The Simple Joy

Hi everyone! To be honest, these intros are always the hardest part of a post because one minute I’m telling you what I had for dinner and the next I’m completely spilling my guts. The transition just feels a bit odd. But hey, the freedom to do that is the beauty of this gig! Anyways, I’ll share some particularly noteworthy things from the past month – I’m currently in my reading era (gotta make the parents proud somehow), I don’t know where TopGun has been all my life, concert tickets will forever be the best thing money can buy, and lastly…never take a hot girl walk on the day your neighborhood’s trash goes out. Just.not.the.vibe.

But yeah so now for the fun part! HAPPY SUMMER! If you know me, you know summer is my absolute favorite. Coming from a girl who used to own a t-shirt that says “school kills artists” and sported it down the halls proudly, (got to love that teenage angst). I made it pretty clear that I just wanted to be somewhere in the sun, not under fluorescent lights. I craved it. I longed for the slow mornings, fresh air, and the time to pick up where I left off 10 years ago with those random childhood hobbies. Was that too clichè? If you thought so, buckle up! It’ll only get worse!!

With summertime comes free time and free time means screen time, because those two things are synonymous in this day and age right? Nobody reading this is a stranger to the Internet or the rise of social media influencing. It’s all encompassing, our jobs have minimized themselves to the confines of a mobile device, our family gatherings now take shape on a shared screen, and our recreational time is now spent scrolling, and typing away, oversharing on the Internet (guilty as charged!). And we know the cycle all too well, it’s not like I’m uncovering some great mystery. With the scrolling comes comparison and with comparison comes insecurity and with insecurity comes jealousy! So fun right?! “Everyone has an internship.” “How did everyone except me get the memo on the cheap flights to Europe?” “Since when did everyone become so fit?” If this is where you are this summer, I know the feeling. While it’s far from accurate, (as our feelings usually are), it’s not fun. And I know posts about social media and iTs HaRmFuL eFfeCts are so deadbeat. We’ve all been there and done that, but I just can’t help myself! I suppose I have the excessive amount of Emma Chamberlain videos I watched growing up to thank for this infatuation.

Anyway. These feelings, (insecurity, more specifically), pressure us into always feeling the need to do more. Post more. Network more. Workout more. But running the race of hustle culture is exactly where you lose the fun of it.

And that leads me to my main part of this post, everyone has something to bring to the table. When I think of my friends and the things I love about them, it’s not because they’re all the exact same as me. Actually, quite the opposite. They’re dancers, they’re passionate about fashion, they film and vlog everything for the fun of it. Everyone on Instagram is a creator. Or a model. Or a chef. Our parents didn’t get the same opportunities as we have to showcase our talent. And if you can’t seem to find a category or title that you fall into and feel kind of lost, be patient. You’ll find it in time. Maybe you’re a cheerleader, maybe you're the person that gives everyone else the support they need to keep creating. It’s harsh out there on the Internet. It goes back to the cycle I talked about earlier, people are always going to have something to say, you’ll always be “trying too hard” or “thinking you’re just soo cool” to some people. But my question to you is… is there such a thing as trying “too hard” for something that you really want?

If your answer is no, welcome to the winning team. You’ve cracked the code to success. We create because we love it, we sing because it’s an escape, our videos aren’t monetized because we aren't hustling. It’s authentic. It’s not because the algorithm said so. Remember what that feels like? Kind of like the excitement we had as kids showing up to Show and Tell Day in elementary school? We just couldn’t wait to share something that we loved with others. That same spark is there, and people need it. Somewhere along the way, our passions became our chores. But this summer, I hope that changes. I hope you find your way back to the simple joy of doing whatever it is that makes you excited. And I hope you share it with the world!

As always, thank you all for reading - means so much to me! Also, I have some exciting ideas and fun things to write about coming up so stay tuned!

XO, Maddie