#36: Jenna Lyn Horoky
"Health is where my heart takes center stage and the voices in my mind are in the mezzanine, being told 'shhhh' whenever necessary."
Jenna is an artist and jeweler whose pieces offer a glimpse of the divine. We first met at Robin Richman and later bumped into each other on Tumblr (IYKYK). These responses were originally recorded in October.
At a glance…
Location: Chicago
Big 3: Pisces/Capricorn/Scorpio
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
I measure health by my capacity for grace, a strong sense of faith, and my ability to surrender to the mystery of it all without getting too caught up in existentialism. Being in water as often as possible. Perfume. Rain-soaked hair. Frequent blushing. Laughter. To me being healthy is the point where my values feel ingrained in my everyday choices and I don’t have to question much.
Health is where my heart takes center stage and the voices in my mind are in the mezzanine, being told “shhhh” whenever necessary. Accepting the outcome regardless, remembering all emotions are passing.
“I wake up each morning with the sunrise since my bedroom’s a sunroom — my two pet doves start cooing with the first glimpse of light…”
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
I’d say my current lifestyle is free flowing, open yet contented. I’m against strict daily routine as I find it too rigid, but there are things I prioritize each day like taking long sun-drenched {or moon-drenched} walks, eating fresh fruit, coordinating my mood with a fragrance and surrounding myself with as much beauty as possible. I’m lucky to live next to my favorite cemetery, arboretum and beach where swallows swoop down for sips of water while you’re swimming. {My boyfriend has gifted me many mysterious shells & stones found while swimming here} I make time every week to practice something, and as of late lots of research on historical hand-sewing techniques and flute practice. To me, breathwork means playing a woodwind instrument.
For physical activity I love playing tennis, ballet classes, and at-home calisthenics. I recently discovered a new gym and I’m taking advantage of their free Pilates classes. I usually loathe gyms as the color palette and lighting is abysmal, but I recently learned my neighborhood gym is gorgeous. Full of natural light, has plants and antique furnishings…
I’m happy with my work-life balance, it allows me to have the beginning half of the day to myself and I return home by 10pm. I work in my favorite building in the city and get to eat steak tartare at the end of my shift! Without a decent work-life balance life feels depleting, morose and void of wonder.
How do you start and end your days?
I wake up each morning with the sunrise since my bedroom’s a sunroom — my two pet doves start cooing with the first glimpse of light, they’re the cutest alarm clocks ever. After waking I allow an hour to lazily stretch and cuddle while drifting in and out of dreaming.
I start most days with a glass of kefir {shoutout to Zymosi’s Guava Kefir} and a raw carrot salad for hormone balance then whatever else I feel like. Usually honey-fried eggs, fruit, tinned fish or gelatinous stew leftovers from the previous night. Then I decide what fragrance to wear for the day and get dressed in natural material {cold weather means pulling out the eBay vintage fur}.
I eat a light dinner a few hours before bed and fall asleep by midnight. A few nights a week I arrange a makeshift curtain in front of my French doors and watch a movie accompanied by an edible and some tulsi tea.
Was there a specific moment in life that made you change your approach to health, or become more conscious generally?
I first felt this consciousness very early around age five or six when my grandfather began teaching me his foraging knowledge. He attended this niche wilderness school and used to randomly disappear to go bear hunting with a bow and arrow or go camping. He inspired me a lot. We would walk around my yard and he’d show me everything that was edible and I found it amazing that it was bountifully surrounding us this entire time and I had no idea.
I grew up in the rural Michigan countryside, a very small village near an old 1800’s mill and horse stables. My parents still live in the same house. Every summer plums grow outside my childhood window — there’s also dewberries, boysenberries, blackberries, mulberries, wild strawberries and, ever since this chaotic neighborhood fire, morel mushrooms grow sometimes. This tradition of returning home to pick berries every summer made me realize health can be equally fun and sacred, and how wonderful it feels to have this connection with earth.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
I come from a family of forum browsing self-healers so it’s in my blood. I rarely go to the doctor but I do struggle with PMDD which changes the course of my life for a week or so every month. Being a woman I feel a lot of these issues are understudied and we have to go into self-healing mode as doctors don’t offer many answers — and how well can a stranger truly get to know your body within a half-hour consultation?
It’s amazing how much diet and exercise play a crucial role in my symptoms, and this was all learned via forums. It’s still something I struggle with, and as much as I want to believe food can solve absolutely everything, it can’t — but it would be a lot worse without my learned dietary knowledge. During luteal phase, I can’t consume any alcohol, caffeine, sugar (fruit is okay) and bread or else my mood is drastically off. I try to make sure I’m eating more protein and consuming a lot of magnesium during this time, too.
“This tradition of returning home to pick berries every summer made me realize health can be equally fun and sacred, and how wonderful it feels to have this connection with earth.”
Where do you look to for information or advice?
I think the best advice is usually discovered unintentionally through eavesdropping on strangers, I always love that perspective. Finding metaphors in nature and conversations with loved ones. I’m also a firm believer that the wisdom you need is already inside you somewhere and will unfold itself when necessary.
There are many teachers, but I’ll focus on my favorite which are the mystic saints and beguines. My confirmation saint Hildegard Von Bingen, St. Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich. I love the women of the Medieval church, they encourage me to stay authentic. During this time the church was the only place for women to have a choice in life outside of an arranged marriage, and where they could also seek an education. I owe a lot to their courage and bravery.
Do you have any guiding principles?
When you’re feeling down start moving.
Always listen to your heart.
Try to avoid seed oils/lecithin — but here’s the thing, as important as it is to be conscious of ingredients, stress induced over ingredient purity can be even more harmful for your soul.
Ice cream is a health food.
“I’m a firm believer that the wisdom you need is already inside you somewhere and will unfold itself when necessary.”
What are some interventions that you’ve made that have changed your health, for the better or worse?
Limiting alcohol and caffeine. I only drink maybe once or twice a month and caffeine I can only handle in subtle doses. Once I develop any form of caffeine tolerance it’s time to do a proper reset.
What’s your perfect meal?
My perfect meal would be a roasted leg of lamb, bone marrow with caraway rye, and a balsamic beet side salad… followed by a Hu vanilla dark chocolate bar and some organic deglet noor dates. Mmmmmmm.
I mainly cook and eat at home, I like to keep things simple and usually rotate between the same ingredients. Papaya, dates, seckle pears with cinnamon, bone-in tinned fish, eggs, oxtail, liver, ground lamb, carrots, beets, mineral water, dark chocolate, kefir and raw cheese.
{Cave-aged cheese is a beautiful thing.}
Autumn is my favorite season to cook dinner, I love to make a lamb Shepard’s pie with root vegetables and variations of slow-cooked broth and soup. I find joy in making these recipes my grandmother used to enjoy when growing up on the farm.
What advice would you give to your past self?
The advice you are looking for is definitely not on Quora.
What advice would you give to the person reading this?
Identify with labels as little as possible and don’t seek to be easily understood by others, it’s a waste of precious time. The right company will always find you. <3 also maybe consider investing in an Instant pot.
What would you like to see or create more of in the world?
I’d like to see less grudges and more forgiveness. We’re all going to die someday and it’s harming yourself to hold on. I’d like to see more people unapologetically comfortable in who they are, too.
