Welcome to The Fill-Up! You seem to have found yourself in this little corner of the internet, and I couldn't be more excited that you're here. So while you're visiting, let me tell you how I got here myself.
Some time in the fall of 2013, I found myself wandering the aisles of a retail behemoth looking for that perfect throw pillow or candle or decorative vase that would make my apartment home. I was certain this perfect something would tie up any and all loose ends in my life - and there were many. A few months prior, I had moved to a new city to start my first postgrad job. By the fall, I felt physically and emotionally exhausted. All of the newness - new city, new job, new friends, new responsibilities - had gotten to me. Call it homesickness or the postgrad blues, but either way I felt a void in this new life. For the better part of a year, I tricked myself into thinking this void could be filled from something tucked away on a store shelf , hung up nicely on a hanger or even veiled by the perfect photo filter. These pursuits were so obviously fruitless and I was left with lots of stuff, lots of bills and little fulfillment.
Since this realization, (which was slow to come by...) I have worked towards filling up my life in a more authentic, reflective way. In this time, I have come to find that so many people, especially us twenty-somethings, face similar struggles. This transitional period often seems like play-acting adulthood, so we find ourselves searching for symbols of maturity or satisfaction in all the wrong places.
The Fill-Up is a space where I hope to capture this journey towards thoughtful living, a journey I am still very much on myself. It's a space for community, a space where we can work towards leading lives defined by experiences and adventures, the "stuff" of life that truly sustains us.
- EM