Let’s touch base, Rosebuds.
The Good Graces rebrand has officially been rolled out for an entire month. How are we feeling?
Since katrisharose.com’s makeover, rebrand, and re-launch, we’ve talked about….
[TAP THE TOPIC FOR BLOG TITLES + LINKS]
An Introduction to Good Graces: what sparked and themed the rebrand in and of itself
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding safe skincare solutions
How I connect with God and hear his voice more clearly amidst chaotic daily life
What Happens When You Put Your Faith on Paper
+ Our first subscriber only BONUS: Faith Journaling Tips + Prompts to get started
Breaking generational cycles and candid motherhood reflections
Motherhood Beyond Inheritance – Building Something I Never Saw
And Curly Haircare
Nearly a full rotation of the Good Graces ecosystem–Beauty, Faith, Motherhood, and glimpses of Real Life (& Style,) with a fresh read added every Monday morning. Whew!
I would love to know which posts have spoken to you most thus far! Vote on the poll below, and if you have any specific feedback, leave a comment.
Can we talk about what this has been like on this side?
First of all, I am super excited and proud of the rebrand thus far. Everything is *finally* feeling aligned. The site makeover makes me happy. The blogs are refreshingly rich, honest, and to my personal standard, and most importantly–I haven’t missed a week. This is the greatest, most consistent influx of new posts to the blog in well over a year.
I wish I could say it’s all because I’m just a writing machine nowadays, but honestly–I have been preparing the posts you’ve been seeing since August. On this side of the screen, I am 9 months pregnant, utterly exhausted, hormonal, and mentally overwhelmed. And my hair isn’t done.
Depending on the blog, it can take me quite a while from start to finish of creating the piece–and transparently, it’s getting real now because I have rolled out all of my pre-written material, and need to really pace into creating new material quickly in order to keep up with this nice, new weekly posting schedule.
What really happens when you create / launch / relaunch a new creative project like this?
It’s really, really quiet. I have actually lost subscribers here and on the @katrisharosedotcom instagram since rolling out the rebrand and new posts. The little downward arrow on the analytics dashboard is a reminder at every log-in.
But friends, I expected this.
Of course, I would have loved to see more excitement and new interest come through, but the reality is, this is a substantial, foundational shift to the heart of this space. I knew it was going to be far from a seamless, full-audience transition. It’s also been a long time since this blog was really alive–and to all the sudden appear again in people’s email inboxes who’ve probably forgotten who I am, or when or why they subscribed to my original blog, and now they’re getting this new, likely unfamiliar feeling content on a weekly basis? I don’t blame them for scrolling right down to the unsubscribe button.
Not only that, but I have failed-to-launch, so to speak, and prematurely announced other missing or incomplete creative projects in the past. I own that. Even if there was some quiet interest, I wouldn’t blame my OG readers for feeling skeptical to invest in and engage with this quite yet. You could say, I may not be back in their good graces, just yet. (bad joke, I know.)
And it’s all okay.
One thing I find interesting about where I am with all of this is how genuinely accepting I feel about my humble appearances and receptions on social media lately. In general and creatively, I have learned that relying on external validation is poisonous for so many reasons. Especially in the baby-sprouts of anything new.
For years, I have had my feelings hurt over and over with this anticipation-to-disappointment feedback cycle for external affirmation–noticing every time I didn’t receive support from the places I expected it, would happily give it–and have given it, when the shoe’s on the other foot. Countless pity parties and creative-crash outs thrown between here and my other platforms. Tons of moments or entire seasons where I have actually questioned if any of this “katrisharose” stuff, putting myself out there in any capacity online is really for me.
Although I can still be painfully observant of how support shows up in my life, I have grown away from the gravitational pull of that feedback cycle and it’s spiral of doom.
In fact, I think I have experienced so much of the former–likely as a bootcamp prerequisite to stepping into a project as meaningful as Good Graces.
I’ll explain.
For so long, I restricted and censored my voice and authentic expression for fear of rejection. I reverse-engineered my creative output for algorithms, for trends, and for the generic, universal, impossible approval of people– until I couldn’t always recognize my own personal creative signature in what I shared.
