March brought me blossoming flowers, longer days, and more energy. The end of the month brought the opportunity to look back at the first quarter of 2025, a productive and celebratory time.
In this article I’ll wrap up the month of March and Quarter 1 as a whole as related to my own projects, life and events. What went on for you during this period and what’s planned?
March Memories
March had a gorgeous sense of early Spring in Cologne and I thrilled to that, as well as events such as:
- Women’s History Month
- International Women’s Day March 8th, for which I was a collaborator and engaged online to create visibility for the #accelerateaction theme
- Lots of teaching, dancing in 4 locations, new grades in RAD Curriculum, new Elective Classes, special events, collaborations, and workshops in planning
- Ramadan & Lent are important spiritual celebrations observed in Cologne and it can be a time of reflection and personal growth
- Vernal Equinox: SPRING is my favorite time of year so this is one of my favorite annual milestones!
- “Spring forward” to Central European Summer Time in Germany (“Fall back” October-March)
- Doctor’s appointments: used my health insurance for needed care such as PT/sports massage, skin cancer screening, and a visit to the eye doctor (with cleaning and exam with a new dentist scheduled for April)
Because of its role in my creative process, journaling has become a part of my YouTube channel content along with dance, yoga, and joyful living. Here’s an update on what I’ve been up to in my notebooks and life in March 2025:
Bullet Journaling & Planning
The video above is a flip-through of the month in my Seasonal Book including goals, glows, media favorites, and events I recorded along the way.
I shared my initial monthly setup on Instagram here, inspired by Jashii Corrin’s March Under the Stars theme and my own celestial ephemera. Updated my Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Logs, Annual Collections, and set up my April & May spreads over the course of the month to prepare for travel and adventure planned in those months (eee so exciting!).
Continued to savor writing my Morning Pages and notes with colorful inks in my fountain pens and savored the fresh shades of the changing season in nature and culture.
Teaching & Coaching
Regular Mindful Movement classes in Balletlicious Ballet Barre+ and Yummy Gentle Yoga, studio classes in Ballet, and my “Feel Good” wellness course and Hip Hop elective continued, and
There is currently one coaching slot available in my weekly schedule, and in February I started planning upcoming offerings such as coaching sample sessions (message to schedule), workshops, and guest teaching in Portland, Oregon, Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i, and Cologne, Germany this Spring!
Writing & Publishing Articles
In March I published 4 articles to the blog here at ablythecoach.com, bringing my Quarter 1 total to 10. This is a great place to find out what I am up as well as other experts and creators who I recommend.
March’s new articles:
- Accelerate Action – Celebrate International Women’s Day with A Blythe Coach
- January was Gently Jumping into the New Year – 2025 Month 1 Reflection
- Spring Flings & Bright Things: a Bucket List of Fresh, Joyful Seasonal Experiences
- February was for Demonstrating & Dancing, Love, Karneval & Eating Disorders Awareness – 2025 Month 2 Reflection
Filming & Sharing Videos
I (still) didn’t quite reach 1,000 subscribers to the A Blythe Coach YouTube Channel in March, but did continue to grow my audience and hope to attain this milestone this year.
Although I posted publicly to the A Blythe Coach YouTube Channel on Dec. 2, 2019, a Teaching Trailer video that a colleague in Cologne filmed and edited for me, I began publishing my self-created videos regularly with Mar. 10. 2020’s Ankle ABCs dance training tutorial. That means this March marked 5 years of videos, holy smokes! Still learning the art and craft of teaching and sharing movement through this medium, but I’ve improved, developed my voice and message, grown from creating and engaging with people in this way.
I published 4 videos to the A Blythe Coach YouTube Channel in March, bringing my Quarter 1 total to 13, on the topics of dance, creativity, and purposeful living:
- Ballet Barre Mini 15 minute no-instruction dance-along video
- February 2025 Flip & Reflection – Monthly Review Creative Bullet Journal of a Dance Educator & Coach video
My most popular video of Quarter 1 was How to Tie Your Ballet Slipper & Pointe Shoe Ribbons, look forward to more basic how-to as well as more advanced explorations coming up…
Connecting: Email & Social Media
The best way to keep up-to-date on everything I’m coaching, teaching, creating and sharing about as well as work from others that I believe to be of value for fellow creatives is to subscribe to my weekly email newsletter. It lights me up to see new subscribers there as well as responses to me missives.
I sent 4 Email Newsletters in March:
- International Women’s Day free workshops in-person and online, marching into Spring email newsletter
- Dancing for human rights, anticipating Spring Equinox & time change while reflecting on January email newsletter
- Spring flings & bright things Vernal Equinox & what seeds will bloom this season email newsletter
- Early Flowers, Time Change, February Reflections & Piano Day email newsletter
In addition, I posted 9 times to Instagram, bringing my Quarter 1 post count to 16.
Creative Challenges
In March one of my major projects was being a collaborator on International Women’s Day, which I shared about here on the blog, on Instagram, in my email newsletter and in live classes and sessions. Accelerate Action – Celebrate International Women’s Day with A Blythe Coach is the article I shared this year along with other visibility efforts.
Quarter 1 Highlights
Quarter one saw post-election response to a new regime in the US, protest and an election in Germany, and much news from around the world. For me personally, I was fortunate to be able to be living out my Purpose and Mission here in Cologne and internationally.
Late winter into early spring was spent in the studio and working from my bed, scheming about artistic work here and further afield as the growth and harvest season comes.
