Hello Again

It’s a little bit surreal to be back writing on this page again… I know it’s been a while. Honestly, I thought I would give up altogether since it had been so long since I’d written, but here we are! My plan for this first post in ages is first to update you on where life has taken me since I stopped writing and second, to tell you my intentions for this page in its revival.

I left off right at the start of my student teaching and the culmination of my travel writing project – the whole reason this blog started in the first place. For anyone curious, it went really well! Hundreds of daily posts turned into 4 carefully crafted, creative stories about my travels told like fiction pieces. I was extremely proud of the effort I made in turning that dream into a reality and for attempting something that seemed huge and intimidating at first. I ended up with highest honors for the lessons and experience I was able to get out of that project, which doesn’t matter much but is a nice cherry on top.

The next two years after graduating were some of the most consistently stressful periods of my life so far (hey, early twenties). The teaching world proved far more intense than I had ever anticipated, but I think a lot of that was due to some toxic work environments and the great pandemic of Covid-19. I will say, I’ve had the best students and some of the very best coworkers, friends, and family to help me through it, and I am apprehensively looking forward to the next school year. My goal for this year is to really focus on balance and prioritizing my mental health so I don’t run on empty again until the next summer.

In the last two years I’ve also gotten used to living alone and being a *real* adult, I got a cat and over twenty plants, started therapy, reconnected with really good friends and moved on from some not so good ones. I’ve learned more about myself and my mental health and even more about the world and my place in it. I’ve never felt more at peace in my own heart, and I still have so far to go. I want to make a difference in the world, and I know that starts with loving and taking care of myself first.

I’m sure I’ll open up much more about my mental health struggles in future posts because it is so, so important to me, and if we don’t talk about it we aren’t doing anyone any favors. Which leads me to my goals for this blog in upcoming posts. My intention with this page is to be as authentic as possible without oversharing too much on the internet. Meaning, I don’t want to say my blog is this and not that, because life is significantly more fluid than that. Hay Set Free will continue to document where I am in life, what thoughts are on my mind, what mental/physical/emotional struggles I may be having, life wins, trips I take, lessons I’ve learned, or whatever else I feel pulled to write at the moment. I know how important it is for me to document my life now, and if anything I say can be helpful or relatable or inspiring for someone else, that’s all the better. You can follow along or not, and if you have a request or idea for a post, I’d love to hear it. Either way, I’m glad you’re here.