Happy New Year Readers!
Here I am, back out of my hidey-hole, giving you the low-down on where I’ve been and where we are going, all framed by the question ‘why.’ On this blog I talk intimately about military life abroad, mental health, why this work is special to me, and what the end of 2021 looked like.
I had a plan for the end of 2021 that took a massive, unexpected detour, which not only hit home, but messed with the blog plan entirely. Thus, this blog is coming out of order from the original plan, but since I already ran through plans A, B, and C, we winged it and started the year out of order.
Your girl is happy to officially put last year to bed.
I kicked off the new year on the blog answering the hands-down hardest question I have ever answered. Who knew earning, discovering, and then writing the answer to the simple, three-letter word could feel like such a swift kick to the teeth?
Not me.
And it very much was a very swift kick to the teeth.
But knowing the answer is the thing that gives me confidence that this isn’t some fast-fashion equivalent blog with a short shelf life.
“Why” is the thing that sets sensational blogs apart from the ones that can stand the test of time, trends, and changing global conditions. Walking into 2022 with this deeper understanding of self and vision even has me pretty stoked for what is to come.
I couldn’t be more excited that you are doing this with me.
Happy week! Now come with me as I take back off on the road. Next email is coming at you from somewhere far away. Stay tuned.
Here we go.
XO,
Taylor Patrice
P.S - For those of you overachievers who already read the new blog (which has been up two total hours) and messaged your love before it even went out in email - ya’ll are the salt of the earth. You know how to make a girl feel loved. I can’t even keep up with you.
MORE TRAVEL
Aside from the fact that travel posts are just fun to write, read, and look at, perspective is essential to establishing good policy…and what better way to gain perspective than to go out into the world? I like travel, and I believe travel and policy aren’t just complimentary, but go hand in hand. Maybe life hasn’t afforded you the opportunity to do much travel - no matter, in the meantime you can borrow my lessons from the road.
If you dig travel pictures and you want to know where I’m off too while I’m en-route, you’re going to want to follow the Instagram…or stay here because the prettiest pictures don’t go places where I disagree with their policies.
It’s like I write about policies or something…
Q&A SECTION
By popular request I’m adding a Q&A section to the emailer. This will be a unique component specifically to the emails. It’s a section I want to reserve for my most inner-circle to be a fun part of opening your inbox. Any and all questions allowed. This’ll be fun!
THE PODCAST
If you read the newest blog post you’ll understand why I started a podcast, and then almost instantly fell off the map. The first episode of this year comes out at the end of the month, and it’s tentatively planned to be a more in-depth episode dedicated to why policy matters to kick off the year. The thing I’m most excited about though this year - guests! I am SUPER stoked to be adding subject matter brainies to the policy discussion queue. It’s going to be good listening!
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you have read my piece on social media policy, you’ll know I am super irked about the policies surrounding the use of free public platforms. While I (painfully) admit it’s a bit of a necessary evil in modern culture, I really don’t love it. I’ll still be on the platforms, but if you want the most authentic and transparent version of me, the blog and newsletter are the way to go. Call it my clandestine movement. Call it a pain in the ass. It is what it is. To read the blog click…
Blog & Podcast: https://www.policyoutloud.com
FB / IG / TWITTER / PINTEREST: @policyoutloud
See you soon! Thanks in advance for leaving positive ratings and reviews on the podcast channels and Facebook page if you love the content - it helps me grow because, well, algorithms…
Your Partner in Policy,