#92: Happy 2nd Birthday, Respectful Smartass! 🥳

CELEBRATION & REFLECTION

This newsletter is officially two years old!

A lot of the sentiments from last year’s birthday post still ring true. This newsletter challenges me to show up consistently, to write something new/funny/read-worthy every week, and to practice coming up short.

Ultimately, Respectful Smartass started out as an exercise in failure. I was hoping to pop my perfectionism like a pimple. Perfectionism had become a chronic condition that required a persistent solution. I had to show up and do what I could do (not always the absolute best I could do, just what I could manage) week in and week out. Sometimes I was late or not that funny or made silly grammatical errors. (Sending this 10ish hours after the usual morning send time is basically an act of exposure therapy #mentalhealthwin.) But sometimes an edition really resonated with someone and I got a heartfelt comment or reply that buoyed me up for the rest of the week. Or nobody responded but I got a real kick out of writing a particular piece. It’s a mixed bag. None of it is perfect. But it’s real and it’s here and by some miracle, you, a real live beautiful human, are reading it.

Nobody creates their magnum opus in a single week. And they definitely don’t create a fresh, even better magnum opus the following week ad infinitum. Progress isn’t linear. Art absolutely isn’t.

I’m here creating every week, and that’s the point. I’m doing the hard thing again and again and again. With time and practice, it’s getting easier. There’s failure and frustration mixed in with the success and celebration. I’m proud of all of it.

Thank you for reading along and allowing me to clog up your inbox with yet another email. I hope this year Respectful Smartass has gifted you a smile, an eye-roll, or a coveted nose-exhale laugh.

There are 508 of us here as of today. That’s a lot! Can you imagine if we were all in a room together? It would take so long for each of us to hug!

Here are your Top 10 posts from year two:

• #67: Sweltering Girl Summer Starter Pack

• #69: The World is Your Oyster and These 5 Other Mollusks

• #71: A Realistic Attempt at Meditating

• #76: Diary of a Cursed First-Time Surfer Girl

• Dopamine Dump: A Very Grateful 2023 (Paid only! Upgrade today to access the archives. 😘)

• Last Year's Vision Board By the Numbers (Paid only again…you could just upgrade? I mean no pressure, but if you wanna?)

• #83: An Open Letter to Migraine Scientists

• #87: Answering an Alum’s Anxiety in 5-4-3-2-1

• #89: Notes from a Newly Minted Woman of the World

• #90: 21 Things I Did Yesterday Instead of Writing Like I Was Supposed To

Bring on the terrible twos! Respectful Smartass is about to get bratty and unpredictable and even cuter! Just you wait.

ily bye,

Ariana