Introducing...

I'm very excited to introduce a new weekly series here at Not the Mermaid. It's called...Stratejoy Monday!

If you've read any blog post that I've put up at all over the last few months, you probably couldn't miss my numerous references and links to my Stratejoy blog, where I've been writing every Monday for the last 5 months about trying to deal with the rough patch known as the quarterlife crisis.

For anyone who missed out on all those posts, just know that I started blogging about having no job and no confidence and, through the months of personal development and awesome support from the Stratejoy community and the other 6 ladies who took over the other days of the week, I was able to turn my attitude around and make some pretty big leaps toward getting out of the funk I was in. Over the course of those 5 months I learned to embrace my looks, stop relying on alcohol to solve my problems, and embrace who I am without feeling like I constantly don't measure up. I emerged from this experience still without a job (though I have a temp job, yay), but I have way more confidence now.

For the super abridged version of my entire season, I suggest reading my very first post, the post about the time a good friend called me fat on my birthday, and my last post.

That last post went up on Monday, and to say I'm sad about it is a gross understatement. I got so much out of being forced to write openly and honestly every week, things which are admittedly not always in my wheelhouse. I got SO much out of it, in fact, that I decided to continue my efforts. And so while I won't be writing at Stratejoy.com anymore, I will continue to post, every Monday, right here. I am by no means out of areas to explore about who I am and what I'm capable of and I'm excited to continue growing as a person and hopefully as a writer.

I think it'll be a welcome batch of fresh energy on this blog, which, despite being a personal blog, doesn't always actually get that personal.

And if any of my fellow Stratejoy season 6 bloggers are reading this (Hi Caiti, Jill, Rachel, Camila, Cassie and Sarah!), I hope you guys will do the same!

Just to close everything out, here are the Stratejoy posts of mine that I haven't yet linked to:

- On my quest to become more open and less judgmental toward others

- When I went to Boston for a weekend and it made me let go of some negativity I've been holding onto for years

- Finally, the second to last post, interview week!

See you guys on Monday =)