No wonder I lost my spark. No wonder I was questioning things all the time. But this slow creative-death isn’t a unique experience to me by any means.
Sadly, it’s what happens when your near and dear passion becomes your job. Capitalism enters the chat, any insecurities you’ve ever felt about being hyper-visible and vulnerable swell beyond bare, and completely flood the creation processes you used to enjoy. Creations that used to flow from you can hardly get out of the gate.
This is the reality, and the creative concession, so many artists of all forms succumb to. And consumers never truly know who’s fallen either, because often it’s this continuous compromise that actually starts to yield the very results–the validation, the affirmation, and the monetary opportunities we need to do and sustain it in the first place.
Eventually, ideally, it looks like success. Then we all look around, judge and agree that everyone successful and visible looks the same and is doing things the same. Hmmm.
I can’t even knock the hustle. Time and time again, we set out with the best of intentions, but eventually realize we’re trapped in the rules of an inescapable game. And if you don’t mind everything that comes with driving down that road--go get it, friend. Seriously. It absolutely could work out if you have the grit, the luck, and the sauce. That’s a grind and a career-climb we can all relate to in one way or another. There’s no shame in that.
I thought that road was the only way for a long time.
But now, I feel like God sent me off-roading. The destination? GPS is still loading… Buckle up, girl.
Does that mean some mega sleeper-success waiting on the other side for Good Graces? Will that my special reward for taking the path less traveled? Eh? don’t get me wrong, I’d gleefully take it, but it’s not what I expect. Maybe a good blog pushed out only as often as I can, with maybe a couple posts that genuinely, positively impact people. That’s enough to make me feel fulfilled and purposeful on this end. The bills will get paid another way.
This has all been yet another reflection of God’s incredible intentionality and timing. I have been “hotter” on social media before. Strategically, there have been better times–any other time than the end of this quiet, largely inactive, year really, for me to launch a project. Why did I finally gain a push, a vision, an ability, and a grace to do this now? And how on earth am I doing it in this season, when I have had to set down seemingly everything else, because every little thing, has become so hard to do?
Well, validation, praise, and generally being motivated or incentivized by pleasing others, can be, and had been, an idol for me.
Though prioritizing and constantly anticipating the needs or wants of others birthed early on from a place of self-protection, and later adapted as a wholesome intent to be of service–when I realized how much I relied on it to feel competent, worthy and included, and how often it actually left me feeling exploited, beside myself, and deeply discouraged, I knew something needed to change. If we’re sticking with the driving metaphor, I had to pull over for a bit and call my Father.
That old approach would have been absolute poisonous soil to plant this blog into. Had I began this blog any earlier, it would have been compromised, and that’s just a hard truth.
So If we’re really being real, Good Graces is me stepping out in faith and getting some starting reps on my muscle of obedience. As messy or minor as it may be. The purpose and the outcome of my obedience isn’t up to me, and my God, am I thankful for that. The gag is, I can’t bring the ego-games and hyper-strategy into this to force more success–because this thing doesn’t even fully belong to me.
So here we are in the baby sprouts of a new thing. It’s messy, it’s real, and it’s gon’ be what it’s gon’ be.
Thankfully, grace is in the name. Isn’t that funny? It’s a constant reminder, I suspect now–divinely assigned, for the journey ahead.
So we acknowledge these first insights and feelings, and we press on. We have a baby. We don’t know how we’re going to do it all, but eventually, we do.
That said–I really am getting ready to have a baby, so if there’s minor slow down, interruption, or change to the weekly schedule, have some grace with me too. Today I’m doing laundry to pack our hospital bags.
I am still really excited about what we’re doing here. I’m giving it all the space and time it needs to root down and grow into whatever it’s supposed to be. If you’re reading this post in real or real-ish time, you’re a early supporter of something incredibly meaningful to me, and if I don’t say it enough–I am so thankful you’re here. Yes, I am quite gushy. You will learn that about me if you haven’t already.
Again– if you’ve been reading along, vote on the poll above and leave a comment below! I’d love to hear about what’s been speaking to you thus far.
Talk soon, friend. -K
Katrisha Rose 
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