lucky 13

365 days later and here we are. I never thought that a summertime pastime would turn into a full-blown website and hobby.

I went from scribbling on the back of CVS receipts, while waiting in line to pick my sister up from camp to writing twelve full feature posts. Which have been viewed by 857 people, and accessed in 10 different countries. Which is simply insane and I cannot even believe those numbers.

This has been an absolutely incredible year, I truly had no intentions of continuing to write after I went back to school, and yet I just couldn’t stop. I did not immediately share this platform on my social media.

In the beginning of momentswithemma.com there was a small handful which I would send a link too. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those I initially reached out too. Your support last summer inspired me to keep writing. Your agreement and appreciation of my words means more to me than you will ever know. So thank you for hanging out since the beginning, I love having you here.

In honor of my blog anniversary, I decided for my thirteenth post to be a sparknote version of my prior twelve posts from the past twelve months.

I went back to read and analyze my published pieces to find the most powerful, relatable and striking content. I wanted to make a post of all the goosebumps phrases, the ones that make you pause. I hope you like this recap of momentswithemma.com

1. When everything is hitting your life windshield at once, be grateful. Be grateful that you have two hands, one to turn on the wipers and the other to change the radio station. The rain may be beating down on your Mercedes or Mazda but be thankful for the people and resources that you do have. Don’t dwell and get stuck in the storm that you see in the horizon, use the power of gratitude to acknowledge all the good you have in your life. And use those gracious vibes to get you out of the monsoon and back to the sun.

2. Someone is always having a “Monday morning” kind a day. Lend a hand and take out the dishes. Let that car go to take the crazy left onto 3A, the one your mom told you to never to take. Pay for a stranger’s coffee. Call your grandmother. Surprise your friend with food at work. Let your coworker clock out early. Doing good makes us feel good, no lie man.

3. The best moments in life are the ones that cannot fit into an Insta video, a 280-character tweet, or a VSCO post. You are truly living when you are participating, not documenting. Have more experiences that belong just to you, not to all your Facebook friends too.

4. So if you are a teacher, ice cream scooper, gymnastics instructor, librarian, police officer, masters student, parking lot attendant, camp counselor, waitress, grocery store worker, retail manager, lawyer, intern, cook, garbage collector, nurse, interpreter, or fisherman… do your job well. A job is a true reflection of your character, which is something that is often forgotten but wildly important.

5. A new beginning is a great place to be, you are in a position to grow and empower yourself. You are in position to learn more about yourself. A new beginning is the best restart button there is, and for students we get one every September.

6. Tell your story in the most authentic way, the zigzag version. For our lives are not this sky-meets-ocean continuous horizon, but rather our lives are like the city skyline, with divots, gaps and edges. Our lives are made up of rejections, failures, access denied, forgotten passwords, layoffs, two week notices, substitutes, junior varsity teams, and sixth place moments.

And as a society, we prefer the glazed over, re-touched, magazine cover version. The truth of the matter is that your zigzags are the rawest and authentic parts of your life story. The parts you cannot edited out are the most important ones. Because you cannot edit out the John Hancock building out of the Boston skyline. Or the Mt. Washington out of the New Hampshire sunrises.

7. Be open to the sound of “rerouting.” See your next detour as an opportunity to pause your music and resume your thoughts. To take time for yourself and reflect on your needs, wants, passions, and goals. The life as a student does not lend itself to this type of reflective lifestyle, it is crucial to take the detours when we can. And I can promise that incredible things do come from being on the side of I-95 with a flat.

8. So, make the call, send the text, mail the letter, of whatever is pressing on your mind. There is such freedom in just saying what we think, with no fear of embarrassment or rejection. To simply say what we feel to those around us is positively powerful. For speaking your truth empowers you, and the person on the other end of the phone.

9. Our brain craves routine, we thrive with certainty rather than spontaneity. Challenge yourself be vulnerable to change. The unknown permits the discovery of our truest sense of self, we are called to the unknown because it is there in the raging sea where we find out who we really are. And that alone is scary, do we really want to know who we truly are? (spoiler, you do, like you really want to find out you are).

10. My chaotic spring break included no power, no clean clothes, and no food. A quite humbling and chaotic week, one not spent day drinking on the beach. But rather praying that a rundown gas station had power and coffee. From messy dining room tables, blurry Saturday nights, scribbly to-do lists, and complex minds, as humans we are constantly in states of chaos. But this state of chaos is what makes us human. The chaos both challenges and builds our character. Because when your 20th birthday involves a breakfast of a half-eaten Clif bar, no shower, and a nice chaotic haul to the Cape in raging snowstorm, you are challenging and building yourself man let me tell you.

11. Do not believe that being in a state of vulnerability is equivalent to a state of weakness. Allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, in my opinion, is the strongest form of courage. The person who willingly puts their heart in their hands is far more courageous than the one who keeps their heart quietly locked away.

12. Our world is always moving, shifting, changing. And there is this lively and spontaneous beauty in movement. But there is even a deeper beauty in stillness. So, take a second to be with your thoughts, your people, and your places. And flirt with the girl who made your coffee, and don’t shotgun it. Save that for Saturday, sip during the weekdays people.

And so lucky 13 is to trust and fall. Trust yourself that you can do the unknown and fall into it. Trust that you can string together 8,526 words, and people will read them. Trust that you can pour your mind and heart out onto a keyboard, and people won’t laugh but rather listen. We are so quick to doubt ourselves, talk ourselves out of it, and prophesize our failure.

“You can’t say that.”

“You can’t do that.”

“You won’t make it.

“You can’t write that.”

“You can’t wear that.”

“You can’t beat that.”

But in all honesty, you can. You absolutely can say it, do it, wear it, write it and make it.

Trust yourself, you have been around the sun a couple times, and learned some lessons.

You have remembered birthdays, multiplication tables, and that plant cells have cells walls while animal cells don’t.

You’ve made it through grueling winters, practices and classes. You’ve gone across the world, to hell and back, and maybe moved a couple times.

You’ve passed the MCAS long comp, drivers tests, standardized tests, and your girlfriend’s best friend test she put you through the first five minutes you meet her. You’ve realized that texts can make or break or day, losing people is harder than you think, and wine or water can fix almost anything.

Have some goddamn faith in yourself. Because look at all of the things you have done, and it doesn’t matter if you failed the first, second, or third time. What is important is that you willingly fell and people were there to catch you. To teach you, to help you, to bandage you, to dust you off and stand you back up.

So my lucky 13 post, anniversary post, and favorite post concludes with urging you to trust yourself to fall. Because when you do fall, there is no feeling like tumbling into something great, into someone you love, or into hours of drafting and typing.

Thank you so much for reading and cheers to another year.

sincerely,

Emma