A New Home for Our Newsletter

+ thoughts on community and listening to the people who are cheering you on!

Hi! Let’s chat.

I’m a creature of comfort. If I’m being honest, I sort of like to hide. Maybe that’s because I’ve been in this online space for so long. It feels safer to stay put than expand. When people ask me what my goals are or hopes for the future I feel silly boasting on any projections for life and business. I think it is a form of self protection, never putting myself so far out there in fear of disappointment, but also always knowing there is more. Instead, I focus on “what works” and mute the cheers and encouragement because I don’t want anyone to watch me fail. I suit up in armor every day - for motherhood, for social media trolls, for second guessing myself - and breathe a sigh of relief when the day goes well. Everything is good enough and the cycle continues!

But the other day I was reminded that there is always more. That fear of disappointment suppresses so many things I want to do! So many opportunities that I let pass by because I don’t want to lose anyone. I poll my audience about moving my newsletter to Substack and I get responses of “No! Don’t ever change!” or I voice hardships or emotions to strengthen our community and I hear “you’re too hard on yourself! Life isn’t that bad.” And I’ve realized that those comments only fuel the point I’m trying to get across.

Hello Adams Family was built on the idea of community. Creating a safe place where women (or men!) could feel like they found a group of people on the same page. When I had my first son, I put on a brave face, stuffed my body into jeans that didn’t fit, made my husband take photos of my outfits with sunglasses hiding my tears. I later realized, when I was pregnant with my second son, that the only way I was going to enjoy social media was if I could share the hardships, the happy and all the moments in between. That shift is what has grown my community in ways I never imagined. And as the “leader” of our Hello Adams Family, I have told myself to stay put/stay the same to keep our community strong. But it doesn’t make way for more and I want more for us!!

I spoke on my Instagram that for a while I’ve felt like there was a wall in front of me and afraid to go through it. Some friends recently encouraged me to GO! Reminding me that the only thing holding me back is myself. We need to listen to those people because speaking from my own experience I know how easy it is to drown them out. But I’m telling you, community builds confidence. I think growing and learning in the social space over the past 13 years has been so much trial and error. I’m hard on myself when I take a risk and it turns out to be something that doesn’t bring me joy/a fail. But I’m following the joy (because why the hell not) and what I know will be great for us!

So I have moved our newsletter to Substack because of the community it builds. I love the conversation Substack encourages, I love that all of my newsletters will be saved in one place for you to refer back to (if you want) and I love that we can grow this beautiful community of people supporting people. Something I also love about Substack is the long form content. My conversations tend to get more and more personal and sometimes those aren’t topics I want living on my website forever. For now, all of my Substack will be free, and a safe place for us all to chat. If you are old school like me, this newsletter will still show up in your inbox as it always has. You can read it and be done! But you can always visit lizadams.substack.com to find more conversations as we build this little space. Nothing is going to change for now! Just a new hub for us.

My website will always be my special corner of the internet but I’m sad to say the era of blogging is feeling sleepy. I’ll still be posting there regularly, too. I hope it turns around! But I’m also excited, after talking to friends like Grace and Caro, about the prospect of Substack. I think we are going to have fun.

Thank you, as always, for being here! xoxo

Liz

PS: I am really vibing with our fall playlist and if you haven’t listen to it yet, you should.