I'm Back

all about my break, hustle culture, mental health, and slowing down

Hello friends! It’s been a minute…I missed you! Back in December, I randomly stopped posting to Instagram because it was making me depressed. I was trying to figure out my life with a 1-year-old and every day I felt like I was slipping more and more into a dark hole. Social media is a bad place to be when you’re losing yourself because it seems everyone else has found all the answers. When I'm empty, it's very easy for me to be influenced and very hard to listen to my authentic needs.

I didn’t plan how long I would be off the app, but as time went on, I realized I needed an extended break. I needed the time to myself and my new family to figure out life. Every day felt like an emotional rollercoaster. My depression and grief were running the show. During this break, I started some new therapy, EMDR, to work on my child loss trauma and other issues. It was a rough few months but I’ve seen really fantastic results in my mental health since my EMDR sessions.

There were times in the past 8 months that I really missed connecting on IG and writing blogs. And then there were days when I thought I should never go back. I think I was hoping for this moment when I finally felt healed. That’s my biggest takeaway from the hiatus. While I definitely don't think social media helps and breaks are really, really good, it’s not a cure-all. It’s part of the process and healing takes work. Doing the work was uncomfortable, hard, and the last thing I wanted to do. I realized there might never be a time I felt ready (aka, perfect, enough, healed) to be back on social media. Being scared, imperfect, and showing up when you’re not ready IS the work. I decided that I either give up on writing for good or I show up healed or not. 

(Sidenote: I do think there are times when breaks are mandatory. You can't just power through depression.)

So… I think you know what I chose. I’m back with a renewed focus. While this will still be a very personal blog where I share my journey through child loss/motherhood/life, I’m going to write about the topics I have the most passion and experience with, things that light me up, as well as what I feel you, the reader, find really useful. My big WHY for all of this is to share a unique point of view in this saturated space. I want this blog to be a place where you can find classic style tips, clean beauty for beginners, aspirational jewelry/fashion history, and mental health talk from someone imperfect and messy but dedicated to finding beauty in all of it. I want to show REAL life because that’s what I desperately want. How to have an effortless, classic style while running after a toddler, how to incorporate clean beauty into your life even if you don’t know where to start, how to prioritize your mental health when you have no time, and timeless jewelry and fashion history to endlessly inspire you as it does me.

I want this space to be a place to learn, share, and grow at your pace. My desire is to encourage women and show there are many ways to live a beautiful life. 

I’m a BIG believer in SMALL steps to achieve anything you want in life. Whenever I’ve tried to reach a goal by making huge changes, I always end up losing motivation, falling behind, feeling bad, and giving up. Not until I started giving myself the time and patience to make small lasting changes did start reaching goals and more importantly loving the process. Life is meant to be enjoyed. The process should also be enjoyed. Hustle culture has never been for me. I’m more for a slow and steady culture. Slowing down, being present, staying intentional, and consistently showing up for myself, my family, and my dreams. I hope you stick around. I would love your feedback as blogs roll out and new content comes your way. 

Here’s to living an intentional life, slowing down, and loving what is. 

jodi x