My journey on the east coast has been nothing like I imagined it would be, because to be honest, I had very few expectations when I boarded my flight three years ago. I've told my story a few times so I'll keep it short today, after two months of living at home postgrad I decided to donate all of my belongings, accept an offer for grad school, and move to Washington DC all in the matter of three weeks. Yes, including finding housing, finding the money to make it all happen, and figuring out what the hell I was gonna do for money when I arrived.
To be perfectly honest, my first year and a half here was total crap. A combination of lack of friends, social support, money, and feeling of belonging. 2016 was the year I broke down, for many reasons that all seemed to pile up at once. The winter of 2016 I forced myself to make a decision, give up and go back home where things would be simpler, or pick myself up off the floor (literally) and force myself to go out and enjoy the city I had dreamed of for a decade. I chose the latter.
Fast forward to today where I have a handful of true friends I can call on at any time, a job I enjoy every moment of, money in the bank that helps me feel a bit safer every night, and a boyfriend who supports every stupid decision I make along the way.
I started, then quit, then restarted, then quit again, then picked back up blogging because there's days when I grow so tired of how useless writing can be sometimes. Don't get me wrong, we can all enjoy recommendations and ways to grow our following, but so few people write about the shit that makes our lives sometimes too much to cope with. My goal has always been to help other women figure out adulthood, whether that be their relationships or struggles to survive their dream.
Three years later I still cant fully put into words all the pieces of advice and lessons I've learned that have managed to get me to where I am today, but I can promise you I'm working on it. I may not have thousands of followers on Instagram or viral worthy page views, but I do get the occasional email from a woman who found my blog and resonated with my post so much that she had to email me to ask for advice or just to hear that it gets better.
Currently writing this post in bed while my boyfriend plays whatever game he's currently addicted to and our dinner bakes. With all the hate and violence that occurred this weekend I'm more than just thankful to be in DC, I'm thankful for my safety, the safety of my friends and family, and my belief that soon more and more will join together to fight against the disgusting ideas that were brought to light this weekend.
As I wait for my dinner to be ready, I'm working on rebranding my website, from how it looks to what it represents. For years I've known what purpose I want it to have, but seeing so few people take that path made me shy away from it.
Having been blogging since I was 19 years old I've learned everything there is to know about SEO, growing a following and creating content that gets views. The piece that has been missing is my passion, which is why I'm going to commit to writing only pieces that me three years ago would have found useful, whether it that be because I could have learned something or used it to distract myself from my current situation.
If you've been here for a while, thank you so much, and if you're new, welcome! Whichever you group you fall into I hope you'll sign up for my sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly newsletter. It's the place where I give the most true version of what's going on in my life, how to get through it, and the resources I personally use to survive my twenties.
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