Shall we begin [again]?
It's been 1,092 days since I last wrote to you.
* clears throat*
My dearest reader,
It’s been a minute, hasn’t it? And by “minute,” I mean 1,092 days since I last wrote to you.
When I hit “send” in ‘Oya change your style’, I had no idea it would take me this long to find my way back. Life can be interesting that way.
First, life happened; a blur of responsibilities, deadlines, and eventually, burnout. Then came the doubt: had I been gone too long? Would anyone still care about what I had to say? Did this space still matter to you?’ I don’t have answers to these questions, but I’ve decided, in summary, to get over myself and just do it.
In the time since I left, so much has changed, and I imagine it’s the same for you. I hope you have been well.
On my end, I’ve (finally) graduated university (strikes et. al), considered a thousand career paths, switched jobs, lost friends, made new ones, fallen in and out of love (more than once), traveled to a couple of cities, contemplated my existence ever so often, locced and ‘unlocced’ my hair, developed a suspicious obessesion with popcorn, discovered I like crepes, but tolerate actual pancakes, and, most importantly, unlocked a level of self-awareness that feels incredibly freeing.
Believe me, I’ve tried to write to you many times... and failed. But this time feels different. My motivations are clearer, and I finally have a solid vision for what I want this newsletter to be(come).
When I first started Weekly Digest with Titi, my goal was simple: to share a list of articles I’d read during the week, along with, to quote myself in 2022, “musings and lessons as I navigate life as an exhausted Gen Z trying to get an education and become skilful enough for capitalist standards.”
But I underestimated how much effort it would take to keep that up every week while juggling daily commitments.
I believe I have now landed on a more sustainable schedule (i.e if I miss a writing schedule in the future, then the situation MUST be absolutely dire - we’re talking life or death).
At its core, what matters most to me is having a community; a space to share ideas, curiosities, observations, and have thoughtful (but unoppressive) conversations about the world, and our realities.
Looking back at past letters, I realised I had unintentionally built an archive, a record of thoughts, ideas, stories, etc, and I want to continue that practice of documentation; an endeavour I believe is vital to our collective consciousness.
It also helps that writing, researching, and curating these letters makes me feel more informed (which serves my lifelong goal of becoming disgustingly educated). I hope they do the same for you.
So, if you choose to stay on this journey with me (pretty please 🥹), here’s what you can expect:
Twice a month, I’ll send you two kinds of letters:
Musings: this will pull from a range of things - my reflections on life, work, relationships, the conditions of human existence, events shaping our current zeitgeist, etc.
Monthly Wrap: a curated collection of music, art, articles, films, photography, technology, design, etc - basically, a treasure chest of things that fascinated me (and that you may find fascinating too) over the course of the month.
Moving forward
Since these letters won’t be weekly anymore, it’s only fair to admit that Weekly Digest with Titi might now be... false advertising 😅. Thus, a name change is in order.
The next letter you receive will not be from weeklydigestwithtiti, but from…
AFT [A Few Thoughts on….] 🥳🎉
Still tweaking the elements, but the URL might also shift from titiodeyinka.substack.com to www.aft.substack.com
I chose this name because it allows me to be more flexible, not just with timelines, but to feel like I’m writing more to a friend than for a Magazine publication, so less perfection pressure (hopefully).
Thank you for sticking with me this long. I’m excited for the journey ahead, the letters I will write, the conversations we will have, and what AFT will become.
I would love to hear from you and what you’ve been up to!
Till next time,
With love,
Titi.
P.S.: You should listen to ‘First Day of My Life’ By Bright Eyes.
It’s absolutely beautiful.
Welcome back!
Doings!