Start Here, Again
Because I am not a beginner anymore. Hi.
Welcome.
I had written a ‘Start Here’ post when I launched on Substack (this one) and it opened with all about how I am a beginner here and what even is this place? And well, now I have been here a while. Twas time to write a new page to intro myself and this corner in the land of stacks that is mine. I know myself now, there are more of you here and clarity is queen.
So let’s start with you. Who are you, dear reader?
This is for the woman who has outgrown something, be it a job, a role, a version of herself and is standing in the sacred, uncomfortable phase of it all. I’ll meet you there.
Please say hi and feel free to intro yourself.
What you will find here:
My writing style is an evolution of self where I find a story, a thought, a feeling that perhaps creates a moment of reflection or even challenge and right there, a connection in you. I love imagery. I love adjectives. And some days, I even read my posts to you.
And who doesn’t love a haiku?
You can expect:
Essays that feel like a conversation you didn’t know you needed
Stories of unraveling, rebuilding, and choosing again
Occasional invitations (offerings, programs, retreats, spaces)
Why subscribe to Optional Optimism?
Because stories matter.
Because supporting art with your energy, your referrals, your dollars, it really matters.
Because maybe today you feel a flicker of optimism…
not the forced kind, not the toxic kind, the honest one.
Because being in this together matters.
Because you want to feel less alone in * gestures to the current * all this.
My writing lives there, in the imperfect, the unraveling, the becoming.
What you’ll receive
A free, once-a-month newsletter with things like:
Stories of kismet moments that somehow turn into life lessons
Writing that feels like a conversation you didn’t know you needed
For Paid Subscribers
A little more depth. A little more intimacy. A little more play.
Audit & Ask (monthly): a first-of-the-month check-in so you don’t quietly check out of your own life
Sacred haiku collections: poetry meant to be savored
How-tos: because yes, our brains still love a list
Twice-monthly long-form essays: deeper dives and a-ha moments
Subscriber chat: a space for words, wonder, and a bit of whimsy
A Word Tasting, where to start:
Feeling nostalgic, go here:
A Meeting at the Beach (honoring selves past, present and future)
Bubble Wrapped Memories (A nod to my beloved grandmother)
A Meeting at the Café (meeting my future selves)
Feeling vulnerable, I saved you a seat:
That One Time I Lost my Shit (on loving the parts we might not like)
Beyond the Pews (I miss my Grandmother, I write about her often)
Feeling whimsical, here you go:
I Met Dessie Hamilton in the pages and then, beyond (a foray into fictional writing)
Books are my Personality Now… (I read a lot and I share a lot about books I read)
Haiku Collection #13 (you remember, 5 syllables, 7 and then 5 again)
Who am I?
I’m Jacki, a life coach, writer, poet on my braver days, mother, and someone who has rebuilt her life more than once and in more than one place.
I know the courage and creativity it takes to begin again.
To walk away.
To stay.
To choose differently.
To set and keep a boundary.
To hold grief in one hand and possibility in the other.
I’m familiar with the “what the f*ck now?” seasons,
the ones that don’t come with a roadmap, just a gut feeling and a little bit of nerve.
This space is born from that.
And I say…
Take what resonates. Leave what doesn’t.
Come back when you need it.
This space will be here.
And I thank you for being right here.
We begin again.
How human.
Hi.