Have you ever heard the saying that some people come into your life for a reason, for a season, or for a lifetime? I think the same is true for our purpose and passions, and how they show up and evolve through the chapters of our lives.

I started this blog years ago, when I myself was a different person; honestly even just a ghost of myself. I was navigating through my twenties and early thirties, looking for an outlet for my voice, and straddling the line between allowing myself to grow and feeling obligated to lead and provide for others. At times I overly governed in what I shared, how I felt, and what I could use my voice for. This platform reflected a lot of moments throughout that time, but none of the truth or grittiness of what I really wanted to say, to share, and to wonder about openly. This community was built around an objectively typical lifestyle that quickly became less inspired the more I felt obligated to remain consistent to a particular brand, message, or image.

I spent some time recently reading through old posts; each one took me back to to the memories of that time, all rich with broader context and experiences where the life was actually happening and where the actual meaningful growth existed. The stories behind the meals, between the lines, and in the fringes were where the real content was; that’s where it still is.

Ten years ago when I started sharing my words, I had more questions than I had answers, more things to say than I felt that I had a voice, and always more interest and connection with the risk takers and messy truth tellers than the quiet conformists who refused to show their messy too.

Here we are now in 2020 and while it is not remotely what I had anticipated it would be, it’s also been so much more and so confirming of both where I want my energy to go, and where I absolutely will not waste any more of it being anything less than exactly as messy, loud, vulnerable and evolving as I am every day that I show up fully as myself. Over the last 4 years, specifically, I have been slowly, intentionally, and quietly returning to myself; the self that I was always meant to be, and not necessarily one that I was or ever knew before. I have been quiet in many ways, I have been extremely loud in others, and I absolutely did not take the express route, but there was purpose in each stretch of the road, and each unexpected turn. While there’s a lot to unpack in that, a lot of which I will explore here more, eventually, the punch line here is that this platform is shifting. There was a reason, and a few hearty seasons, for this platform as it was, but it was never meant to be a lifetime.

So, will there still be food posts? I mean maybe, sure, if there’s a reason, and it’s part of a larger contemplation, celebration, or message. But no, I also don’t really care about what I had for dinner, so I’m not going to expect you to either. Will there be fitness? Again, maybe, if it’s about mental health, or it’s metaphorical, but as much as I love to workout, and as much as I have grown and learned through the experience of owning gyms as businesses, the workouts aren’t where the purpose or actual living is done.; it never was.

What this platform will be about is living in the messy, the full and the honest, with intent and purpose to challenge the status quo. There will be other people’s work and ideas shared, voices and stories represented and amplified. There will be curiosity explored and concepts shared as I/we/all continue the work to be better humans, for other humans and together challenge the systems and structures that marginalize and oppress. There will be education, activism, and dialogue to see the world a little clearer, truer, and more equitable. There will also be dogs. Always with the dogs. What we will not have is performative sharing, silence, complacency, or any of the bullshit.

If you want food, fitness, and none of the rest, please do unsubscribe. I would hate to have to pretend to carry the guilt of being uninspired by your struggle if you continued to follow out of obligation.

So, thank you all for the memories; but if I’m being honest, I’m pretty damn certain that the best is yet to come; so let’s keep our purpose intact, our activism clear and our foot on the damn gas. ❤