March 1, 2021 - We are all approaching the one-year mark with the Covid-19 pandemic and itching to get back to normal. For most of us, "normal" was traveling, going to school or work regularly or simply running errands and seeing friends. We have all endured a really tough year with not only a pandemic, but also a nail-biting election and protests across the nation that have left a lot of unrest and trauma for us all. Isolation, loneliness and a deep desire for human love and connection keep us all linked at our core.
My story isn't much different or spectacular from anyone else this past year. I moved to a new city two months before the unthinkable lockdown began. I did not feel like I was able to get my two feet planted and grow roots in my new home in Nashville. Moving from New York City to Nashville was like what I like to call a reverse culture shock - being that I missed the different cultures and having friends from all different backgrounds and lifestyles that people in NYC just have. With few new friends and a styling internship at a halt, I decided to go to my home base for quarantine, which has always been wherever my mom was. For two months I was quarantined in rural Ohio. My mom was located 30 minutes from the town I was born and raised in, but I felt much more disconnected from the world than I had ever felt before. It was difficult for me because I felt that I had fought tooth and nail to get out of my hometown and planned to never go back. However, at that time there was still hope that after the quarantining everything would go back to normal and I was strategizing my next career moves in Nashville. I thought I would use this pandemic quarantine to catch up on some films I had missed, TV shows, baking, and spending time with my mom. Looking back, other than festering this new anxiety and trauma, I had a really pleasant time in quarantine with my mom those first few months. I started and completed a 6x5 foot painting that was really therapeutic and unlike anything I had done before.
Being an artist, I had never really been sure what my five-year plan was or what my future might look like, but the pandemic really created this panic in me that has made me extremely worried and less go lightly about everything - something I am hoping to gain back a little bit this year. I still would love to hold on to the saying that life has a way of working itself out.
As I was dreaming and plotting my future back at home, I couldn't help but think about all my past experiences traveling and moving from city to city. I have always had a sense of wanderlust and it inspired my undergraduate thesis in fashion design, which I named Sojourn Sisters. I was particularly interested in motorcycle clubs such as Hells Angels, a motorcycle gang with serious rules and riders. I had some experience growing up as a child on the back of my late fathers Harley and riding dirt bikes and four wheelers. Through images, story telling and clothing I imagined a world for myself in which there was a traveling motorcycle club for women who were badass, fierce and into sickening fashion. You can check out that work here. In the past few years since graduation, I have continued using the name for my clothing brand in which I make one of a kind clothing that I r
ecently started selling on Etsy. Navigating a pandemic as an artist has been challenging in every way - from staying motivated and inspired - to making ends meet financially. If I have learned anything, it is to have a little bit of patience and to take it day by day.
I have wanted to start a blog ever since I was in high school and was the Editor in Chief of the school newspaper, where I found my passion for writing. I have always teetered back and forth about starting one and I guess my recent (first pandemic) trip to Crystal River, Florida lit some fire up my ass to get one started. My idea was to use this blog as a travel diary, but seeing how we are still in a pandemic and
I continue to learn how to personally navigate it, I see this evolving to a space where I can not only write about my travel experiences, but fashion, art, mental health, and whatever else is going on in the world as those are all aspects of my life I am passionate about. Welcome to the Savy Sojourn, I'm hoping you stay awhile.
Sojourn
sōjərn
noun :
A temporary stay
Comments