A Roadmap For the Blues

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^^ Photo by my favorite illustrator Zoe Si. ^^

This week was a week where absolutely nothing worked. I got sick, my cat got sick, my heat in my building broke, I fell behind on work assignments, I ended up canceling all my social engagements. By Friday the Mercury of my world had so fully retrograded that the only thing to do was eat Indian food and drink Aperol spritzes in yoga pants on my best friend’s couch.

Going into each week, I tend to set some high, and highly planned, expectations for the seven days ahead, and most the time, it works. But this week, after trying and failing to keep my original game plan afloat, I finally threw my hands up in the air and decided to lean into the chaos. It wasn’t the week I had hoped for, but it was the week I was having, and a week that was only going to be made harder without any sort of self-care. Once I gave myself permission to just relax and be, my retrograding Mercury week turned into an almost comical collision of calamities.

Should you also be experiencing one of those weeks, here’s a tiny roadmap I used to help get me out of the blues and back on my feet.

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Sundays are for …

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There is a special sort of magic that only comes on a Sunday.

While my Saturdays are often days packed to the brim with errands and catching up and to do lists, my Sundays seem to demand the opposite. Sure, they still hold the same amount of time as a Saturday, the same amount of hours and possibilities, but there is something about a Sunday that says brunch and long walks with no destination.

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I Hate You, I Love You – The Story of a Nose

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^^ Photo  from one of my favorite illustrators ever, Zoe Sees. ^^

When it comes to the love I feel for my nose, I think Facebook’s limited relationship labels describe it best, “it’s complicated.”

Everybody has a body part (or lets be honest, a few) that they’ve spent years trying to accept with mixed results. A lip moustache, a crooked nose, uneven butt checks — there is often a large gap between the moment you notice the things that bug you about your body and the moment you decide to fully embrace their originality.

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Welcome to my new adventure

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Hey, hello! Welcome to my new blog, it’s a pleasure to have you. Tea? Lint roller for all the cat hair you’re bound to acquire here?

If we haven’t met and you stumbled upon Hey, Is This Thing On? by accident, you might be thinking, what is this place that has so many thoughts? First off, my name is Carly, I’m forever juggling a full-time job, a freelance journalism side hustle, and too many to do lists to count. I created this blog as a way to carve out my own little space to share my thoughts on books, writing, my 28-year-old misadventures, living in New York City, mental health, and so much more. It turns out — as is no surprise to anyone who knows me — I have a lot of thoughts on a lot of things, and now they have a home to call their own.

If you clicked here and we have met, I assume you came here from my dad’s Facebook page. That guy is like a one man PR machine amongst 60 through 80-year-old retired firefighters who make up a shocking large percentage of my readership.

This is a bit of a fresh start after running a blog called The Curious Case for six years. I started that little blog right out of college. It was part composition book to practice my writing, part scrapbook to record my then 22-year-old adventures with friends. In that first year, I considered my blog to be my own private time capsule where I hoarded away memories from the nights my friends and I terrorized the bars around my studio apartment or crammed onto my too small balcony in the trees to eat mediocre homemade pasta and talk about all the places we’d someday go.

Over the next six years, the Curious Case was a constant in the ever changing world of my 20s. It shepherded me through writing internships-turned-full-time jobs-turned-unemployment-turned-unexpected and blossoming careers. It became my confidant through romantic relationships, changing friendships, and the transition into being a cat mum. Ultimately it accompanied me on my biggest dream of all: Moving to New York City.

But despite all that love and history, it became clear last year that the Curious Case no longer existed in the internet ecosystem of 2012. It had served my life exactly how I had needed it to for all those years but now, it no longer fit. So with a sweet goodbye and thank you, I decided to close the Curious Case and embark on a new chapter. A new blog.

Welcome to my new start. Hey, Is This Thing On? is where I hope to grow as a writer and more importantly, as a human. Relearning how to launch a blog has been both bittersweet and exciting, and while this blog will remain true to my voice and interests and opinions, its content will be lifestyle-focused rather than centering around my personal life.

If you’re looking for a place to start on Hey, Is This Thing On? might I recommend “A Roadmap For the Blues” or “The ‘Perfect Moment ‘Myth.” If personal essays are more your thing, I’ve got plenty including “I love you, I hate you: The story of a nose”. Curious about the books I’m excited about right now? Read on! Or maybe you want to know the best writing/freelance newsletters to join? They’re coming next Sunday!

If you’re interested in receiving weekly updates from Hey, Is This Thing On? please subscribe on the sidebar to the right or follow this blog on Twitter or Instagram. New posts will be published every Sunday morning. I am incredibly grateful you took the time to read my blog and hope to see you again soon.

Cheers,

Carly