Clean slates feel great 🔥

This is the very first email I'm sending from my new computer!

And when I switched from my old laptop to this one, I decided to start from scratch.

A gif of a woman sitting at a desk facing a man standing in front of the desk urgently swiping everything off the desk onto the floor.

I spent about 10 minutes checking for documents and notes I wanted to keep, and then I erased everything off that old hard drive.

And started this new one with a clean slate.

Because my former computer was my trusty assistant through four incredibly difficult years.

It helped me plan my dad's funeral.

Review and sign my divorce papers.

Homeschool my girls throughout COVID.

It connected me to an abusive employment situation.

Showed me myriad medical test results.

Bore witness as an organization I loved showed its full, integrity-less ass.

I have the urge to tell you now that all of that lifestuff made me stronger.

(It really did)

I want to reassure you (and me) that I got - no, that I clawed - lots of Good out of those years, too.

(I really did)

But rather than slip into Positivity, today I want to honor that those years were so fucking hard, I couldn't bear to keep an electronic imprint of them.

I wanted to erase as many traces of all that fear and frustration as I could.

So I did. And it felt amazing.

I wonder:

Where are you ready to not just turn the page,

not just start a new chapter,

but to go ahead and burn the old, raggedy book and all its footnotes?

If you need it, I have a whole book of matches for you.

And I know what you'll need to build your fire.

love,

Natalie