel gratitude hit me right in my heart (and my pouch!) — a deep, shimmering gratitude. But the difference now is that I’m no longer waiting for those moments to tell me who I am.

External praise feels like a kind echo.
But the real knowing comes from me.

This book, this world, Karl 🥹 — they keep reminding me:

You don’t earn your “enoughness,” and your “enoughness” doesn’t come from others.

You remember it because it comes from you.
And in that remembering, something softens.
Something real settles.

Something inside says, “Oh — this is how it’s supposed to work.”

Karl and I thank you for being here, from the bottom of our marsupiums.

Keep on Bouncing,
Sarah