If you get the Secret Posts, then you received this news last week.
THANK YOU for your sweet and supportive response. It meant the world to me this weekend.
When I chose Only What Matters for my mantra this year, it never occurred to me that this blog would become a casualty. I’ve loved this space for nearly six years, and I regularly point to blogging as one of the biggest game-changers of my adulthood. But for the last few months, all un-ignorable signs have pointed to me closing up shop here.
It’s a strange thing, living out loud on the internet. I would encourage anyone to try it, if they’re so inclined, as the world wide web will swiftly teach you lessons about yourself that you didn’t even know you needed to learn. I have been exhilarated, embarrassed, celebrated, insulted, triumphant, mocked, and awarded for what I’ve put out on the internet, and I’m not even a controversial blogger. You build up an armor and you also learn to be bold.
Outside of moving to Los Angeles, it is blogging that has brought about the most significant life changes. I cut my writing teeth here. I met some of my very closest friends. I’ve traveled to Sri Lanka, Haiti, and Israel all because of this blog. It’s taught me a different sort of discipline and a specific set of marketing skills. It has lead to speaking engagements and writing gigs and all sorts of things that I never dreamed I could consider “work.”
But now, after years of fun and thousands of posts, I’m ready to try something new. I’ve been making lots of space in my life, finding margin because I needed it, because life proved over and over to me that I require it to be healthy and happy. I used to post consistently, rain or shine, no matter where I was in the world. When I started paying attention to What Matters, I loosened the reins on my posting schedule, and didn’t worry so much about how often I wrote here. That lead to less time in front of the computer, but, as is my habit, I started to fill that time. And as the months marched on, I knew I needed to trim things again. It came to me in June that possibly if I stopped blogging entirely, I could continue other creative pursuits.
I was hesitant, as I’m sentimental about this blog and I’m proud of the work I’ve done here. But as I started watching for the signs and thinking over the decision, it became more clear that calling this blog “finished” was the right path.
Thank you for reading all these years. THANK YOU. Your comments and emails and messages of encouragement and “me, too!” and sharing and support have been the fuel for this blog. I am grateful for our HH community, and of what we’ve all shared here.
Now, while I am done posting on this blog, I am not disappearing. I plan to stay on social media, because I like it. I will still share off-the-cuff thoughts on twitter, snapshots of the day on Instagram, and links and commentary on facebook. I hope you will follow me there.
Most importantly, I will still be writing the Secret Posts. In fact, all my new content will be funneled into these monthly emails. I love sharing snippets of our life, beauty products I’ve tried, and books I’m reading, and now all of that will be in the Secret Posts ONLY.
I want you to know that I am thankful for you, and grateful for what this space and community has brought about. I have the fondest of feelings about blogging, and look forward to what creatively comes next.
All the best,
Laura
