I haven’t blogged lately and that’s not by accident. I’ve been building something.
It started with me taking a break to restore some balance in my personal and work life. I’m prone to burn out because I love biting off more than I can chew and trying to swallow — totally my fault, I’m aware.
No question — I’m a different person than I was when I started this blog a year ago, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
But during my break from blogging, I started thinking about a different vision. I thought about the fact that the Internet is full of blogs where you can find restaurant recommendations, personal style inspiration and information about workouts. While I’ve posted about some of those things, I never really felt like I fit into any of those categories.
Why? Because content like that doesn’t necessarily call for an emotional connection or require vulnerability from the writer and the reader. Reading a blog post about products or services is good for the economy and it totally has a place in the market, but it doesn’t necessarily make me look at my life differently.
I had this vague vision of creating a blog where every piece of writing on it was unapologetically real. I wanted to build something that would make you chuckle when you could relate, but would also make you cry into your coffee in the middle of a Starbucks because it makes you feel something GODDAMIT.
I also wanted to build a brand that stood separately from me, that could become something bigger if it grew.
With all that being said, I’m so excited to introduce What Comes Next (whatcomesnext.co) and I hope you’ll hop over there, follow the blog and read the first post. I’ve got some guest bloggers already lined up that I’m very excited about.
Oh, and don’t forget to follow @whatcomesnext.co on Instagram. Twitter and Facebook pages are coming soon.
The blog “officially” launches on June 9. Posts will go up weekly and it will feature guest bloggers once a month or more.
Writing this blog has been incredibly freeing for me. It has helped me learn the power of vulnerability, accept myself, and see my struggles in a totally different way. Most importantly, it has helped me crawl out of a hole of depression that was so deep I forgot what light looked like for a while. In fact, my favourite posts have made their way over to the new website so they can live on there.
Something new: What Comes Next gives others the opportunity to share. I want to give people who are ready to be brave a place to talk about what they’ve experienced and the ability to share their thoughts in their own words.
Raegjules.com only represents one perspective. It’s 2018, and that’s not enough.
I feel like I have an opportunity to give other people, especially marginalized voices who deserve a platform (probably more than I do), a chance to speak. I would be doing readers a disservice if I didn’t make this a venue for a variety of stories. With that being said, please feel free to read the submission guidelines and send your guest post ideas to [email protected].
Maybe it’s ridiculous that I want to build a mission-driven blog around the values of connection and vulnerability, but that’s what I’m going to do. Who knows where it’ll take me. But I do hope you enjoy it.
— RJH
A special thank you to Kanisha for working with me on the logo and new headshots that capture my essence perfectly. You can find her work here: http://www.kanishalauren.com/
