004: The vulnerability of sharing, pancakes for dinner, and my new affinity for country music
Zach Bryan, will you marry me
Things I Could Write About This Week:
The final season of This Is Us triggering 7 years worth of grief I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to release and process
The AND/BOTH of it all when it comes to… literally everything in life (saving this for another time)
The growing number of times I’m being called a hippie (not mad) by both people who have known me for a long time and no time at all.
The slip and fall on my driveway that resulted in an ER visit.
My brain exiting my skull causing me to leave my laptop in a car dealership for an hour before realizing I didn’t have it (Reader, fear not. It was there - untouched - when I returned. Thank heavens.)
Some weeks you’re going on snowy drives and taking pretty pictures of purple houses and other weeks you’re falling on your icy driveway in front of your neighbour and getting five stitches in your knee after spending your morning crying about the people and places you’ve lost in the past decade of your life. It’s a real mixed bag this whole life thing.
Minor injuries and emo mornings aside, this week was actually great. One of the many reasons was a conversation I had with a friend after publishing last week’s newsletter here. We got to talking about the vulnerability of sharing online - of sharing in general.
The vulnerability of sharing
It’s a vulnerable thing to share parts of yourself, regardless of the medium. Visual art, photography, writing, music, film, dance, your craft, your vocation, your business… it all leaves you feeling exposed and quite frankly when it comes to the internet in 2023, it can also feel a little bit scary because, well, the internet can be a frightening place.
That said, I think it’s very possible and would go as far as to say important for us to create spaces - little corners of the internet if you will - to find our people. Our community. Sharing our unique perspectives and selves in a way that feels safe and nourishing.
I want desperately to see the world through the eyes of photographers and the souls of artists through the paint on their paper or canvases. I want to listen to a song and adopt the lyrics as my prayer. I want to read the words of a thinker or a healer and turn them over in my head and heart.
Creating a little corner of the internet for myself is exactly what I’m trying to do here and I’m grateful you’re here with me :) If you’ve been feeling called to put something out into the world, I think you absolutely should. Consider this your sign to find a way to do so that feels aligned and give it a try. Don’t tell yourself it’s been done already because here’s the thing… We’re all just out here creating new iterations of thoughts and art and things and businesses that already exist. This quote I shared in instalment 002 explains what I mean:
Everything we do is based on the information that we take in, our experiences in life, what we learned in school, a conversation we had yesterday, all of the things that make us who we are, we bring into all of our projects. So we’re always in collaboration. It’s never our idea.
If sharing something of your own doesn’t appeal or apply to you but you are moved in some way - big or small - by something someone else has created or shared, I’d encourage you to share that with them. It goes a long way :)
On that note, I thought I’d share two thoughts that were shared with me in conversations lately that I found helpful…
Perfection is the enemy of consistency.
A spin on the classic “perfection is the enemy of progress” or “perfect is the enemy of great” and for me, right now, far more profound than either of those. Consistency is the key ingredient in most endeavours and often the very hardest thing to generate.
That thought parlays nicely into the other thought that has stuck with me recently,
I think the more you start creating for yourself, the more you won't be able to resist it. Simply because it's part of our human nature.
Creating for the sake of creating. It’s human nature. I’m so glad to be making space for this in my life again.
Grateful for the two beautiful souls in my life that shared those words with me.
URL Things I Loved This Week
This conversation, specifically the bits about codependency. Some reminders in there I needed, and I still have 2.5 hours left to listen to. Fair warning, it moves quick and is a pretty dense/intense listen.
THIS (insert happy tear emoji)
Re-reading this caption by
note for the 3rd or 4th time
IRL Things I Loved This Week
Having this song and this song on a loop anytime I drive anywhere. They’re on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum and I love them both equally.
Trivia night at the brewery with my long time and brand new besties
These Lemon Chia pancakes that my bff made us for dinner to celebrate La Chandeleur - a beautiful mid-winter celebration that’s acknowledged in PEI that I’m excited to learn more about and celebrate again next year.
Sunshine and blue skies and pastel winter sunsets and the fact that it’s staying light outside til nearly 6pm. Finally.
A quote I’m keeping close
It is essential that you learn to take action before you feel like doing it. Action builds momentum and creates motivation. These feelings will not come to you spontaneously; you have to generate them. You have to move. You have to simply begin and allow your life and your energy to reorient itself to prefer the behaviours that are going to move your life forward.
- Brianna Wiest in The Mountain Is You
Til next week,
ilysm. xo Heather
i can't wait to let the desert fully hippie-fy you 💖