#100: All good things must evolve

Why I'm winding down Pass It On

This is the 100th post I’ve published for Pass It On, and it will also be the last in the newsletter’s current form.

Some of you have been subscribed to Pass It On since 2020, which is wild. Back then, I could never have predicted four years of publishing. There was no grand plan, just a loose but persistent itch to give back to the non-profit sector during a global crisis and a desire to build a consistent writing habit. I started sharing things I thought would be useful and inviting others to do the same, and slowly but surely, more of you came on board. I am extremely grateful for all the friends and learnings that emerged along the way.

There is no momentous reason behind my decision to wind down this newsletter. I just sensed that it was time. And like Joe MacLeod explained last week, it’s good to allow for endings. I started Pass It On in a different version of the world and as a different version of myself. I’m happy that my priorities are evolving.

What do they do,
the singers, tale-writers, dancers, painters, shapers, makers?
They go there with empty hands,
into the gap between.
They come back with things in their hands.

— Ursula K. Le Guin

My most important learning from these 100 posts is that the writing and the thinking—or more specifically, the writing to think—is in fact the whole point. We live in a loud, impatient, increasingly online world that demands as it destroys our attention. When you’re constantly distracted, it’s not easy to think at all, let alone to think well.

This is what makes a creative act like writing so radical: you sit in front of a blank page and submit yourself to the brilliant, excruciating process that is going from nothing to something. You enter the gap between—a liminal space where you attempt to find your thoughts and give them form. When you come back, you’re a slightly different person. Creativity, as my dad once said, is the ultimate act of faith, which is probably why it feels so glorious.

Look for what you notice
but no one else sees.

— Rick Rubin

I haven’t decided what the next evolution of Pass It On will be. All I know is I want to follow my intuition and write fewer, better pieces on overlooked topics that don’t have straightforward answers. I’ll either leave this Substack as an archive and create an entirely new one from scratch or build upon what’s here. Updates to come in January, once I’ve had more time to think.

Thanks so much for being on this journey. It means more than you know.

With love and gratitude,
Lauren