🎙️ Mandi Mail Voice Note: “It’s Been a Minute”

Transcript: Hey friend, it’s Mandi. And it feels a little weird recording this. Not bad weird. Just… I haven’t done this in a while weird. Because it has been a long time since I’ve sent you a Mandi Mail. I think the last one was in May. May! And now here we are in September. So first, I just want to say hi. Like, really say hi. How are you? I mean, I know I can't actually hear your answer, but I hope you’re okay. And if you’re not okay, I hope you’re giving yourself some room to not be okay. Because that’s actually a big part of what I’ve been learning over these last few months. Sometimes we disappear because life gets busy. Sometimes we disappear because we’re overwhelmed. Sometimes we disappear because we’re tired. And sometimes…we just need to stop. And that’s kind of what happened to me. I had all these things I wanted to do. Episodes I wanted to release. Mandi Mails I wanted to write. Ideas I wanted to turn into workshops and conversations and posts and all the things. But I got behind. And I could have spent the summer beating myself up about that. Trust me, I know how to do that. But instead, I tried something different. I gave myself permission to pause. And honestly? I needed it. I needed to remember that the work I do around disability justice and liberation doesn't mean I have to constantly produce. It doesn't mean I have to turn every thought into content. It doesn't mean that if I stop moving, I'm somehow abandoning the work. Sometimes rest is part of the work. Sometimes joy is part of the work. Sometimes choosing yourself is part of the work. And I think I needed to practice some of the things I talk about all the time. Not perfectly. Definitely not perfectly. But intentionally. And now I'm coming back. Not because I suddenly have everything figured out. I absolutely do not. But because I feel ready to reconnect. With this community. With Beyond Beautiful. And honestly… with you. Because if you've been getting these emails for a while, you're not just an email address on a list to me. You are part of this little community we've been building. And I don't take that for granted. So if you've been wondering where I went… I'm here. If you've been waiting for the podcast to come back…I'm here. If you've been thinking, “Mandi, girl, are you ever going to send another Mandi Mail?” Yes. Apparently I am. And I have a lot to tell you. Season 3 is moving again. There are conversations coming about disability, faith, queerness, identity, liberation, belonging, joy… And probably a few things I haven't even figured out yet. Because that's the beauty of this space. We're figuring some of it out together. So this voice note is really just me saying: Thank you for still being here. Thank you if you listened to an episode. Thank you if you opened one of these emails. Thank you if you shared something. Thank you if you quietly rooted for me. And thank you if you didn't do any of those things and you're just here right now. That's enough. You don't have to prove that you belong here. You don't have to perform your support. You don't have to have the right words. You can just…be here. And I think that's what I want Beyond Beautiful to keep being. A place where we can show up as we are. Messy. Joyful. Questioning. Faithful. Queer. Disabled. Tired. Hopeful. Human. And still worthy of love. So…hi. It's Mandi. I'm back. And I'm really, really glad you're here. I'll see you in the next one.