I'm Changing How I Write This Substack

There's a tug on my heart that’s nudging me to write as ME again, not as Shannon Leyko the Decluttering Queen.

I believe a sign of living on autopilot is a lack of change. If we stick with what we’ve always been doing, it usually means we haven’t reevaluated and responded to our own humanity.

Some seasons we have more (or less) free time. Sometimes we learn new information that alters our perspective. Maybe we’ve faced a new challenge, a significant loss, or a monumental victory. We might have a small epiphany while doing something mundane, or hear a story that tugs at a dormant string in our heart.

Each of these things begs for us to evolve. Being human isn’t static, which is why it’s concerning if our lives show no signs of change.

What are we doing with the new information?

What are we sacrificing to maintain the illusion of a steady capacity?

Where are we stuffing the yearnings, the curiosity, and the discomfort?

Intentional living and change go hand in hand. It’s the natural order of things: To be intentional is to be aware, to be aware is to notice what needs adjustment, and to act on those needs is to change.

This is a really long way of telling you that I’m making some changes to this Substack.

Screeeech—I’m not going anywhere! I love writing too much. I love this community too much. No, no. I’ll be right here for the foreseeable future.

What I am doing is removing the self-imposed boundary around my writing that it must relate back to decluttering in a literal or figurative sense. That said, I do think that most good ideas lead back to decluttering.

We’re removing

• distractions

• materialism

• negativity

• self-sabotage

• unproductive opinions

• comparison

• expectations

And we’re making space for

• relationships

• understanding

• empathy

• adventure

• appreciation

• satisfaction

• interest

and more.

Truly, I believe it will be hard for me—for anyone—to write anything of substance without acknowledging some element of what’s worth keeping in our lives and what’s not.

However, I’m ready to branch out. I’m responding to the tug on my heart that’s nudging me to write as me again, not as Shannon Leyko the Decluttering Queen.

Some days, I might still feel inspired to write about the act of decluttering because it’s truly helpful in my own life. But maybe I want to share about personal struggles, observations that stop me in my tracks, or revelations that seep into my soul.

I’ve already dabbled in this type of expansion in my weekly posts, but I want the freedom to write from the heart without the little brand ambassador on my shoulder reminding me to tie it up with a decluttering bow.

So this Substack is becoming a place for me to feed my writer soul while hopefully watering your garden, too. I want us to grow together. To meander a bit and see what happens.

I hope my writing still awakens intentional living in your own life, but I also hope it provides a new level of insight and vulnerability that can only emerge from Shannon the writer, the mom, the wife, the mover-to-Finland, the lover of books and sun-grazed mountains and soft hearts. Shannon the recent fan of 500-piece jigsaw puzzles, the woman who swings between feeling like a failure and superwoman on any given day, the faith seeker who refuses to narrow my view of God to one interpretation unless that interpretation is love.

Gosh, that felt a little self indulgent to write, but I guess no one’s writing these posts but me…all of me. And it’s an honor to have all of you learning, accepting, and growing by my side. Let’s see what happens!