That New-Website Smell: My New Portfolio (and Other Updates)

It's about time I revamped my old online portfolio. Since I last touched my website, I had life turn upside down on me. A year and a half into getting my digital-nomad legs under me, life delivered me a nice roundhouse kick of a reminder that it is not always going to go my way.

In 2022 my boyfriend of 4 years cheated on me with a close friend I made while we were working and living in employee housing at a remote lodge in Alaska for the summer. It was a week before my birthday. And if that wasn't enough, I also got COVID for the first time a few days later. Oh and it was a week before my birthday. He got me a $100 gift card to Cotopaxi at least...

So I decided it was time I went back to be close with my friends and family. I came back to a life of rent, car payments, but overall financial security, at first getting a temporary job folding clothes at an industrial laundry facility, then as an administrative specialist at the University of Maine. The work I had done for a full year and a half to establish connections with folks that I could work with seasonally in diverse places like Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska, and all the plans he and I had built to continue our nomadic life together suddenly crumbled to dust. And when the floor is giving way beneath you, all you want to do is reach solid ground.

But stability was not enough for me. I needed purpose, and I needed to find a way to build freedom from a solid foundation. The seasonal job strategy is possible, and popular, but to me it was tough doing work that I wasn't passionate about 40hours a week just to be in a cool place when I was routinely too tired after work to even do anything. Even when I did manage to push myself out to the local attractions, I still barely had time to even do the little things that bring me pleasure: read, write, color, garden, practice piano and ukulele. I still feel that way of course, back in Maine. Though the main differences are I can't say my hometown feels like a "cool" place to me since I've already explored it all, but the constraints on my time aren't as severe. Despite the allure of traveling to new places every few months, at least here I can take advantage of actually being in one place for a long time. (I even have a garden now!) And all of that, combined with my need to find fulfilling, rewarding, and flexible work that could open up paths to freer lifestyles once again, was what led me to becoming a Maine Master Naturalist.

I started volunteering with the MMN program in 2024, educating the public on a range of aspects of Maine's ecology. Every day since I've learned something new about the natural world that I hadn't before. Moreover, it also taught me a lot about the human world. I could talk forever about either, but what's important for me to say here is that it has helped me define this new chapter in my life: in which I figure out my shit, and learn how to get what I want out of life while still taking care of myself. I've realized that way I see myself is way more important than how anyone else sees me, and being a Maine Master Naturalist has simultaneously forced me to come fully out of my shell and throw it into the ocean, AND opened paths for me to connect with amazing folks all across the state. I've honed my passion for wildlife conservation and combined it with my skills in writing and communication to craft stories, events, newsletters, poems, webinars, and nature walks all with the goal of spreading wisdom about the natural world and our relationship as humans to it.

I still of course write about other things too from time to time, but what this whole experience has shown me is the pervasive nature of conservation and climate justice and it's seeping into every conversation we're having in this day and age as a society. We can't talk about racism without talking about environmental racism. We can't talk about the economy without talking about our ecology. We can't talk about major storms without talking about climate change. And we can't talk about human rights violations without talking about animal rights violations.

Because what we know is this: the way someone treats their environment is directly correlated to how they treat people who are different from them. I think about this every single time I read the news. Every time I go to put together a presentation or a nature walk or a poem, the thought appears again and again. And I think it's partially because I may not know what the future holds for me, nor what's even realistic to dream of, but what I do know is that the human-nature relationship, as a whole, needs major improvements to say the least. I cannot stop thinking about how the world could be so much happier if we all truly knew and felt the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. If that wisdom could actually be woven into our human systems, we could build a more sustainable, thriving future.

I may not be able to change the world by myself, but I start by being the change I wish to see. I can prioritize opportunities and people that align with my goals, while also finding time for self-care and introspection so I can stay focused on what matters. I can write, host nature walks, call legislators, start conversations, and put together events that bring people closer to nature and together. If we each bring a little bit of light into the mix, then we can all glow brighter.

I wanted to share this update to explain why I've been relatively absent on the internet in the last few years. I started to fall off social media the last few years just because of lack of interest, energy, and time to keep up with all the doom-scrolling. I don't need another corporation taking my attention, so I'm trying to focus on things that feel more productive and fulfilling. I still post on Instagram every so often, and of course I still like sending memes to my friends in other parts of the world, but I'm focusing more on communicating with people directly and bringing more mindfulness to how I spend my social energy now. So I'm hoping that this website will be a good place to keep folks up to date on what I'm doing, as well as sharing my work in a digital format as I continue on this journey.

If you've read this far, thank you. And if you continue to check out the rest of my website, thank you very much. If you have any feedback or you'd like to get in touch, feel free to reach out to me!

Otherwise, hope to see you around.

Nola