This Is Not A Blog Post — It's A Love Letter To YOU During These Hard Times

Real talk — every day I sit down at my desk with the intention of writing a marketing blog. I believe in blogs as a marketing tactic, but beyond doing it for marketing purposes like SEO and designating myself as some subject matter expert (or as industry folks love to call it a SME) — I believe blogs can be cathartic, conversation starters, and powerful avenues for freelancers and experts to express and explore thoughts they aren’t reading about when clicking through Twitter links. However, finding the desire to blog during a global pandemic has become one of the low hanging fruits on my to-do list despite actually having a hell of a lot to say. 

It’s hard to find the words to make sense of what is going on in the world and it’s even harder to write about topics like freelancing, new business development, invoicing systems, project proposals, content strategy trends as Q4 rapidly approaches, and ways brands can connect deeper with their audiences through Instagram stories during Covid. All of these topics are valid and I could speak endlessly on them, but my heart just isn’t there right now — at least not tonight. 

So, for the sake of just writing and putting something out there that means something to me (and as a reminder that I, Charlsie Luckey Niemiec, am still here), I want to tell you what I believe this time that we are experiencing right now is good for. 

“If you haven’t taken time to go within and look at yourself and what you want out of life and your priorities throughout the last few Covid months I suggest you do. I’m not a therapist but having that perspective check has helped me immensely see what wasn’t for me and what still is.”

I believe this time is for going within. This time is for looking at yourself — who you are, who you have been, who you want to be. This time is for asking yourself what you want out of life, and not just asking yourself what you want out of your career or what check box you should go after next as if this is the board game Life. This is the time to ask yourself what moves you deeply, what inspires you, what gets under your skin and what sticks with you when you take way all the noise of everyday life and the pressure that society has traditionally pushed forward under the guise of normalcy. 

I believe this time is for looking at priorities. What were your priorities before Covid? What do you want your priorities to be after Covid? How have you let priorities drive who you are and the way you live your life? How do you measure a priority and what drives the desire of that priority? Is it pressure from society or pressure from yourself to accomplish it? This is a time to figure out what priorities actually matter because what you probably prioritized ten years ago or even five months ago have changed drastically. Change is good. We can embrace it — even when it’s hard. 

I’m not a therapist. I’m not a psychic. I’m not a reiki master. I’m a social media strategist, marketer, and content brainiac… but most of all, I am a woman who sees the blessing of having this time to do a perspective check. Being able to hit a hard stop and check my perspective on everything from how I was living to my career to my relationships has shown me so much — without these hard times and without Covid shutting down essentially everything in my life, I don’t know if I would have given myself the time and permission to see what wasn’t for me after all. Things are getting clearer now for me, and I wish the same for you. 

With that said though, there is so much suffering going on right now. Nearly every single one of my friend’s has lost their job or been furloughed. I have friends who are being evicted. I know people who fear for what is to come when Pandemic Unemployment Assistance runs out on July 31, 2020. Given my job as a freelancer, I fret over whether or not I will get paid by clients or find work to pay my bills. Sometimes I wonder if I too could end up evicted and homeless with my dogs Leonard and Biscuit if the economy doesn’t shape up. But I push on. 

Summer didn’t actually start until June 20 of this year, but if you’re like me — you probably feel like you’ve lived through 344 summers this year alone. With momentum from the Black Lives Matter movement bringing forth much needed awareness to the rampant racism in this country and a contentious presidential election on the horizon, it feels like time has stopped and yet sped up ten fold. I encourage you to find your footing in all of this, even in these really hard and painful times, and I encourage you to ask yourself what you can get out of it. 

If you’re rolling your eyes and saying “this is not for me,” I understand that too. I have those days. I have those weeks. I have those months. Hell, I’ve even had those years. However, please know that I am rooting for you to go within and find what you need to find to carry through during this pandemic. 

But seriously, if that seems too difficult to even do — just do me one favor: Put your favorite record on (I currently can’t stop listening to the new Phoebe Bridgers album Punisher), lie back on your couch or bed, and just give yourself some time to be you in the purest sense. That’s it. That’s all. 

Maybe my next blog will be about a marketing funnel or how freelance compliments are lovely but they won’t pay the bills, but until then — I send love to each and every one of you from my little writing nook in my treehouse apartment in Atlanta, GA right now. Keep wearing masks and washing your hands, and we’ll all get through this together…in our own ways.

XO,
Charlsie