Good morning everyone,
I’ve just returned from a very chill holiday in Spain. Every summer, it’s my mission to seek out vacation spots that are a little more off the beaten path. St. Tropez, Sicily, Ibiza, etc., are all incredible places that I’m lucky to have ticked off my list—but now that “Euro Summer” has become its own content niche, I want less crowded destinations. So, I returned to Costa Brava for the second summer in a row. The region is quite large, with many different towns to explore, but I really appreciate how quaint and unpretentious the ones I've visited are. I also have one more last-minute trip this weekend to a place I've never been, so all my travels will be recapped in the August paid subscriber newsletter.
My break from writing personal essays this summer is coming to an end very quickly. I truly cherished this time off after four years of writing this newsletter consistently. Although it seemed like as soon as I made that announcement, I suddenly found myself with a lot to say—stay tuned! Huge thanks again to Eliana Smith for her summer reading list (check it out if you need a last-minute beach read before LDW!) and Meadowlark Monaghan and Lauren Fisher for their personal stories. It was nice to have some new voices on here, and I hope to incorporate other contributors when it feels right.
I decided to do a solo podcast today. Initially, I planned to answer reader questions, but I kept noticing a common theme—one I also see often in my Instagram Q&A’s, which boils down to: How do I feel okay about my life looking different from everyone else’s? Or, How do I explain to dates that [insert insecurity about a particular life circumstance]?
So I recorded some thoughts on what I think it means to live an unapologetic life. No one should feel like they have to apologize for their lives looking different from the “norm” — whatever that even means. We all get one life, and the goal should not be to play small or feel like we have to squeeze into a box that we were actually never meant to fit into. We all have a choice: We can dwell on the ways life looks different from what we once imagined, or choose to be grateful and embrace the one that's unfolding before us.
