All photos were captured by Three Region Photography.
I have a passion for creating. Putting something out there in the world, in the hopes that it will make the world just a little bit better than it was. From my research roots to spreading my blogging wings – I’ve always wanted to help others – that if only one person was positively impacted by something I’ve created, then it was worth every second I spent creating it.
I believe that creativity is muscle that has to be worked. Sure, I have moments of inspiration. Lightning strikes and if I’m lucky it happens at a time when I can drop everything, giving in to the moment before it slips away.
More often than not, it doesn’t happen with quite such ease, and lately, sparks of inspiration are few and far between. It’s a frustrating place to be.
I’ve found with most things that don’t come easily to me, I can easily get discouraged, confused by feelings of inadequacy as I try to spark something inside of me that I can translate to this platform – to you.
In these moments I’ll often procrastinate, taking my frustrations out in the garden, weeding. Despite the knowledge of my propensity to do this, and how to work through it, I still tend to avoid the painful process of sitting down, and dredging through my brain putting words to paper.
As painful as it is, that’s how progress is made (at least for me). Sitting in the discomfort, facing the feelings of inadequacy head-on, and forgetting “how” I want to say something, and just doing it.
My process through the creation of this redesign has been filled with moments of epiphany followed by just as charged moments where my mind was consumed with my perceived flaws – “I’m too old to be doing this,” “Who cares what I have to say anyway?”, “There’s way too much competition, and I can’t compete,” and “They’re (you, my readers) tired of me.”
Then I had to remember back to my younger self, a girl who only wanted to help people because she didn’t get the help she needed. And that’s just it – it doesn’t matter if someone thinks I’m too old to be doing this, cares what I have to say, is disinterested because of other platforms they can follow, or they’ve grown tired of me.
When The Doctorette first started, I shared more articles focused on professional development and personal well-being. I added my flair for style into the mix, but The Doctorette was never supposed to be a fashion blog.
Slowly, I found myself focusing more on fashion, and less on the things that really mattered to me. I believed that in order to grow my platform, and have my creative work reach more readers, it had to fit within a certain box. It was also easier when someone asked to just say that this was a fashion blog versus a combination of things I couldn’t really even muster a name for.
And that’s the crux of it all – the thing that I was creating this platform for in the first place – to get away from a box – to be multi-dimensional and evolving. Why? Women are exceptionally dynamic, interesting, strong, vibrant, and we don’t fit into a single checkbox of “mother”, “wife”, “scientist”, “blonde” – what are these things? Just methods that people use to try to make sense of the world that is incredibly complicated and seemingly infinite.
In response to this realization, a little over a year ago, I slowly started the process of diving into the “why” behind The Doctorette, and how, I could better align this platform with my current stage in life.
And here we are, after months of introspection the website has relaunched in the midst of mass social injustice, a turbulent political climate, a global pandemic, mass economic hardship, and the personal struggles that we all face regardless of the state of the world.
Launching a blog redesign in the midst of all of these things may seem insignificant, maybe even frivolous, on the surface. However, I think that more platforms that use their influence for good is exactly what we need right now. To be involved in the conversations around race, social and economic disparities, and encouraging people to use their constitutional right and privilege to vote – this is the responsibility of anyone with readership.
The Doctorette is a digital creation with the underlying goal that started with my younger self, the same goal that took me down my current career path, and was the inspiration behind the creation of this blog – to help people. By not just bring light when things seem dark, but to sit in those darker places. By sharing different ways to spend our extra tine at home, and how to take care of your emotional and mental health during a time of great uncertainty. By creating images, sounds, and writings of nature (something I can’t seem to get enough of these days). By sharing things that inspire you to take on a new project, learn something new, or just make a damn good margarita. If only one of these things brings a little light into your life, then it’s all worth it.
All of these changes to The Doctorette began before the most recent social activism following the death of George Floyd. I would be remiss to not acknowledge how my platform, and me, has changed and will continue to evolve in response to the mass inequities and injustices facing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Soon, I will be highlighting a collection of Black-owned brands that I’ve made purchases from. I’m not going to provide a Black-owned “shopping guide.” I’m not going to tell you to make purchases from brands I know nothing about. Every maker that will be included in this post will include background information about the maker, and why I chose to make a purchase from them.
For those of you who have been following The Doctorette for a while, you’ll know that I don’t highlight products, services, or businesses that I don’t have experience with and have a true affinity for.
The practice of bringing more diversity to our dollar doesn’t just stop when the headlines do – it’s something we should continuously be mindful of.
You can’t just talk the talk – you have to walk the walk.
As I mentioned in this post on Instagram, I have been engaging in some self-learning activities. I will be including an area of my website where I will be sharing resources that I have found helpful or insightful.
I think it’s also important to note that as the fight for justice and social reform continues, so will the presence of these conversations on The Doctorette.
In honor of my blog relaunch, for every new email subscription I receive between now, July 31, 2020 and August 7, 2020 I will be donating $1 to The Loveland Foundation. The Loveland Foundation was started by Rachel Cargle in 2018 with the goal of making mental and emotional health resources available to women and girls of color. Currently, their campaign goal is to provide financial support to 1000 women and girls in 2020 for 4-8 therapy sessions.
If you are currently a subscriber, and you share this platform with someone in your life who might enjoy it, and they subscribe, send me an email, or DM on Instagram, and I will donate a $1 on your behalf as well.
Click here to subscribe. Be sure to check your email and confirm your subscription or else it won’t be counted.
