Three Years!
This blog is almost THREE years old! As a person who’s usually much more of a dreamer than a doer, I’m pretty proud of that. This little passion project was born out of my confusion and overwhelming sense of needing to “say something” after the knife attack at Ohio State in November 2016, but it’s come pretty far since then. Although I don’t use this platform to reach a bunch of followers or anything (my readers are still mostly just my family and friends), I’m happy to do this for me.
You may have noticed that I don’t write here as much as I used to, which is probably due to this major life transition I’ve recently gone through (graduating) and my sense of how (for lack of a better word) “boring” things have been lately. My five months of traveling Europe between January and May 2018 set a really high bar for interesting blog content!! Also, to be honest, I’m in a bit of a postgrad slump and still kind of trying to pivot from my Peace Corps disappointment.
I struggle with not making this thing a journal, because people don’t read blogs for that. My professional writing degree pounded into us the marketability of offering people a product/advice/tips/SEO-focused content, which is definitely a real thing. My posts about sewing or thrifting or travel guides “perform” significantly better than these kinds of ones. BUT I also like the balance. Because being genuine about where I’m at is important to me.
So, on that note, in the last couple months I’ve learned a lot about change and initiative and not being where you want to be when you want to be there. I’ve realized how difficult day-to-day self-motivation is when you don’t have a deadline or a day job or a test you HAVE to do. It’s so easy to put off studying for the GRE or working out or writing down goals or planning your next move. Before you know it, three months have passed since you were unexpectedly denied from the Peace Corps, and you’re still scrambling to figure out where to go from here. I thrive in the structured academic environment so much. But I have to remind myself that my life is not on a deadline. I don’t have to do the Peace Corps this year. I don’t have to go to grad school by 25, or whenever my imaginary trajectory leads me.
But there are good things. I’ve really enjoyed being home with my family, and having my closest friends in the same boat as me. We’re all figuring out this stuff together. And I’ve also been doing some cool work. My travel writing continues to get published in Ohio travel guides, and I even started volunteering! I’m writing personal interest stories for Cincinnati Cares’ newsletter and writing copy for their social media.
Cincinnati Cares is a nonprofit that encourages volunteering, community engagement, and board matching in order to reverse Cincinnati’s significant decline in volunteer rates. I feel super engaged in that mission, so I’m really excited to do some skills-based volunteering to make a greater Cincinnati. And I’ve met some really awesome people there! I may not have a full-time job, but I think that may not be the goal right now. I’m still excited about my side hustles and the people in my life who are willing to lead me toward new things.
Here’s to not having everything figured out! X
Some recs for things that have inspired me lately:
–Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
–Beginner’s Pluck by Liz Bohannon
-cooking from Cravings by Chrissy Tiegen
–Succession (HBO)
–Abstract: The Art of Design (Netflix)
–1619 (The New York Times podcast)
–Armchair Expert (podcast)
