Pink Milk Crate Reboot

Hello Pink Milk Crate, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again.

A lot has happened in the 4 years since my last post.

I developed a chronic autoimmune disorder that completely changed my life.
I moved halfway across the country to start my doctoral degree.
I went through 2 breakups.
I moved into/out of four different houses before finding the perfect nesting spot.
I fell in love and got engaged.
I buried and mourned 3 goldfish and 3 cats.
I lost two grandparents, one whom I felt I was just getting to know and one whom dementia transformed into someone I no longer knew.
I struggled to remember why I wanted to do my doctoral degree.
I became fur-mom to a darling new cat and 3...count them 3...huskies.
I got married!
I discovered that the Southeastern US has a stranglehold on my heart.
I turned 30 and realized it was awesome.

Things have been busy and times they are a changin'. Thankfully, in the past 6 months I have re-discovered the importance of self-care in its many forms.

It is the ability to say "no" to overcommitting without feeling guilty and without prefacing it with an apology. I have a finite amount of time and energy and I'm not sorry for it. Goodbye "I'm sorry but I can't put together a publication/guest lecture/conference right now," hello "I am unable to commit to a publication/guest lecture/conference right now."

It is carving out time for gardening, pleasure writing, no-email weekends, nesting activities, and Netflix binges and not worrying that I should be working on my dissertation or vacuuming instead. Ultimately, it's about creating little spaces -- little opportunities -- for joy to flourish.

It is about working through self-doubt. When I contemplated rebooting this blog my brain kept saying "no one cares! The internet if full-up with bloggers." But there is always room for one more voice...why not mine?

So nesters unite! Let's create some joyful little spaces.

Welcome to The Pink Milk Crate Reboot.