Welcome!

What am I doing here? What are any of us doing here?

Hello, and welcome to Maryn is Here!

A little background

I was a teenager during the golden age of blogging. At my brother’s insistence, I started my own blog and it quickly became my tool of choice for processing life and connecting with others. My blog never went further than a small circle of friends and family, but reaching a large audience was never the point for me — it was purely a way for me to document my world, my thoughts, and my experiences. Which I did for years until Instagram disrupted everything, of course.

I’ve longed to have a space like my teenage blog again. And as I’ve seen Substack gain traction and become such a unique platform for sharing and building community, a little seed was germinating in my brain. It’s time to begin again.

Photo by @xpimage, taken during a spontaneous solo photoshoot on a spontaneous solo trip to Paris (a story for another day)

About me

I’m Maryn (rhymes with Erin)! Here’s me in a nutshell:

I was born and raised in Utah but have since lived all over the place: Hawaii; Paris, France; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Washington, D.C., and currently Virginia.

Cute husband Freddy and cute Paris

Long-legged floofer Monet, “Mo” for short

I have a fabulous husband, Freddy (who hails from Singapore), and a rascal/love-bug mini Goldendoodle named Monet.

Definitely ordered a cake with my face on it to celebrate my graduation

As a teen, I thought I was going to become a professional photographer when I grew up. Instead, I studied to become someone who teaches photography, graphic design, and the like in secondary schools. After a few years of designing online K-12 technology courses, I decided to go back to school. I just graduated with my master’s in business/branding and experience design from VCU Brandcenter. Next step in my professional journey: unknown!

Existential crisis hydrangeas

I grew up in a high-demand religious culture and have been deconstructing my relationship with it over the past few years. It has admittedly blown up my entire worldview, à la The Truman Show. I feel like a baby who’s learning to see the world and themselves for the first time, only I’m not a baby and I’m very much a not very grown 28-year-old woman. (Calling myself a woman instead of a girl feels strange and I should probably look into that.)

I’m a proud member of the neurodivergent club and was finally diagnosed with ADHD in early 2022. I’m constantly trying to learn more about my brain and I’m passionate about advocating for neurodivergent folks’ inclusion and care. I’ve also had a storied journey with my mental health: anxiety, depression, OCD, and all of the above intersecting with my neurodivergence. In short, my brain has a lot going on and I aim to be open about it so others feel less alone.

Saying hello to my inner child through ROLLER BLADING and feeling very good about it

I’m always mulling on a few big life topics, and this is a peek into what’s on my mind lately:

• Prioritizing well-being (belonging, authenticity, play, etc.) at work

• Living intuitively and in connection with your inner self: how one does that and how it affects all aspects of life

• Creating with no expectations but simply to allow space for play, imagination, and experimentation

• Reclaiming and connecting with old versions of yourself to find healing

• And more I’m probably forgetting

Why this newsletter

I think I’ve been running away from myself for a lot of my life. I’ve thrown myself into people, places, and things hoping they’d tell me who I am and what my life should be. That’s definitely part of why I went to grad school, and spoiler alert, getting a master’s degree didn’t solve my life’s puzzle as I had hoped it would. (Blast.)

So. Maryn is Here. In the present, not running, not avoiding, not distracting herself. Maryn is Here, facing her life and herself head-on, ready to uncover her hopes and fears and hopefully find some joy along the way.

Thanks for being here.