And We Are Back

September 1, 2020

Hello y’all, welcome to year two! Come in, settle down, and stay a while; we have a lot of catching up to do. I see some new visitors, so let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Aemi, I am twenty-seven years old, and I started this blog as a way to share my stories as I navigate the next stage of my life: getting married. This was a little pet project I started a year ago because it was time to “seriously consider settling down.” The lengths to which my family was willing to go were actually rather amusing to me. Mind you, I am an American millennial. My concept of everything is drastically different from how my parents see the world.

I noticed that when I would share one of my stories, there would be at least one person in the group that had a similar experience. It was astonishing how common my experiences were, and yet I only heard other’s stories after I had shared mine. That was when I remembered we were raised to keep everything a secret. Basically, only share the good stuff and hide everything else. 

But that does not vibe for me. You cannot change social norms by keeping secrets. 2020 has really shown us the cracks in our societal norms. So I figured I would open up this platform as a way to share my stories. And I hope that by sharing my stories, it encourages you to share yours as well!

I understand that not everyone is comfortable laying out their personal lives. In fact, I prefer to be a wallflower and go unnoticed. Which is why all the names mentioned in these posts have been changed. Even “Aemi” is a pseudonym. While all of my stories are real and have actually happened, I want to protect the privacy of those I write about because this is not a gossip blog. What I write about are my thoughts and my experiences, or in the case of guest writers, their thoughts and their experiences. My goal is to bring awareness, not shame. 

That being said, some of y’all will remember from my last post that I have some ambitious goals for this year. First one is to foster more engagement. What would you like to read? So far, I have been writing about experiences I think would be entertaining to read. But just because I think it is entertaining does not make it so. Leave a comment below or connect with me on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter). Let me know what you think of this whole endeavor. Which stories do you relate to? Do you think it is complete hogwash? Do you have a topic you want me to bring up? Let me know! I love reading your comments and receiving your feedback. 

This brings me to my second goal. If you have a story that is relatable, I would love to share it. I want this to be a platform where many people can relate to the content. Featuring additional storytellers adds diversity and different viewpoints. Earlier this year, my friend Ashwathi showed us that the experiences of a married woman are not that dissimilar to that of a single woman. This year, I want to share more experiences like that. If you have a story you would like to share, please follow the guidelines here. 

As for my third goal, you are already helping me achieve it! I do not underestimate how valuable you are to this blog. Without you, the reader, this would simply be a digital version of my journals. If there are stories you were able to relate to, or ones that you wanted to share, by all means, do so. There are traditions worth keeping and ones that are not. Let us talk about the cultural norms we ought to pass on and ones we should discard. If you read something you enjoy, pass it along; let us begin a new set of norms.

So that was a brief summary to catch everyone up. I am always looking for new ideas and new topics; leave a comment below about topics you want me to cover. Maybe it is an update on someone I have mentioned before. Maybe it is something new that you want my opinion on. Let me know below what you want to read about. And if you come across something you want to share with me, you can send it to @asanworks on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or email me (yes, that archaic communication system) at asanworks@gmail.com. See y’all next week!

- Aemi