Lori’s Stories and The Emotional Abyss Merger

Dear Subscribers,

Thank you for subscribing to this blog! When I created Lori’s Stories, I intended to write regular posts. Yet, life is unpredictable. We are often jerked away from our intentions and best-laid-out plans. And when that happens, survival mode kicks in, and those of us who are able to keep our heads above water as we tirelessly tread water are somehow the fortunate ones… I say that’s debatable. But, hey, I’m still standing. I’m still creating. I’m still writing. I’m still putting in effort and doing that what makes me the most happy while navigating more than one “emotional abyss.”

But it hasn’t been consistent. Other things distracted me. Stole my time. Fogged my creativity. In other words, limited my productivity.

50 Something Grad School Student.

In 2021, I was accepted into graduate school at a prestigious public university—the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications in the Public Interest Communications Online Program. I was ecstatic because I’d wanted to earn a master’s degree for a couple of decades, but the timing never seemed right. So, when the pandemic hit, it felt like the perfect time to go back to school and build upon my knowledge and skills. Then, some unforeseen circumstances occurred in the fall of 2021 (tell you more about that later), so I turned my attention to my courses and graduated this summer, meeting my goal to graduate in less than two years!

But it wasn’t easy. Besides the endless hours of research, analyzing pages of content, writing papers, and creating projects for every course, I had personal issues bubbling up from the surface, over, and over, and over again. The last two years have been some of my hardest. I’m not absolutely sure it was all worth it, but I am proud of my discipline and that I kept my eye on the big picture—getting my master’s degree. That goal I achieved. I even attended the ceremony and walked with a few classmates whom I’d met while in the Public Interest Communications Program, AKA CommuniGATORS! It was a fun, long, celebratory day!

New Season. New Directions.

After reflecting on the ability to work full-time, maintain two blogs, and launch a new podcast based loosely on my book, The Emotional Abyss: overcoming the traumatic teen years with poetry. It was time to face reality—I couldn’t do all that myself…not many people can, at least not well. So, I’m letting go of what no longer serves me and instead focusing on my podcast and related projects.

This is Happening!

Did I say PODCAST?! Yes, I did! I developed The Emotional Abyss Podcast in Dr. Hieidi Kirby’s course, “The Art of Podcasting,” while at UF. I’ve interviewed five wonderful, talented, creative, brave, and wise women, and I cannot wait to share my guests’ stories!

Their stories are full of hope, resilience, perseverance, and how they found their way forward amidst chaos! Their stories are truly inspiring, and I cannot wait for you all to listen! We laugh. We cry. Well, I cry. But most importantly, we have fun! We also share our personal coping strategies and how we’ve dealt with feeling hopeless.

I’m currently in production and recording my solo episodes, and then I’ll move on to 100% post-production (i.e., audio editing in #AdobeAudition)! That’s all I can say now, but I promise to tell you more about the podcast and update you super soon!

Merging. Next Steps.

You don’t need to do anything to join me at The Emotional Abyss Blog | healing through writing (lorilevans.info) [TEA Blog]. I’ll be merging my lists in the next few weeks. Lori’s Stories, on this site, will officially close in 2024. All future blog updates will be posted on the TEA Blog and of course, socials!

What’s Next?

So, all of that brings me to the end of this blog. But, I will be blogging and posting my podcast episodes on The Emotional Abyss Blog | healing through writing (lorilevans.info) [TEA Blog]. I also have a Facebook Page: The Emotional Abyss Podcast & Book. It’s sparse—content is coming soon, and more posting will be happening on socials in 2024, too!

So…

Please come on over and join me on the TEA Blog and the TEA FB Page by clicking on those links above and become part of the community!

You can also get future updates about the podcast, the book, and my life in general by following me on Instagram @lori.l.evans.

Full of words,

Lori

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