Starting Something New…

I just did an Instagram live about some changes that are happening in our lives over here. I’m not totally comfortable getting into the details just yet, but I did want to take a minute to tell all 48,000 of you* (mind-boggling, by golly), a little bit about what’s going on with me.

But first, let’s talk about Instagram, right? I think most of the following over there came, and stayed, because, like me, you love planners. (Thank you, you are my people.) Lots of you followed me when @thedaydesigner was still really young, and Instagram was still really young, too. It’s been a super fun journey, but those days have changed. I covered some of this in my live video, but basically, I feel that the proverbial photo bar has been raised. For businesses, or brands or bloggers, or influencers it is expected for photos on Instagram to be beautiful. (Not that I’m putting myself in that category or saying that I expect that of anyone in said category, just that: let’s be honest, people love following pretty photos. It works.) And in contrast, I’ve heard from some users that the stories feature is reserved for authentic moments.

None of that bothers me. It’s cool, right? Whatevs. I love the creative challenge of learning how to take better photographs. But watching Intsagram evolve left me wondering what my role in all this was. Maybe this is a weird question to ask, but I sort of wondered what I had to offer anyone? (Isn’t that a question we all ask at some time? I’m normal, right?)

Not that I got an answer, but I’ve had some time to stew on this, and it’s taken me a while to figure out what to do with these observations. In case you haven’t noticed, my posting slowed drastically in the past year. This was for a few reasons. One, we started homeschooling our kids. Even though they’re involved in a part-time at-school program, learning how to home school was a course of education for me alone. If I was going to pursue the homeschool venture, and do it well, I didn’t have time to be worried about what to post, or keeping up with a story for an entire day. My phone, gladly, often became lost during my day, and as I became absorbed in living the story that was happening around me, I forgot to post.

Another reason I stopped posting was because I ran into an inspiration shortage. And like all things in short supply, the price increased. My time is at a premium with three kiddos running around, and I didn’t want to sacrifice a moment of it to be on my phone. Additionally, as the volume in our house has increased, I’ve lost some bandwidth for my internal musings. Sad, but true, and it’s a truth I’m ok with. I love the volume in our house, and I know it’s only a season.

Last fall we tweaked a few things within our company structure, and thankfully, those allowed me to spend a full school year with my kids. As we near summer, however, we’ve got a great sitter lined up to help with the kids three days a week, and I’ve decided that I want to dive into project mode. I want to attempt a few things that I hope will be inspirational and encouraging for some people around me. And if I’m honest: I’m a creative, and any place there’s an opportunity to post a visual, well, it’s an itch I want to scratch. I love learning and dabbling and messing with this stuff—IF I have time to do it and it doesn’t take me away from my family.

All of this I’ve committed to and announced with one caveat: come July 28th, I’m back in homeschool mode. All creative projects and work associated with them must stop. Unless there is a shift in our family lifestyle before then, for any unforeseen reason, I’ll be back where I feel like I’m being called: my dining room table, teaching my kids.

OK, so all that to say. What are my summer projects? Well, stay tuned, and I’ll tell you more. I had to get this off my brain first. 🙂

*you = precious, amazing, awesome instagram followers