Bubblegum Pink | Staying True to Yourself In A World That Demands A Niche

most people have many interests. many of these interests may overlap, like psychology and true crime, or philosophy and spirituality. others aren’t directly related, but can be enmeshed through clever combinations - for example, an interest in writing combined with a knowledge of sports may lead to a sports journalist. overlap like this allows people to pursue multiple interests, though it also dooms them to viewing their interests in terms of how they can be combined for profit and digestibility

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I have known my core interests for as long as I can remember: reading & writing, psychology & human interaction, some form of body movement (gymnastics → dance → tennis → yoga), research & analytics (NOT math, let’s get that straight), social media & design, coffee & baked goods, cannabis, women empowerment and forming authentic, meaningful connections… the list goes on and on, and only grew as I explored more of the world, took more classes, observed more phenomena.

trying to pursue each interest while also staying true to a cohesive, digestible identity has proved almost impossible for me. I have spent so much time trying to find the interwoven links between each of these interests, how I can frame them up into one neat box with a label like “female healing and connection” or “psychology & everything else”… though most often, “the human experience” feels most like my niche, because how can all of these passions ever be adequately tended to if they are being squished into form?

even still, as I find my voice once more through various topics (yoga, psychology, crime, even some fiction work!), I am asking myself - “how can I make this neater?” I considered creating a separate newsletter for more research-based articles, leaving this publication for personal & insightful ramblings; but that didn’t really feel right either, because aren’t they all thoughts from the same brain? not to mention that this creates a divide in the audience, a divide in myself that these things must be separate, when they are all me .

even though it may isolate some readers who are not willing to sift through any articles that may not appease their particular interests, I am learning to be interested enough in myself as a whole that each of the other interests can fall into my makeup however they see fit. maybe one week, I may write a ton about trauma theory and somatic healing, while the next week, my brain is focused on poetry from my teen years, and the next may be research-heavy articles about the behavior and labelling of serial killers (more on this coming soon).

my point is, let the niche be you. let yourself be you in its entirety, and those who show up to listen will be the ones you truly want to surround yourself with.

this may be the most rambly of my posts yet, but I am making a promise to myself to pursue each and every interest, each and every idea I may have, even if it doesn’t ‘fit’ in the pre-conceived category that I’ve let myself be assigned by groups of somewhat similar interests that should be free to intermingle however they may apply.

I encourage you to do the same, and you’ll have me cheering you on from the sidelines. even if I don’t know much about this week’s passion articles you may write, I definitely know about passion, and maybe i’ll learn a thing or two about yours.