An impromptu thank you note (& a quick confession)

Assuming this is a safe space(!), I have to confess that this newsletter was starting to stress me out.

I think because I really want this to feel helpful, I get caught up thinking everything needs to have some kind of applicable “takeaway”. I imagine every writer must feel that way—we want our words to be useful, right? Or maybe that’s just me, to be honest. I do, in fact, base much of my self-worth on how helpful I can be (I’m working on it, I think).

That, in addition to the fact that I have the tendency to optimize everything as though it’s a project meant that this was starting to feel like something I needed to “succeed at”, rather than outlet for me to do what I love.

I wrote last week’s newsletter kind of on a whim—it definitely wasn’t what I planned to write. And I wasn’t sure if talking about something so deeply personal would be useful to anyone. But apparently, what do I know? Because the response was so much more than I could ever have imagined.

You see, to my mind, if anyone is taking the time to read anything I write, I need to make it worth their while. I need to be smart and poignant and useful. And that’s hard to be every week, honestly.

But the response to last week’s newsletter made me realize it is in fact enough for me to just be open and honest because people will take what they need. It’s fine for me to just express, without needing it to be actionable. And mostly, I can write about the feelings that I’m still working through, and you are happy to work through it with me.

So, first of all, thank you. Thank you for reading and being here—it’s still crazy to me that so many of you are rocking with my little passion project but I’m incredibly appreciative.

I’m hoping moving forward I’ll be able to write a lot more freely—without the pressure of needing to offer something. Or more specifically, the writing is, in and of itself, the offering. My feelings, my openness, my unabashed honesty are the offering. That’s my commitment to you, and hopefully you’ll like it enough to stick around.

This week’s actual newsletter is scheduled for the AM, so you’ll be hearing from me again real soon! But I just felt like I needed to say this super quick. I guess I was in my feelings or whatever (shocking, I know).

Talk soon,
Zahra x