Hi, it’s me, I’m the writer, it’s me.
Before you think I’m a Taylor Swift fan, I just thought that was a funny way to start my first post on Substack. 😅
After having had my own blog (mindfulmess!) on WordPress and then venturing into Medium, I’ve decided that cheesy content that talks about psychology, mental health, daily life, and yoga deserves a place in your inbox.
If you sometimes go through life wishing you didn’t feel so alone in the world with what’s happening to you, this is the place to be read!
We’ll talk about all things life: mental health, relationships, career burnout, mortality, psychology, money psychology, writing, sports, wellness, productivity, procrastination, you name it.
In this first issue, I’ll quickly introduce myself so you know who is on the other side of these letters. And next week, we’ll get deep into the topics.
Who am I?
Well, my name is Cristina Rojas. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. After experiencing a year abroad in Germany during my high school years, I decided Europe was a pretty sweet spot to do my university in—and so I did.
I studied Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at Newcastle University, and after finding out that chemistry was not my thing, I decided to do a Master’s in Biotechnology and Business Enterprise.
However, although science is my life, writing is my passion—my true calling.
So, after university, I started writing a blog: Mindfulmess. The OG. It was fun, and I started getting messages from people telling me that reading about someone else’s struggles was a breath of fresh air. Finally, they had proof they weren’t alone and others experienced the same struggles.
That lit a bulb in my head. Maybe I can make writing my career? After all, I really didn’t want to pursue the academia route, nor did I want to work at a lab all day. And let’s be honest, jobs weren’t as readily available as I had expected after having graduated with a Master’s.
I kept on writing, started a Medium blog, and slowly with time (and thanks to a mentor, Alex, that’s you!) I became a freelance writer.
Days typing away at my laptop between yoga classes (I’m also a certified yoga teacher) made me wonder if I was living or dreaming. It was too good to be true.
Although it was incredibly fun and fulfilling, my bank account disagreed with my lifestyle. Doing freelance gigs on Fiverr didn’t pay enough to sustain me in the long run.
Lucky enough, when I was about to hang in the towel (applying to jobs is NOT enjoyable), I landed a job at a British content agency.
Finally, I was able to pay for rent, food, and even some trips with the money earned by writing! Whoop-whoop!
The dream lasted 2.5 years. During my final months at the agency, I started to experience proper burnout. I started to dislike writing and my life became work, work, work, and more work. Something had happened that sucked my life force out of me.
I’m still trying to figure out what happened to my childhood dream of becoming a writer, but so far I’ve concluded two things:
Due to the amount of work I had to do I stopped writing for myself
Becoming a content and copywriter for B2B and SaaS brands was not really what my childhood dream was about
So, after changing a few things at work, I’m able to say I’m happy again, but I’m not writing anymore. I decided that the only way I could continue to enjoy writing is if I write about things I truly care about—and another software company is definitely not it. Thus, why we’re here.
What you’ll get?
Welcome!
Now that you know me a bit, let’s see what I’ll be delivering to your inbox:
First of all, this Substack will be written like a blog. There will be personal essays, but also quick and bite-sized posts for you to wonder a little bit longer about life.
The topics we’ll cover are pretty broad from science to movies, from literature to anti-procrastination tools. The common thread will be: things and ideas that will make your life 2% better.
I’ll focus mostly on the mental health side of things, but I’ll also talk about physical health and professional development.
This Substack is for you if you want to read every week something that makes you sit back on your chair, look at the world around you, and wonder, how are we so lucky to be alive?
That’s it for now. 😁
Have a great week, and talk to you soon!