A quick thank you
and: On double standards, trusting my instincts, and a small update
Hi everyone! Today's post is going to be a bit shorter again. We are getting ready for my 4 year old to start pre-k and also prepping for a five day trip, both of which are coming up really soon, and I'm trying to balance plenty of rest and care for myself so I don't get burnt out.
So today is mostly just about saying thank you.
After sharing my last post seeking feedback about the frequency of posts and other details for the newsletter going forward, I realized that I had a double standard for my own writing and the substacks I read - and that I'm not the only one.
As much as I have felt free to write about whatever feels right, I have also had these somewhat rigid ideas in my mind about the consistency in length and frequency of posts, even as I've found myself noticing that I really appreciate many of the substacks I read that post once a week or far less, and/or regularly share shorter pieces.
I wonder where these expectations for myself came from? Why do I feel they should apply to me when I don't apply them to the writers I love?
What I value about others' writing isn't any one specific type or length of post; it's their own unique voice and perspective.
I'm grateful that my readers (and fellow writers) were so quick to remind me of the reason they are here, and to trust myself. Overwhelmingly, the feedback was to go with the flow and do what feels right for me, and that immediate and wholehearted reassurance that my readers trust my instincts is the most helpful kind of feedback I could have received.
So with that said, a small update I've chosen to move forward with is to merge the Rewilding section back into the main newsletter. More and more, I've been feeling like the content of posts in the main newsletter and the Rewilding section were blurring together, so combining them just felt right.
You can find all of the previous posts together now, and - of course - I will continue to use content warnings as I have in the past for anything that may be triggering.
Thank you all so much for showing up authentically and encouraging me to do the same, however that looks. This space is as much a reflection of your support as it is of my work, and I'm excited to continue to build it with you all.
Have you noticed any expectations that you only seem to apply to yourself? Something that may not be serving you or anyone else, but you find hard to let go of?
As always, please feel free to share if this post resonated with you.
How often do I hold myself to a standard that I wouldn’t hold anyone else to? Goodness. Self compassion is such a practice.
I’m thankful that you felt supported to follow your intuition. I love this community of substack; I don’t remember the last time I felt so encouraged to write and create, to feel like I could show up imperfectly and still be reminded I have something unique to offer.
I'm a month into posting consistently on Substack and I must admit, anxiety over posting type and frequency often made me overthink and not actually share. I'm glad that I gave myself permission to just post. And see what happens. And to know that we're also allowed to change our minds at any time. Trusting our instincts is so hard sometimes, but we have them for a reason. Thank you for this!