Working, partying, adulting, dancing…Quarter 1 of 2025 was productive and action-packed:
- Teaching, learning new grades of RAD syllabus, subbing. Though many students suffered from Spring colds (me too!), I started to feel the energy of warmer weather return. By popular demand, returned to teaching a beginner Hip Hop elective course, listened to new music and created choreography together with participants
- Publishing articles, creating syllabi and workshops, improvisations and choreography, video filming and editing, sharing all over
- 2024 Reflection & Completion process, planning 2025 especially Quarter 1
- Eating Disorders Awareness Week collaborator for the 3rd year in a row
- International Women’s Day collaborator
- Koeln Karneval
- Dates, Double Dates, Friends, Family, playing with our nephew
- Political Protests – Vote Love!
- Medical Check-Ups, Gyno, Physical, Eye Doctor, Physical Therapy, prevention
- Returned to beginner Tango with Ela
- First illness of the year in March, Hip issue but getting physical therapy to help
- Fountain Pens & Inks sustained my writing practice for pleasure and profit
- Enjoying all the early Spring Things, as my favorite time of year has begun
Twenty 25s in 2025
Having found such a structure useful in 2023 and 2024, for 2025 I reduced the number of categories counted to 20, and raised the actions by one for a catchy “Twenty 25s in 2025.”
In February, I took actions and tracked them, and posted about my Twenty 25s to the blog.
This creative challenge is a playful way to track various leading metrics, projects and activities I wish to keep an eye on, and since some of the actions are daily, I reached 25 actions in the month of January (BuJo Spreads, Classes Taught, Daily Logs, Deutsch, Gratitude & Abundance, Yoga Practice Sessions, Meditation, Morning Pages), QUARTER 1 TOTAL.
Media Musings
My March in reading, listening, and viewing pleasures:
Books & Reading
Books Read
Still reading along on my nonfiction picks (poetry, scripture, personal growth), and I completed four novels in March:
- The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley fiction mystery series with an 11 year old protagonist
- Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez is a modern fairytale, which like one of the characters says of their friends, didn’t quite please me “at first blush,” but grew to become my favorite read of the year so far, a spicy romantic delight
- Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney curious about the 2022 TV series based on it
- A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley started in March an American Library Association winner, about which they said: “Flavia de Luce, a terrifyingly proficient 11-year-old amateur chemist and sleuth, investigates the beating of a gypsy and the death of a villager in this third outing. Entwistle’s spot-on narration reveals the irrepressible, intrepid heroine’s prowess and captures a delicious range of secondary characters in these whimsical mysteries set in 1950s rural England.”
Articles Read
In Quarter 1 I encountered a couple of particularly insightful articles:
- “Do Not Obey In Advance: A Moral Crisis in Arts Funding” by grant-writer, Whitman College classmate and friend Claire Willett relays horrifying news, but also contains informative links and actionable steps to take, especially relevant to the arts and nonprofit funding
- “What do we do now?” article on Substack by Katy Pyle, Ballez creator, choreographer & dancer
- The News and Your Attention: How to Engage without being Consumed by Mike Vardy
- How to Become Enchanted by Life from Zen Habits
Listening Highlights
Favorite things heard over the course of the month go here, such as concerts, songs, pieces of music, playlists, podcasts and more.
Music: Songs, Playlists & Albums
- My updated Balletlicious Barre+ Dance Playlist on YouTube continued to inspire movement classes
- Spring Sensations Dance Playlist on YouTube
- My International Women’s Day Dance Playlist on YouTube I created to accompany my 20-minute Barre a Terre workshop classes, and I got a complement on it live 🙂
- Grooved to this Song for IWD
- “Deep Sea Diving” by Robyn Errico has been on loop in my mind since
- “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” songs from “Wicked” musical movie
Monthly Viewing Highlights
Mostly faves from March with a few quarterly standouts, I plan to select my top influences annually.
Film
Favorite Movies watched in March:
- “Wicked” Film: I saw the touring Broadway musical back in Honolulu, enjoyed the showstopping songs “Popular” and “Defying Gravity” and Arianna Grande’s dancing and portrayal of Glinda
- “Babylon” Film: sexy un-family-friendly “Singing in the Rain” about the transition from silent films to talkies, a bit too long and expansive I found, but some great scenes
Series
Series streamed in March:
- “What We Do In The Shadows” Series mockumentary is funnily afterlife-aligned with another recent favorite, “Ghosts“
Questions for Reflection
- What went on for you during March and Quarter 1 and and what’s planned for Quarter 2 and beyond?
- What holidays and accomplishments are you celebrating?
- What are you message is yours to give voice to?
- What tender young plants are you nourishing which you hope will fruit in the coming months?
- What are your favorite Spring treats?
Resources for Further Exploration
- Float in 2025 – Word / Intention of the Year Article
- Twenty 25s in 2025: Analog Project Planning & Action Tracking, Creative Bullet Journal Style Article
- January was Gently Jumping into the New Year – 2025 Month 1 Reflection Article
- February was for Demonstrating & Dancing, Love, Karneval & Eating Disorders Awareness – 2025 Month 2 Reflection
- Leaps & Bounds in 2024 – Reflecting on a Year’s Highs & Lows Article
- March was for Mindfulness & Women’s History – 2024 Month 3 Review & Quarter 1 Wrap-up Article this time last year
- Quantum Leaping into 2024 Word of the Year Article
- Twenty-Four 24s in 2024 Article
- Say the Magic Words Article
- Analog Journals for Creativity Article
Further monthly reflections for 2025, special workshops and collaborations in dance, coaching, creative living and more coming soon.
Thank you for reading, for being, and for dancing with me, in spirit or in fact!
Take care of yourself and keep moving mindfully, let me know how if I can be of service, would love to see you in my email newsletter or on social media as well.
Blythe Stephens, MFA & Bliss Catalyst
they/them or she/her
Creator of A Blythe Coach @ablythecoach
helping multi-passionate creatives dance through their difficulties,
taking leaps of faith into fulfillment through coaching, yoga & dance education