Using AI creates trust issues with potential clients.

I wasn't even sure if I was going to write this one, given that there are so many articles out there already talking about AI and its impact on marketing.

However, I wanted to touch on it specifically in the context of entrepreneurship. It's tempting to use AI, and many new businesses are using it currently to add rocket fuel to their blogging efforts. Seriously, the results that I've seen people get have been impressive.

But as a long-term investment, it's a massive gamble.

The Truth about AI Writing

The reality with AI writing articles today isn’t that the information is necessarily wrong or bad. In fact, many times it’s actually pretty good.

As AI advances, the topic depth is becoming more impressive and helpful. The style isn't half bad, either. Definitely better than what it was a year or so ago. I suspect that it'll only continue to improve, really blurring the line between human made and AI generated content.

So let's put the quality aspects to the side for a moment.

Instead, where I see a problem is in the lack of authenticity as it relates to the author, and the brands that use it.

This is especially true as people start creating fake authors to attribute expertise from AI to these individuals without being clear that the content is AI-generated.

In my mind, this begins to cross over into some ethical gray areas, depending on the nature of the website.

For instance, if somebody is posturing as an expert in a certain industry, they can easily create content that demonstrates a level of expertise that they may not have in order to secure clients.

At present, there is no way to verify this, and I believe that it will create issues with trust from readers. Not just broken trust, but inability for people to fully trust brands and bloggers in the future.

The Risk of Losing Trust

Many entrepreneurs are benefiting from AI blogging. They use it on their business blogs and, in the short to medium-term timeframe, their AI content is crushing it.

I’ve seen it personally on a lot of SaaS offerings.

These companies are churning out an article a day, complete with visuals and formatting, that are on a level we haven’t seen in the past.

The risk, however, is the perception. It looks lazy, and it comes across deceitful (even if intentions are good).

Losing The Relationship

Anybody who’s been in business for any amount of time knows that successful businesses are relationship-driven.

When customers feel like they have a relationship with a brand or a company, they:

• Tell others
• Leave positive reviews
• Continue to spend money with that company

The further a business separates itself from this human connection, the further they are from establishing trust, and therefore making the sale.

Think about a time that you’ve landed on a website and wanted to have a chat with somebody, only to be forced to talk to AI.

This has happened to me many times, and I’ll admit that I’m often able to find the answer using the AI (which is great), but it also doesn’t make me feel any more positive about the company.

There’s no interaction, no feel-good human-to-human aspect, and that is what drives emotions and leads people to purchase or trust a brand. I've personally purchased products after positive interactions in a website chat.

Any business relying on AI for blogging and content creation, those are the businesses that are getting further away from a new customer. That's not the direction you want to be going in.

How You Can Use AI in Content Creation

Using AI for blogging cannot be a long-term play for any serious entrepreneur. There's just too much risk involved.

That said, AI can still be used to help with your content.

Create Outlines

I think having AI create a rough outline is perfectly fine.

You get the different headers and fill in the blanks from there with your own words. At the end, you can ask it to check for grammar mistakes and perhaps suggest improvements in the structure of a sentence, but without changing your own words.

Interview You

This one I've used before and found it to be quite helpful. Tell the AI what you want to write about and have it come up with questions for you to answer. Then, when you're on a walk or something, use the speech-to-text feature on your phone to answer each of the questions.

Before you know it, you have your first draft. Then prompt the AI to compile your responses and to clean up grammar mistakes. Don't have it change or edit your wording. Do that yourself later when you're reviewing it.

Search Intent Research

If you’re trying to write with the intent of being discovered in Google or elsewhere, then you can have it analyze your copy for relevant keywords and suggest where you can link to other articles that you created.

I understand there are tools that do exactly that, but if you’re using ChatGPT or something else, you can have it do this as well without needing to buy into a whole new ecosystem that is essentially just a ChatGPT wrapper.

