Before starting this blog I had thought about venturing into something like this for a long time…but I couldn’t seem to give myself permission. A few years ago I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and knowing how much it helped me to hear other people’s stories, I started sharing more and more vulnerable posts on my social media accounts. Not very often, but when I did it was usually around mental health, balancing being a busy mom/student/career woman, etc. The last one I posted was about my decision to take time away from my trajectory and one of my girlfriends commented really beautifully about my writing and suggested a blog. It was all I needed. For someone to say “you should try this!” and I asked my dad the next day to build this website (lucky to have someone in my life that would do that for me, and what a beautiful job he did!). I have been pleasantly surprised at the ease of navigating the website, and learning how to post and format has been fun. But this blog is really exciting for me because I am doing it for myself. Something where the goal is just to put my thoughts out into the world. There is no sense of pressure, no deadlines, no grade to achieve. There is no metric to determine its value beyond the joy it brings to me posting and (my hope) to you reading. I am excited to write about so many topics. I want to talk about inclusivity, feminism, food, holidays, marriage, childhood, gratitude, being a mother, being a friend…experiences as I have them, observations. Sometimes heavy, sometimes light. This blog has become a hobby to me, something to look forward to outside of my family life and work. Something just for me. Grateful to my girlfriend for suggesting I should do this. Thanks for reading! -Amanda
