“Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
-Max Ehrmann, Desiderata
For years, the poem Desiderata has hung in the entryway of my childhood home. I’ve passed it hundreds, probably thousands, of times; coming and going from school, sports practice, parties… from California, Europe, and New York. It is the sort of fixture in a home that makes you wish walls could talk. It’s comforting in both form and substance, although at times I’ve found its message of trust in a greater plan difficult to swallow.
This year there have been a number of those times. Like many of you, my world was turned upside-down in March with the onset of COVID. My boyfriend Chris and I swapped the West Village for the Green Mountains, and a 5-day trip turned into 5 months.
But as unexpected (and sometimes painful) as this year has been, it has brought with it a wealth of opportunities. So I’m writing to share, if you’ll allow me, a couple of personal updates… because I’m starting to think Mr. Ehrmann was onto something.
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1// The Write Opportunity
This fall, I had planned to attend a Graduate Program in Journalism. The day I found out I was accepted, the country went into lockdown. My program moved online, and I later decided to defer my acceptance until I could attend in person. So much had gone into deciding to take that leap, I was crushed. What should have been a moment of celebration was anticlimactic at best.
Unexpectedly, the time and space I gained by leaving the city allowed me to fulfill my dream in a different way, by starting this blog. In Her Own Write has been an outlet for me through an uncertain and difficult time, so to everyone who is reading, thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope that in some small way, my thoughts about my crazy world have helped you to navigate your own.
2// We Started a Business!
For as long as I can remember I have hoped to someday start a business. Similar to writing, entrepreneurship felt like a way to create something I cared about and then share that piece of myself with the world. When I met Chris two years ago, I was excited to learn that he shared the same aspirations. Our dream was realized this week when we opened the doors to MyCube!
MyCube was conceived from our own need, both pre and post-COVID, for an inspiring yet private drop-in workspace. As a former coffee shop creature, I have always loved to mix up my work location, but I consistently found the lack of privacy, unpredictable wifi, and sometimes high sound level to be difficult to manage. Plus, I needed a way to make my coffee habit tax-deductible…
Kidding.
But in all seriousness, MyCube is everything I ever wanted for myself in a workspace, and I am so excited to share it with you all.
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I’ll save you the rest of my elevator pitch, because as excited as I am about the space, it’s not the point of this article. The point is that somehow, amid chaos, opportunity has arisen in unexpected ways. Desiderata, things wanted or needed, have been made possible.
I have no way of knowing if either of these ventures will work out for me, but I am certain that the time is not wasted and that things are unfolding as they should. It’s a good reminder that even if we can’t always see the big picture, there just may be one.