Refining Popular Content

If you have a popular article on your site, you can ask ChatGPT for relevant related topic ideas and then have it create an outline. Then you go through and write the post according to the outline, making changes where it seems to make sense and adding your own personality.

Yes, this takes more time, but this investment is actually one for the long term. Because that is the biggest point about AI content in today’s content marketing game.

Nobody knows if AI content will ever be punished or devalued, but human content certainly will go up in value and perceived trustworthiness as time goes on.

Invest now in that future trust.

AI as Your Editor

One of the things I'm most guilty of is not proofreading well enough. I write my article, read through it a few times, then publish. Two minutes after publishing and I notice grammar issues that need to be fixed.

This happens way less now because I use AI to act as my editor. It points out my grammar mistakes and offers suggestions. This is so simple, but probably one of my favorite ways to use AI for blogging.

Possible Issue in The Future

Let’s imagine a scenario that likely won’t happen, but I could see very well happening as a possibility five years from now.

The internet is flooded with high-quality AI articles, but because it’s AI, they often say similar things to one another.

People get angry. The internet feels like one big AI chatbot.

To counteract this and to bring some humanity back to the experience, Google decides to add a notifier that something is human-made, or differentiates between AI content and human content in a more obvious way.

Some people won’t care and will still go to the AI content, but there’ll be a lot of people, possibly even more in a five-year timeframe, that will decide they’re tired of AI and trust actual experts in the space, people they can have relationships with.

Keeping your content authentic and human-made means you don’t have to worry about the changes that come in the future as they relate to AI, because AI ultimately relies upon you for its knowledge.

And you'll benefit from any of these potential future shifts.

Final Thoughts

AI has been an incredible asset to humanity across a variety of different industries, including content marketing and blogging.

But I caution anybody using it now for strictly AI content. It's just not the smart long play in any business landscape.

There’s too much risk because you don’t control the future of how AI content will be treated, and the overall consensus seems to be that too much AI content is a bad thing.

#entrepreneurship

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We are on a very slippery-slope.

For those who may not know, gerrymandering in the United States has traditionally been a way to redraw districts. More often than not, it's done to exclude certain people based on race or socioeconomic status in order to benefit one party or another.

In my opinion, it’s one of the most controversial policies in the country because it essentially allows people to tip the scales in their favor, gaining more seats in the House of Representatives for their party.

Gerrymandering has been happening for so many years that it’s just kind of par for the course at this point. Recent events in Texas, combined with Donald Trump seeing signs that he may lose the House and be unable to push his agenda, have brought gerrymandering back into the national conversation.

Why Texas and Why Now?

The reason Trump wants to do this is pretty obvious: he is losing favorability across the nation. There's a very energized Democratic Party ready to vote out their Republican representatives in hopes of swinging control of the House.

This is actually a pretty normal tradition in the United States. During midterm elections, the House often flips. Sometimes the Senate does too, depending on the election cycle.

However, it’s clear that Trump and his cabinet know that losing the House would severely damage their ability to push through their racially discriminatory agenda across multiple levels of government.

Because of this, Trump has reached out to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, asking him to “find” five more seats for Republicans, and the vote is expected to take place soon. The state legislature will likely agree to redraw the districts in a way that eliminates at least five Democratic seats.

It is, quite honestly, one of the most blatant corruption I have ever seen in modern-day politics.

What Happens If This Continues?

The result of this behavior from the Trump administration will have a lasting effect on American politics going forward.

Governor Gavin Newsom from California has already said that his state will retaliate if Texas moves forward. California would redraw its own districts to eliminate Republican seats from its congressional delegation.

I believe that this will trigger a cascading effect across the country. Red and blue states will likely engage in a gerrymandering arms race for control over the House.

This kind of policy is deeply harmful to the fabric of our democracy. It marginalizes voices and creates imbalance in our government. It allows platforms to be elevated that may not actually represent the people living in those districts.

