Looking Back, Moving Forward

what i’m live, laugh, looking forward to in 2024 and what i'm live, laugh, leaving in 2023

“After the Ball” Roman Casas, 1899. A January mood.

Greetings from the in between, friends!

I’m writing to you amidst a sea of moving boxes, bouncing between panicky yuck stress and a healthy amount of dissociating as we survive the purgatory between selling our home in Texas and moving into our new home in Minnesota. It doesn’t really feel like a new year at all, simply an expansively large void of “in between.”

We’ll get there, but I don’t quite feel like this year has actually started yet for us - check back in February 🙃

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I hope your January, however, is treating you as well January can.

I’ve never been a huge fan tbh.

It’s a month that severely lacks serotonin/endorphins/vitamin d/good for your body and mind stuff and the post holiday hangover feels mixed with the depth of winter feels lends to a very specific type of melancholy that easily eats away any attempt I’ve ever had to follow through with a resolution.

Let the record show that I am staunchly on the side of the internet that poo-poos the Gregorian calendar for proclaiming a “new year, new me” while nature and the ecosystems around us very obviously scream “feast on hearty snacks and hibernate in piles of cozy blankets.” Why should I be trying to better myself in a season where the sun sets at 4pm and the will to get out of warm pajamas and into cold, stiff starchy jeans is nonexistent?

But still, every year, I find myself introspective and retrospective and all the other ‘spectives about life, liberty and the pursuit of being mildly ok/content/at peace while living on this crazy little rock that’s hurdling through space.

Before moving onto all the excited feels I have for life beyond January, I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for a wacky, wild, and wonderful 2023.

This little space has grown so much in the last 12 months, and while I have yet to fully unpack, understand, and appreciate all the ways this little newsletter and the community surrounding it has changed me, I am coming into this new year feeling slightly braver and more confident than ever before.

Your messages, emails, comments, and DMs make my day, week, month, year and the excitement y’all have shared from embracing the idea of considering secondhand and vintage before buying brand new, or finding a treasure from one of my round ups, has absolutely motivated me to keep chugging along and doing this thing that was once so very far out of my comfort zone. So THANK YOU!

While I try to avoid social media trends, knowing I *will* look back and cringe, I find the exercise of jotting down personal “ins” and “outs” to be the best way, so far, for me to organize ideas that feel like resolutions without the guilt and shamed attached to “accomplishing” something that feels very specific/a large hill to climb. They’re easy to revisit throughout the year as a subtle reminder to re-center habits, thought patterns, and desires. Let’s take a look, shall we?

I think besides growing more comfortable in my existence/being/body/mind, the other top theme is something I want to focus on exploring together, with you, in this space this year.

Curiosity.

With so much access to knowledge in the modern world, we’ve somehow all become more disconnected, distracted and discouraged in seeking new knowledge on a deeper, long form, slow learning kind of level. We cite and source 30 second opinion pieces on TikTok as fact and spend so much time scrolling, our attention spans, long term memory, and ability to retain information is drastically shrinking. I feel so much guilt and shame when I spend too much time flipping through videos, power scrolling, and browsing comment sections I know will be filled with the worst humanity has to offer instead of taking that time to crack open a book and read a sentence, paragraph, chapter that might offer me something more nutritional in knowledge.

I want the core of this space to not just be about vintage and secondhand, but the conversation that surrounds developing personal style that reflects who you are, not the viral micro trends that get pumped through the algorithm. I am a firm believer this can only be found through being a curious person. Wanting to soak up all there is to know and learn about the art/history/sound/nature/ world/space/universe/beyond that surrounds us.

It’s taking the 30 second reel that piqued your interest and finding a book at the library that dives deeper, and makes you think and question what you know. It’s finally reading the classic novel you were supposed to read in high school that you instead sparknoted and therefore never got to sink your own thoughts into the words on the page. It’s the 1960s French film you’ve repinned on a million moodboards because you love the set design but you “never watch movies you have to read.” It’s listening to your dad’s favorite album from when he was your age from start to finish. It’s finally taking advantage of the fact your local museum has a free day once a month even though you think art can be stuffy and boring.

This year is all about getting/being/embracing curious. Personal style is an accumulation of learning about everything but the viral trends and fashion and “dos” and “don’ts” and must have,“it” lists, hauls, and super sales. It’s about trying new things, changing your mind, questioning a belief, being bad at something you’ve never done, making something ugly, asking for help, saying “i don’t know,” asking thought provoking questions to a stranger, listening to someone tell a story about their life, etc etc etc. Your likes and interests and dislikes and distastes can only shift and grow through exercising your brain and getting a little in the weeds. All those kooky, maximalist homes we love to gush over are the physical manifestations of people who have traveled, adventured, read, learned, liked, disliked their way through life!

I see a lot in my personal algorithm about people feeling disconnected, lonely, missing third places, and wanting to feel decently whole by simply existing and being.

Everything right now feels particularly precious, time is more fleeting than ever, and the one of the only ways I feel like I can combat the deep, painful heartache of this dark world is soaking up the tiny, wonderful in betweens this place has to offer.

Knowledge is not only power, but it helps us be better, empathetic lil humans!!!

While I’m aware of the irony of existing in a digital space, I want this to be a place where we can all learn something and share it and then get offline, touch our naked toes to the grass, and live it. I want this corner of the internet to feel less like content creation and influencing and more like an after school club where we all bring something to the table through the shared interest of learning more about vintage/secondhand/buying and finding stuff that has already existed on this planet/surrounding ourselves with “stuff” that brings us joy and tells someone else just a little bit about who we are.

On that note, here’s what you can expect from this space in 2024:

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Weekly:
- Wednesdays: an essay on a topic/niche/interest with a curated collection of vintage/secondhand things from around the internet that tie in
- Friday: The Curiosity Dispatch - 10 things I’ve consumed, discovered, bookmarked, lusted over, etc to expand your search terms, outlook, desires, personality, knowledge (a lil rebrand to go with our theme!)

Monthly:
- Last Friday: The Dump - 4O secondhand things from around the internet
- First Monday: a thoughtful curation of firsthand goodies from around the web I’ve *thought* about adding to cart/window shopped and reasons why they feel “forever” and not part of the trend cycle (People have been asking “but what would you buy new?” - this is for you!)

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isn’t she cute?!

I’m also planning to share the adventure of making our new house a home. She’s a Midcentury gem from 1953 that was partially remodeled by someone who should not be allowed to pick cabinet and flooring combinations ever again. I can’t wait to share all the secondhand and vintage gems I’ve been collecting for this space and how I plan to slowly bring her back to life through thoughtful consumption, taking time/learning patience, and getting my hands dirty.

I hope you’re excited by what’s to come and will join in on getting a little curious, learning more, and joining in on the conversation. I spend a lot of time and energy on making this newsletter feel worth your time to read and hope you’ll continue to support me this year by reading and sharing Trash Panic with your family, friends and community.

While Trash Panic is currently free to consume, I do intend to put some of my content behind a paywall this year, in hopes of funding the growth of this work and space! If you’d like to pledge to support my work in the future, you can click the link at the bottom of this email or buy me a coffee through the link in my Instagram bio ☕

I’ll be back on Friday with the first “10 Things” dispatch of the year, rebranded to focus a little more on some of the things I’m getting curious about.

Comment or reply to this email and let me know what you’re focusing on this year, what you’d like to see in this space, or something in the vintage world you’d like help tracking down.

Until next time,
xo,
G