How She Gets to Bed: Murphy Barney, Creator of We Can Do This With Love

How She Gets to Bed is a deep dive into how people who kick ass during the day spend their night. Tonight, we’re so excited to feature Murphy Barney, the creator of We Can Do This With Love, a weekly love letter to you with ideas and inspiration for how we can add more love into all that we do. Murphy is also a doula, public health storyteller, potter, and writer who is committed to improving the health and connection of our communities for a more equitable world. Without further ado, here is how she gets to bed. 💤

Murphy’s Background

Industry: Oral history/public health/Birth Justice/writing
Occupation: I work at StoryCorps building programming around storytelling for health equity; I am also a full-spectrum doula; I write a newsletter on how to add love into all that we do to bring us closer to a human-centered world.
Age: 27
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Awake by: 6:30 AM
Asleep by: 11:00 PM … unless a baby is being born, then I may miss nights of sleep at a time while being present for the birth as a doula

Career Inspiration

I lived in Greece, Spain, Malaysia, and Azerbaijan prior to moving to Boston to get my Masters in Public Health from Harvard where I focused on storytelling as a tool for public health equity. From there, I became a doula as a way to protect the health of birthing persons and maintain traditional Indigenous birthing knowledge. The newsletter I write was born of a sense that I had to do something to remind folx that it is imperative that we come from a place of love in all that we do.

On the Day-to-Day

I wake at 6:30 to exercise, meditate, journal, and practice gratitude. From there, I work on my newsletter and on doula-related things. I start my work for StoryCorps around 9am or 9:30 where I work on creating and maintaining storytelling partnerships with public-health focused organizations. After work, I bike home around 5:30 to cook and then often continue work with doula clients or on newsletter curation.

Later in the evening, I often take a walk or go to the pottery studio near my home. I like to do something creative or social to transition my brain out of work mode. During the walk or bike ride to the studio, I often call my partner or one of my five siblings. If I don’t go to the studio, I might draw, cook something more elaborate, do some research, see some friends, or write.

Products to Get Unready

Once I have had time to be creative, I take a shower, make a face mask out of things in my cupboard, and pick up a book. Right now, I am reading Revolutionary Mothering. Especially this time of year, I fill up my humidifier, make some tea, light some candles, write a bit, and settle into my bed.

Everything is so dry that I moisturize every centimeter of my body. I love Hanahana Lavender Vanilla Shea Body Butter and the Cocokind Matcha Stick. Most nights, I make sure my phone is on loud in case any of my doula clients go into labor and I need to leave in the night to support them.

Late Night Snacks

Always popcorn and tea. I have made popcorn on the stovetop almost every night of my adult life. Sometimes it is even dinner.

Nighttime Routine

7:30 — wrap up productivity for the day and transition into something creative

8:00pm — make and eat dinner, usually watching a TED Talk or reading

8:15pm — either walk, go to the pottery studio, draw, or write

10:00 — take a shower, make a face mask, fill my humidifier, and make some tea

10:30 — crawl into bed with a book or my journal until I feel myself starting to doze off

11:00 — accidentally fall asleep with the lights on and a book on my chest

Follow Murphy on Instagram (@mad.murph.barn) and subscribe to the We Can Do This With Love newsletter here!