Hello Again

In 2011, newly laid off from my first “real” job, I started this blog. As cliche as it sounds, Through Aviator Sunglasses was the creative outlet that gave purpose to my days while job searching and floundering with what I wanted to do with my life. Looking back even just 9 years ago, I can’t help but smile at my youth and naivety – to think we will decide our future and get it just right at 23. I posted religiously for a few years. I had a handful of devout readers who pumped me up and encouraged me to share my blog more widely, but I never went beyond this tiny circle – partly because the writing was always just for me but mostly because I didn’t think I was good enough in a highly saturated market of bloggers and Instagram famous personalities. Bless my friends for time and time again encouraging me when I’d write yet another post about my grand return to blogging. No matter how many ‘just do it’ conversations I had with myself the only consistency I found was in the ebb and flow.

In December I found myself laid off again, and while my life looks completely different the feelings are the same. You can’t help but grapple with self-doubt and self-worth, but as my first layoff, it was a blessing in disguise. It was my gift of time – to remove myself from the day-to-day grind and figure out how I want to spend my time. Working through the “what do I want to do with my life?” question now at 33 I keep coming back to the cliche, “I want to fill my cup”. In talking with friends, family, and professional mentors they all say the same thing – find a way to write for yourself. “You have a great perspective.” “Your voice resonates with people’.” And instead of dismissing it, I’m going to agree, dammit. I’m going to choose to see myself and my writing the way others do. And I’m going to do this [blog] for me, because storytelling fills me up, and has since I was a little girl.

Whoever said, “build your own dream, or someone will hire you to build theirs” was spot on. I don’t know yet what dream I’ll build by just sharing, but I want to write with abandon the way I did at 23. For me, with no expectations. This blog has always given me the creative space to breathe when I felt like I was suffocating under corporate brand guidelines and marketing phrases like ‘tangible impact’. I’ll write about what I want when I want, and if it resonates great. If not, come back tomorrow because I want to share a myriad of topics – motherhood, food, home decor, the working-mom rat race, the best podcast episodes, and probably even politics. I can promise you there will be just as many Pinterest-fails as Martha Moments. There will of course be all the big feelings from behind my aviator sunglasses. The pictures probably will look a little amateur at first. I’ll start sentences with ‘and’. And there will probably be the occasional typo. 

This is for me, and anyone who chooses to follow along, for no other reason than writing brings me joy. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s the importance of being happy. As we’ve seen this year life can be drastically changed at its best, and ripped away in a moment at its worst. We owe it to ourselves to create our own joy because happy people breed kindness. And we all know the world could use a little more kindness right now.

To the few dozen people who’ve been with me from the beginning, Welcome back. And to everyone else, Welcome!