Why I'm getting a lot of side-eye these days.

An image of Chris on a laptop screen sitting on top of a box on a table.

Hi hi hi hi hi.

People who have been reading these newsletters for a while have been giving me knowing side-eye lately.

Three years ago, I was making passionate pronouncements about how the Internet is not the right container to hold the tender heart of this work. I wrote about how it’s too disconnecting, too full of distractions to hold the deep presence needed for creative growth. We’d just moved into our studio and I was cutting all our online programs and declaring it, “Year of the Studio.”

At the time, I thought that creativity could only flourish in groups that were held with a certain kind of care — groundrules, feedback, listening, commitment, patience. I’d been in too many harmful writing environments where the writing process wasn’t held with compassion. I thought I’d found the other way.

And you know, I still love those things. Small groups. Authentic connections. They will always be my truest home. But the pandemic has made me realize that there are many more ways to hold our voices with integrity, and many, many advantages to letting the Internet in.

I’ve learned that lighter commitments are full of possibility and productivity. Sometimes just looking out at a screen full of people writing is more than enough to keep my flow going. I don’t always need to share my work. Sometimes I’m braver when I know it’s just for me.

I’ve also learned that meeting people where they’re at — with fractured attention spans and emotional overwhelm — is the only way. When we’re tired, we need different ways to connect. When our income is changing drastically, we need different price options. We don’t want to pretend we’re not living through the same 2020 as everyone else. Hi. We’re in this too. Let’s make something together.

And OMG, the accessibility feels so good! Being accessible — physically, financially, all the ways — is a bedrock value at Firefly. Only offering our workshops in small in-person groups put huge barriers on that, barriers which had started to feel inevitable. Turns out they weren’t. Larger groups mean we can offer sliding scales and lower prices. Zoom lets us reach people who are bedridden and far away. The Internet is actually holding this work in a way that is more open and generous than before. I did not see that coming.

I’m growing and learning, as ever.
Firefly is growing and learning, as ever.
Nothing stays the same for long.
And that’s good.

So much change. This year. This life. Here’s to gently taking it in, adapting in ways that feel right, one step at a time.

From across the pixels,