I disappeared for a minute because, honestly?I’ve been pissed off.

Not in a dramatic “burn my life down” kind of way. More like… disappointed. Tired. Watching people slowly lose their ability to hold nuance, humor, softness, contradiction … all of it.

Everybody’s either performing enlightenment or performing outrage, and somewhere in the middle we forgot how to just be people together.

VILLAGE VOICE PODCAST - Alli Gatlin | Home of the The Written Identity a reader-supported publication.

This episode is basically me climbing onto the metaphorical kitchen counter to remind you that you are allowed to laugh while your life is hard. In fact, I think you need to.

We talk about:

* Why whimsy matters more than people think

* The difference between reacting and actually living

* How confusion should lead to curiosity instead of panic

* Why being “more than one thing” is actually the point

* Tiny moments that reconnect you to yourself

* The nervous system benefits of laughter, presence, and play

* Why I think some of y’all take “chess not checkers” way too seriously

* Dirt patches, watering cans, grocery carts, Fran Drescher, and existential clarity

* The fact that joy and grief are not opposites … they’re rhythm

I also go on several side quests.Respectfully.

This one feels like sitting on the floor with me while I rant, philosophize, and accidentally yell motivational things at you like a loving menace, yup that’s the most honest version of this podcast.

If you’ve been exhausted by the heaviness of the internet, the pressure to optimize yourself into a productivity robot, or the feeling that everyone forgot how to giggle… this episode’s for you.

Yelling with so much love-Alli G.

NOW! Go find your fucking whimsy again… play some checkers, frolic in a mud pit, commit to the bit, get flirty with being a little feral.

UNTIL THE NEXT CHAT

LOVE BUCKETS 🖤 always yours, The Menace of Mischief, Chaos & Clarity.

P.S.

Put the whim back in whimsy and enjoy that cinematic masterpiece mentioned in the episode HERE

Somebody in your life needs a little more whimsy and a little less existential doom. Share so they know they can have both.

Get full access to Alli Gatlin | The Written Identity at alligatlin.substack.com/subscribe