A note on change

Change is inevitable, and that has never been more obvious to me than thinking about what 2024 has shown me so far. You likely received a newsletter from me a few months ago that talked about my misdiagnosis and the journey that has been (if not, the TLDR; I was undiagnosed with bipolar disorder and instead diagnosed with ADHD and Autism). I’d love to say that my more accurate diagnoses have fixed everything, but that’s not how brains work. My treatment plan is much better, and I am learning how to accommodate myself. But, change doesn’t happen all at once, and there are still a lot of things I have to work on and learn.

So: I have changed my Substack to focus less on my mental health journey and more to focus on things I love, like books, music, and art.

There’s huge power in sharing our stories, and my writing will always have reflections on mental health. But it’s time for me to stop focusing on the pathologies and the traumas that previously defined me, and to instead refocus on the present moment and the next couple steps ahead of me.

I hope you’ll stay subscribed, I have a lot of fun things planned. Because I don’t have to wait for inspiration to strike with this new format (the benefits of writing content about content), I will be more consistent and have a variety of topics to share. Mostly, I will be sharing and analyzing things I hear and read, heavy on the reading part. There will be book reviews, article roundups, and we’ll learn new words together. There will also still be essays on things that are meaningful to me or that I am processing through writing.

I’m excited for this— being undiagnosed and learning about how my brain works has been a bit like finding a new me, or perhaps more accurately, it’s been a bit like finding my more authentic self that I had hidden for so long. And it’s been really helpful and fun to read and write my way through that.

I appreciate everyone who has been reading my work so far, and I hope you’ll still find what you need in my writing.

All the love,

Jasmine