35 Comments

I love this! I’m working through what I’m really trying to say now too. I want to share my life, but I want it to be engaging too and maybe have a point other than sharing for the sake of sharing. Also, maybe that’s enough? I’ll figure it out soon enough. In learning to just trust the process. Looking forward to the next newsletter!

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Isn’t it so exciting? All the possibilities for the way things can look? It’s all more than enough.

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Loving the new name!!! Very much on brand! I am so happy you got the rest you deserved because rest brings new creative ideas and inspiration! Congratulations, Rachel!

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Thank you so much ☺️! Your kind words mean so much. I’m happy I gave myself space to think and dance in the unknown 😉

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"It’s a place of play where I’ve allowed myself to be guided more by intuition than a strict plan. It is a break from daily life, where so much is timed and calculated." I resonated with this SO much. My writing is truly a place of respite for me, especially when the rest of life is so jam-packed and optimized. I'm so glad writing is play for you, too!

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Yes yes, you get it!

It’s like entering a new realm where I both make the rules and let go of them all entirely. It’s really the one area I know time has no hold or restriction on what can be created.

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Congratulations on a year of writing Rachel and looking forward to the new space and new writings coming our way ✨

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Thanks Athira 💌🙌🏾 onward we go!

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I really love this, congrats on the milestone Rachel!🎉 Cheers to this new chapter and many more to come🥂

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Thank you! To life goodness and all that’s to come 🥂

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Happy 1 Year, Rachel! So glad you're in this space and looking forward to what you share with us in the next year.

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Thanks for always cheering me on ♥️

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Congratulations on your one year anniversary! 🥳

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Thank you Lani 💛🥂

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It’s time!!!!

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💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾

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Yes yes to all of this. The more I write the more I feel the freedom and fluency of it. It’s a muscle you work, and then it works ❤️❤️.

Congrats on your first Substackiversary

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Thank you so very much Noha ♥️ it really is a muscle 💪🏾 some days it is strong and others it is taxed, but use contributes to long term growth. So happy to have met people, yourself included, who make using it so worth it.

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This is gorgeous, all of it. 💗 The whole third paragraph has me nodding along! I'm very much in the weeds with the "urgency and preparation" pairing for the second time in a row this week... 😅 But still the words flow!

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Urgency and preparation really go hand in hand 😩! Without urgency I’m not intentional and without preparation I’m a ball of stress. We get to grow, Jess 😂! Thanks for reading along. I’m glad it resonated.

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100%!! I suppose the creative process wouldn't be quite the same without lighting a fire under our butts 😂😂

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Right! lol

We gotta get all the words out.

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One way or another!!

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Love the name and the courage to make the shift 👏🏽

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Thanks, Jamal! :)

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An amazing shift that I am very much looking forward to.

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😊💐💪🏾

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Congrats on your writing anniversary! Looking forward to where this new rush of creativity will take you and your work :)

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Thank you Kelisha! There’s so much to come 😉

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Happy 1 year! So much YES to this... "And, conveying genuine emotion through the written word only works when I can connect and access that emotion within myself. But, mostly, writing has prompted me to slow down, pause, and ask, 'What am I really trying to say?'" Excited to follow your stories from the lens of love and travel! Beautiful. 💛

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Thank you for you well wishes and choosing to read along 🙂

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So many people think we're master architects of our life in such a way that we draw great plans from start to finish without realising that more often than not, the most beautiful things we become are a function of those one or two life experiments that did not fail.

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Hi Shittu! So what you’re saying is keep going? lol

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Hello Rachel, Well more than an encouragement to keep going on. I read through this and on a superficial or general thought, I could say "Oh what a great writer, you must be putting all the work in, writing all the good stuff and making all the perfect plans."

But paying closer attention to what you were saying, I could reaffirm (you can correct me if I'm wrong) that this post and many more like this which warms my heart before I'm done reading was not written by someone who had it all figured out from the start and I don't know by how much now. But someone who took a big bet or thought it right to try something out and look what it resulted to.

And it's more like the testimony of anything truly fulfilling, because honestly, the tendency for 'observers' to think that people who live fulfilled lives have this perfectly curated vision board, where year in year out everything just falls in line as planned. Most times, like I said earlier it's that one or two risky experiments that would go on to fling heavens gates wide open.

Well, you should keep keeping on too Rachel. Why not🤔😅

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Ahhhh yes thank you for the clarification, you’re spot on! This isn’t the product of vision board level well curated work, though I aspire to that level of organization. It’s mostly me examining my journey and speaking to myself through a broader lens in the hope of sharing the lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Thank you for taking the time to explain your perspective. I’m grateful to have people like yourself willing to engage not only with the work but, me, the writer as well.

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