☁️ Going to a conference this week?

you don't need a new iphone / cozy cardio comeback / on fridgescaping

Hi friend,

Tomorrow, I’ll be at HubSpot’s Inbound conference here in Boston – which is why I’m writing to you today. (I don’t trust myself to write this during the conference and I’m trying to give myself permission to send this on different days.)

I’m excited to see so many of my marketing friends so soon (and if you’re there, say hi!) but I’m also feeling a bit hesitant.

Let me try to explain.

My anxiety and depression have been through the roof recently. I was tempted to add “for no reason” at the end of that sentence, but that would be a lie. There are many different reasons I’ve been feeling extra down lately.

You wouldn’t know it from seeing my Instagram Stories or Threads posts. You wouldn’t know it from reading this newsletter. You might not even know it if you’re one of my friends (how does one slip “I had a panic attack about what to make for lunch” into casual conversation?)

The only thing that helps me in these anxious times is grounding myself in routine. That often means doing the bare minimum and just making it through each day. Enter: a three-day conference.

Conferences are inherently tiring and challenging. Walking thousands of steps a day in business attire, trying to complete normal work alongside sessions, inevitably getting dehydrated or not eating enough, keeping your ‘game face’ on for hours of networking with people you may never see again. It’s easy to see how someone who’s feeling a little down may be overwhelmed by the whole thing.

I never talk about this because I’m so lucky and thankful to be able to go to these events. I’m so honored to spend time with some of our industry’s greats. I’m excited to see what interactions I have with others (the more cynical part of me would call this FOMO).

But I wanted to share this with you today because I imagine a good amount of you will also be at Inbound this week or may be going to another conference soon. Maybe some of you also feel this way and don’t want to say it out loud. I hear you.

I was honestly inspired by Meredith Hayden (wishbonekitchen) sharing her diagnosis of anxiety and depression. I watched her TikTok video about it this morning and nearly cried from how seen I felt.

Anyway, if you see me this week at Inbound, you can totally pretend you never saw this. I promise you I am thankful and grateful and honored to be in these rooms. I’m just also a human being with a lot of deeply rooted issues I’m working on. Those issues, unfortunately, don’t go away just because I’m in rooms talking about marketing.

If you won’t be at Inbound this week, tell me what you want to see from my event content? My only idea right now is a ‘day in the life of a 30 year old with crippling anxiety and depression at a conference’ vlog, so… you’ve been warned.

with warmth + love,

N

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📚 read

• If you’re also deciding whether or not to get the new iPhone: you may also be asking, “what, precisely, am I meant to update?”

• Keep having conversations with yourself: according to therapists, it’s actually very normal and an excellent way to process your thoughts

• Might have to try Cozy Cardio this fall: typically, I’m all for lifting weights and going hard, but a gentler approach to cardio looks so nice

• The real iPad kids: older Gen Alpha kids seem to be aware that their technology use is “very concerning” but they say their younger siblings are worse

• About snark forums: fans can’t look away from their favorite creators, but they’re finding a home for gossipping about them on Reddit

• The ‘fridgescaping’ trend is wild: I totally would’ve liked a photo of this on tumblr back in 2012, but as a fridge-owning adult this seems a little… impractical?

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🌱 do

I started asking myself this with Inbound last year and it made allllll the difference:

How can you make the uncomfortable moments easier?

For example, last Inbound, I bought a work-appropriate backpack that fits my laptop (my scoliosis loves this more than my typical purse), a mini handheld fan (for the outdoor lunch lines), and a heavy-duty portable charger (the free ones you get as merch never work well).

It doesn’t have to be conference-specific either! In my every day life, this is often something simple like listing out all of my to-dos. Just the act of getting things out of my brain into another space helps my anxiety. It also often makes me realize that actually, I don’t have that much going on and I'm doing great.

It doesn’t necessarily mean buying something. Sometimes it’s just a shift in mindset or giving your brain a moment of space. But it’s a major kindness to yourself when you can make the things within your control comfortable.

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✌️ until next week

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Thanks for reading, friend! 🤍