Reflections on One Year
Five things I've learned while writing this newsletter.
Somehow, it’s been one whole year since I launched this newsletter. A lot has changed in that time. A lot has remained the same.
Now that we’re fifty-two emails in, I can admit how terrified I was to send the first installment. What if no one read it? What if someone did? I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that my words would land in people’s inboxes where I’d no longer have the ability to edit them. It felt very direct and very final.
“Okay,” I turned to my partner. “I’m going to schedule it and then we’re going out, because otherwise I’m going to obsess over whether anyone opens it or not.” And then we absconded to our favorite neighborhood restaurant.
“Did you get it yet?” I asked, three minutes after ordering. “How about now? Has it come through?”
Thankfully, the process has gotten (somewhat) easier since then. And one year in, I can say that it has also taught me a fair amount.
1. Maybe just try.
While I can hesitate and second guess with the best of them, I launched this newsletter off the cuff, without any plans for what I’d say or where it would go. As I wrote in the first installment, my goal was simply to show up, week after week, like Balcony Jack, doing the thing without being attached to the outcome.
As it turns out, the “just try” approach is a decent way to wade into all sorts of unfamiliar territory. It’s how I started running again after a multi-year hiatus and how I’ve come to approach creative projects, particularly when I get all up in my head about the finished product.
It would be THE worst slogan for an activewear brand, but sometimes, trying is good enough. You don’t have to succeed or impress or even keep going. Maybe just try, and see what happens.