SEASON TWO WRAP UP: Highlights, Free Candy, Slot Machines, and Absolutely No Bribery
SEASON TWO WRAP UP: Highlights, Free Candy, Slot Machines, and Absolutely No Bribery
Poll holes, viral stories about life post-divorce (ok fine, it had 3 likes), the most thought provoking prompts du saison (is that how a hook?), & a massive plot twist for season three (DunDunDUNN)
for more of my story recovering from an eating disorder, suicidal depression, and my divorce, read my memoir “where the river flows.”
Welcome to the FINAL WEEK of season two of The Messy Middle.
I am so incredibly grateful to you for your readership. I started my Substack in January, and there are now 1,000+ of you here, and 100 of you are paid subscribers. THANK YOU.
If you are not yet a paid subscriber, I will do my very best to convince you that contributing five dollhairs per month is entirely worthwhile, while also affirming that whether you have a paid subscription or not, I AM GLAD YOU ARE HERE.
Should you need no convincing because perhaps you are feeling benevolent or have 20 extra quarters lying around from the days when you used to hit the slots I mean candy shop, here is a fun button to press that will subscribe you but sadly make no fun spinning sounds or satisfying dings:
🍬If you do need convincing, stick around and perhaps you’ll be rewarded with jelly beans and a paid subscription by the end of this newsletter.
Let’s BEGIN our SEASON TWO WRAP UP!
I will be taking next week OFF to rest, center, and prepare for season three. I will also be starting my final quarter of grad school AND a new job (mama got a side job serving beer at a silly little taphouse for some silly little tips and some silly little fun). AKA, good time to reset before a new season of THE MESSY MIDDLE.
As we did last season, I would LOVE your feedback before I start season three.
IF YOU HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A HOT ASS MINUTE YOU CAN SCROLL TO THE SECTION THAT SAYS “POLL HOLE” AND START GIVING FEEDBACK. OTHERWISE STAY HERE WITH ME AND THESE BIG LETTERS FOR CONTEXT AND SHTUFF.
A quick reminder before the Poll Hole: The Messy Middle consists of three components:
The Monday Messy (weekly newsletter with tips & journaling prompts)
We Met in the Middle (stories of humanity/conversations with strangers)
Mess Hall (community chat)
My goal with this publication was to:
A) Tell honest stories about my eating disorder, divorce, depression, and suicidal thoughts in hopes that one person might feel less alone.
B) Offer tips, journaling prompts, and wisdom from my 18+ years (and counting) in therapy, psychology education, and continued personal introspection on living as a human.
C) Develop community through a private chat space that helps us connect outside of comparative and overstimulating platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
My idea was that every “season” I would have a central theme to inform the newsletters, stories, and chat space. This is now the last week of our second season. The theme was “accepting parts of self,” and I tried (sometimes we strayed a wee bit from the theme, but hey—MESSY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME) to center stories and tips around this topic.
POLL HOLE!
Ahoy, it’s time for a poll hole! I would love your feedback so I can make this space extra juicy, nourishing, relieving, supportive…or I guess you better tell me what you want it to be and I’ll take it from there.
Hole H-Uno: Why Iz You Here?
Fascinating. Good intel. This is helpful.
Wow that “e” missing from alone is really gonna bother me.
Holl TwHo: How are you CONSUMING?
I am always trying to make my content accessible (within my means and the means of the platforms I’m using. SO, out of curiosity, I’d like to know how you consume Substack content and what your needs are.
Mhm. As I suspected.
If you’re not sure what notes are, they’re like tweets within Substack. You can see my notes by clicking the button below if you haven’t perused them yet!
Thanks for sharing your heart and soul in the Poll Hole!
Now let’s take a look now at this season’s highlights *cue ESPN music or whatever Maria Menounos says before all the previews at the movie theater*
Highlights: Top stories, top tips, and pretty-good-kind-of-ok-prompts
Here is a quick rundown of the stories, tips, and journaling prompts y’all liked the most (we’re talking one, two, THREE double taps y’all—mom if that’s you, thanks for the support).
Some of your favorite stories included:
When I wrote about needing to be in Eating Disorder Treatment again, despite initially believing that the intake therapist had made a mistake
Chaotic storytelling and the re-introduction of humor and sarcasm into my writing (I was really surprised at how well y’all received this)
Self-sabotage lessons and learning how to interfere with the part of me that thinks I deserve to suffer.
Your favorite Tips, Prompts, & Healing Recommendations:
Top Tip: Let go without letting go: an invitation to let chaos reign and feel your shit without letting your shit feel you (wait, what??) clearly this is from the chaos newsletter.
Top Journaling Prompts: Examining shame and internalized messages in week one as a way to develop deeper self-acceptance, embrace our weird & messy selves, and let go of what “should be” in order to discover what could be.
Top Recommendation: The Gangaji Podcast/Talk I recommended in week six. In this podcast Gangaji talks about identifying with our personalities or emotional states, and what happens when we try to hold onto these things. Listen Here (23 minutes)
Coming Soon: Vote for the Season 3 theme (plus a plot twist!)
Last season I polled y’all for season two’s theme, and YOU WON! Or, idk, I guess I just did the thing you wanted most.
BASICALLY I do listen to your feedback and want to eternally please you while also holding healthy boundaries and writing from the heart and helping you navigate life while not becoming a caretaker dear god this run-on sentence would give my 10th grad English teacher night sweats.
PLOT TWIST!
Substack has just rolled out a…🥁drumroll please…REFERRAL PROGRAM!
What is the referral program, Rach-face?
Essentially, when you refer readers to my substack, you get jelly beans. Substack has developed a cute tier where the more readers you subscribe, the more jelly beans you get!
Did I say jelly beans? I mean months free.
🍭Referral Program EXPLAINED:
How to participate:
1. Share The Messy Middle. When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button on any post, you'll get credit for any new subscribers (JELLY BEAN!!!!). Just send the link in a text, email, or share it on social media with other human beans!
2. Earn benefits! When more friends use your referral link to subscribe (free or paid!), you’ll get lots of jelly beans!
Get a 1 month comp for 3 referrals
Get a 3 month comp for 8 referrals
Get a 6 month comp for 20 referrals
I would LOVE to SPICE up the referral program to make it ExTrA jUiCy SwEeT.
What else would you like to receive (on top of free months and jelly beans)?
Thank you! Bon Voyage! STAY A WHILE! Drink water! Other salutations!
I am so eternally grateful you are here.
Thank you for allowing me to unravel, unfold, and unearth the fullest expression of my wild, weird, sometimes wise and wistful self. It has been such a fucking honor to have the privilege to share my internal world with you for three years—whether you’ve been following me on instagram, reading my blog, watching my TikToks, or just joining us here on Substack, I am thankful.
Without you my writing means nothing, and you keep me going. You have given me the courage to be vulnerable and expose my darkest parts of self, and in doing so helped me heal knowing it’s safe to fall apart. You’ve encouraged me to embrace joy and honor times of levity and peace, which has cultivated further joy and expressions of my silly self that I haven’t accessed since childhood.
I could not be here today if it weren’t for your support, readership, and shared vulnerability. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Here’s to another messy, wild, and uncertain season of The Messy Middle.
All my messy love,
Rach
You can learn how to join Mess Hall chat here.
You can read chapter one of my book free here.
Download my free guided journals here.
Take my Writing Masterclass here.
If you’re not yet convinced to be a paid subscriber, here’s a 7-day trial:
Take your time reading the archive once it’s unlocked in your trial and see if the Full Mess is for you. Whether it is or not, know that I fully love your mess, and am so glad you’re here.
