how your life feels is more important than how it looks
my friend saw this quote on a bathroom stall at a Budapest ruin bar.
When I give time to write about and reflect on life, it feels better. Words are like energy bubbling up inside. They ping pong around my brain, they pop fizz at the surface, anticipating their arrival on the page. Writing is a purge. It is the squeeze of a sponge. The whisk of an egg. A balm on itchy skin.
To share and relish this one precious and strange, calm and collected, frustrating and fist clenching, ordinary and wild life induces catharsis, perspective, connection, freedom, joy.
Taking a photo or a video feels good. To me. This is in the moment living. And that moment is being collected. Coming with.
If you want to savor an experience by taking out your camera or not at all, both things can be true.
The three minute path of Solar Eclipse Totality from April 8th 2024 elicited video footage because damn, that was Twister level storm chasing cool1. I was grasping tight the exhilarating glimpses of the moon passing between the sun and the earth.
Let’s add a solar storm to this years sun centric activity. I was fairly unhinged and fully carbonated during the Northern Lights show on May 10th 2024. I took way too many photos and videos as I danced with glee around my backyard.
That good looking plate of food on vacation? You’re not going to eat it again. That dish I ate in Imerovigli, Greece 15 years ago! That dinner at Trattoria da Enzo in Rome where I breastfed my 7 month old over a plate of Pasta Amatriciana! That time my two year old ate Octopus in Portugal! I want that memory. That is how I felt long before the days of social media.
It’s all once in a lifetime though — things like the northern lights and your kids being little. Your kids being little is once in a lifetime.
My Mom kept photo albums of all our growing up family outings and adventures. We did lots of things and took lots of pictures. I always liked paging through them, even in adulthood. Childhood is a treasure chest that lives on.
If we were friends in high school or college your picture was probably on the giant cork bulletin board in my room. Endlessly curated albums lined my bookshelves and friends loved to page though them. Past lives were a trip and I’m so glad we got to live them offline.
I developed film (yes, film!) for a living from the ages of 16-21. I ran the South Yarmouth CVS One Hour Photo Lab! I cracked open disposable cameras, created and ran negatives, poured chemicals. I had regular customers and I printed every tourist’s glossy 4x6s who set foot on the mid-cape. I’ve been connected to photographs and stories all along.
If you feel pulled to create and make meaning through words and images, I hope you are doing it.
Here I am in your inbox! That is new and different in the very grand scheme of all things. I aim to be authentic always, even if I mess up2 or make you cringe in the process.
Reflections, memories, recommendations: it all feels deeply meaningful to me. It is an expression of well meaning creativity. To sometimes rid the self imposed or otherwise main character energy limitations, to take the selfie, to share the cute kid photos.
When I write this newsletter? I’m going for inspirational, fun drenched, delicious, worthwhile, or passion fueled. I’m hoping lived experience, travel, restaurants, product experience, any type of goodness can be beneficial to the collective. I like having you here!
In regards to the social media aspect of being a: [creator, blogger, influencer, writer, parent, friend, consumer, someone with an online presence] where do you fall? How do you feel about it?
Share all the things if you want. Share nothing, if you prefer. Stealth is in. Hi to all my non Instagram using friends! I see you and I get it.
Find a balance that only you can define. And refine, and re-define. It ebbs, it flows. It shrinks, it grows.
When it’s a social media feed (ing frenzy) that’s curated, dependent on getting likes, it’s all blurred lines. If you love your life, likes don’t matter. If you’re growing something of importance, they do [might]! How odd altogether to reflect how much we like likes. The self fulfilling satisfaction of them. The fact that they are the meaning behind virality.
It is always going to feel charged and something akin to taking a risk when you hit send, publish!
Will they like it?
Does it feel good, carbonated? Are you getting satisfaction, comfort?
Does it feel weighty, heavy? Are you stiff, uneasy?
It is decidedly more important how your life feels than how it looks. Having real relationships and finding your truth make it all meaningful.
xx,
who wanted to be in the red Dodge Ram next to Bill Paxton? (And is anyone watching the remake, Twisters?)
editing is tough. If i accidentally type loose instead of lose, I’m counting on you to call me out.
I never used to use social media much before I started my newsletter, so it feels forced at times to put myself out there. But I'm starting to get the hang of it. I like the idea of spreading my ideas widely. I think if I can manage to avoid some of the common social media pitfalls, it will feel better.
Writing on the other hand always feels great! Speaking of, your opening paragraph was 🔥🔥!
This is my favorite post of yours! That introduction! Beautiful.