Reflections

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since the the COVID-19 pandemic upended, well… everything. For me, the silver lining to this extended pause has been the discovery of new information and an opportunity to make changes to my lifestyle. I recognize that I am privileged to be able to stay home, to have this pause at all. Humanity is dealing with a series of simultaneous crises, including but not limited to the ongoing pandemic, a reckoning with systemic racism and the impacts of colonialism, and climate change. One of the most significant lessons I’ve learned during this time has been just how impactful our individual actions can be on each other, and on the Earth itself. I’ve spent a lot of time in listening and learning mode this last year, and through my Instagram stories, I’ve tried to amplify voices and share stories that I thought others could benefit from.

As for my own content, I’ve been hesitant to post “as usual.” As someone who focused exclusively on travel, it felt irresponsible and irrelevant to keep sharing that type of material. At the beginning of the pandemic, I polled my Instagram audience about what they wanted to see. The consensus seemed to be that while life as we knew it is on hold indefinitely, people were ok with a shift toward more lifestyle content (which makes sense; remember the sourdough craze?). I began sharing some home decor on stories, and wrote a blog post, 10 Practices to be More Sustainable at Home. It also inspired me to revisit my Books for Travelers article, and to update my Local’s Guide to Orlando.

Pivoting

As the weeks turned into months, I began pulling back again, unsure of what to share, and when. I wrote a couple of posts, but nothing really seemed “right.” During the summer and fall of 2020, I observed the way full-time bloggers and influencers talked (or didn’t) about the pandemic, the election, and the Black Lives Matter movement, and I watched the way their audiences reacted. It no longer serves anyone to separate “real life” from our online personas. I have realized what core values are important to me, and how I want to live in alignment with those values. In order to move forward developing my growing voice online, I think it’s important to go back a few years so I can explain what led me to this point, and where I want to take Tacos + Takeoffs moving forward.

Back to the Beginning

The Overview Effect

A Journey to Alignment

Focus: Regenerative Travel

As I pivot my blog/social media toward providing value through more deliberate values-aligned content, I want to highlight change-makers and brands whose ethos is helping to drive positive change. To that end, I recently started volunteering with the talented team at Regenerative Travel. In essence, sustainability can be distilled to a “do no harm” mantra. Regeneration, on the other hand, takes into account the natural landscape and community of a place and seeks to actively improve* the environment through conscious decision-making. I added an asterisk to the word improve because it is important to be mindful about how our own experiences may color our perception of how to “improve” or make something “better.”

Progress Over Perfection

I am still figuring out what this will all look like, and I am sure there will be several other small changes to come. I want to be clear; this is a learning process for me, and I’m taking you along for the ride. As I embark on this journey, I will strive for progress rather than perfection. I plan to add context rather than radically changing content. For example, I don’t plan to swear off air travel (post-pandemic) or become vegan, but I will take steps to educate myself and my readers, and to mitigate my carbon footprint. I’d love to hear from you in the comments or directly about what you hope to learn and topics, people, and brands I should investigate. Thanks for following along!