I’ve been thinking about more and better ways to show up in my online space and to provide value in my little corner of the internet! With that, my mind instantly fled to the concept of writing more, live video, more insta-stories, showing more real moments. But after thinking of all these things I could share — I thought, when I am chugging along on work for our clients at home, enjoying time away from screens with friends or at the hardware store for the fourth time that week – the last thing I think is ‘I should grab my phone and record.’

It’s not that I don’t want to invite you in or only share my ‘highlight reel’ — it’s that giving my full undivided attention to the task at hand and also the act of BEING PRESENT means a great deal to me. I’m trying to limit my use of devices when I can because so much of my work requires screen time!

I try to keep things real around here and honestly share my heart, my challenges and beyond-surface-level-realness in my writing and videos on social media when I think about it BUT one thing I want to recognize is that WE ARE ALL HUMAN. No one has to prove that.

Our humanity is undeniable. 

I don’t always take the most gorgeous photos (in fact, I have a reaaaalllly cute face when I flip the front camera around! LOL), have a ridiculous and crippling fear of flying and definitely have ‘off days’ (or weeks). I make mistakes, don’t always manage my time well, have more ideas than I’m able to execute, am insecure about different areas of my life and can’t stand doing dishes but am working on it. The reason I started writing (especially publicly) was because I’ve had some interesting, funny and weird experiences in my life that have brought me where I am and taught me what I know. I am a naturally curious person who loves to learn and loves to share my insight with others. Guess what being a writer, photographer or entrepreneur doesn’t make me? . . . Perfect. Not by a long shot! 

Nor is anyone that you connect with online (or in person for that matter).

Every single human on this earth has good days and bad, hates doing laundry (or weirdly loves it), looks like a hot BABE on day #5 without washing our hair (NOT), hates the sound of our voice on video and are out here just trying to navigate this thing called life! All of us.

Something I often talk about with our clients is how much has changed in the age of the internet. It was UNHEARD of to connect with individuals across the globe instantaneously. To communicate with brands like a peer. To build your business through an incredible online community. Now this is all a norm to us!

Picture this: You’re an artist standing in your studio while a gallery stroll is going on.
People flood in and out of your space admiring your work, asking about your inspiration or your personal story.

They don’t ask you to prove that you’re human, or normal, or relatable.
They connect with you person to person, heart to heart in that moment.
They enjoy you for how you show up and what you create.

Now, think about how that relates to our experience online: Online, we are expected to show that we indeed ARE human. We aren’t only asked to share our work but also take time to document and write about each aspect of our day or our work, can be criticized for sharing ‘curated content’ and not enough realness. Or we aren’t mindful of our brand and just share the mess, the unedited, the in between, the mundane – our work is often overlooked. I don’t believe in *only* sharing the good, certainly not, but I also don’t believe we need to constantly halt our daily lives just to simply PROVE our humanity.

Again, our humanity is undeniable.

I think we should view social media as an opportunity to share our story, how much or little we feel comfortable with (because #boundaries) and to genuinely connect with others in whatever capacity we like. We also need to identify our insecurities and not allow others on the internet to control our happiness. We can set limits and know when to take a break because it’s scary how a whole world of information, imagery, thoughts, etc is in the palm of our hands at all time and it can be a shrinking feeling. I think there needs to be more curiosity, conversation, boundaries and more understanding.

There are people I love to connect with online simply because what they create is so wildly inspiring to me. Others, I love their story and their realness and openess.

And there are many people that mix the two so well. *Those* are the people that I connect with the most. They create inspiring work, push the limits of creativity, share proudly and make me want to be better AND they also show that they are human, flawed + still enough, can laugh at themselves and are genuine. That balance is really rad to me and something I’m striving for.

So this is a pep-talk for me as well as you, WE ARE ALL HUMAN. We are all doing our best. This space is for me to share things that inspire me, spark important conversation and build community. I welcome you as you are, and though I may not always share the unfiltered, messy everyday life — please know it’s here. It’s always, always here I’m writing this from the front seat of our beater SUV (that’s ugly but practical and great for sand + surf) before I hop out to go to my eye doctor’s appointment ✌?