What’s more troubling is that this is the Trump administration’s response to the national discourse. Instead of listening to criticism or reflecting on why their agenda is so unpopular, they would rather cheat to stay in power.

I get disappointed and frustrated on an almost daily basis, watching the country slip into fascism. The American promise, and the idea of our democracy as a shining example to the world, appears to be dying a slow death right in front of us.

#politics

What worked, and what didn't, and what I learned while growing LearnDash.

I recently gave a quite revealing “behind the scenes” interview into the LearnDash story to WPBeginner where I chat about what I did to drive the growth of LearnDash from a side-hustle to a multi-million dollar company.

For example, did you know that I made the official decision to finally quit my consulting job after making $690 in a single day? That was life changing for me back in 2013.

I also discuss other things, like how I built the brand before launch, the decisions I made that increased revenue 22% at a pivotal point in the company's history, and also how my approach to the industry is still why LearnDash is the best WordPress LMS.

Here's the video:

If the above doesn't work, here's the direct link.

And you can also read the blog post on WPBeginner.

But It's Not All “Wins”

I also take time to explain the (big) mistakes that I made – things that you should absolutely avoid no matter what business you're in. How I didn't hire quick enough, how the launch was stunted because of a silly timing decision, and the biggest mistake I made in the first year of the business.

I really enjoyed chatting with Ryan Priddey, and thank him again for being such a welcoming host. 🙏

After the interview, I reflected a bit.

You know, I realized something. It has been about four years since LD was acquired. During that time, I think I've been the only person participating in things like this for the brand.

I'll do that all day long. It's fun for me, and I'm proud of the work I did during my time. I still see LearnDash as the only serious option for online courses in WordPress, and people need to know that.

But the takeaway here is that you can't lead from behind the scenes. You need to bring the passion forward, the message to the audience, with an almost annoying consistency.

Simply put: always believe in your superior offering, and NEVER STOP telling people why it's the best.

Be visible. Be bold.

Anything less gets lost in the noise.

#WordPress

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You always have a choice for peace.

Perception is reality, and our perception is often dominated by our emotions. If we are centered and aware of our emotions in any given moment, then in turn we are in control of our perception, and as such, our reality.

If you're someone that is often stressed (as I used to be), then please know that it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, I would say you need to stop choosing stress. Because that's the truth: you have a choice. You can create another reality.

This isn't to say there won't be bad things that happen in a day. Of course that will happen. Initial responses to stimuli aren't going to go away, but you don't have to stay in that place. Feel the emotion, and then move past it. Ask yourself if you want to stay in the place where you are. By choosing something different, you are choosing to control over being a victim.

Ask yourself if staying in the place where you are emotionally is a good reflection of you as a person. How does it make you view life, and how does it make you treat others?

Ultimately, we get to choose how we react to every event that happens to us. Choose the peaceful response, and your life will reflect peace as well. You'll control your reality.

#mindfulness

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Aggressively doing nothing.

My entire life, I've been doing something.

• Brainstorming new business ideas
• Creating offerings
• Developing marketing strategies
• Researching markets
• Implementing
• Networking

This way of living has been my default for so long that it's just my normal operating mode.

But as I prepared to walk away from coaching, I realized that I was again starting to think about the next thing. This time, though, I stopped myself. It occurred to me that my pattern of entrepreneurial thinking needed a break. I need an entrepreneurial sabbatical.

Why a Sabbatical?

In the university setting, a sabbatical is a period of leave granted to a professor for study or travel. In my mind, it's one of the biggest benefits offered to those working in higher education.

A sabbatical offers you a chance to slow down, reflect, assess, and refocus priorities — and this is exactly what I need.

I've been “go-go-go” for as long as I can remember. Even before LearnDash, I was trying various ideas in both the service and product space. It has been a continuous cycle. I'm tired, and I'm in a fortunate position where I can do something about that.

What Comes After?

I don't have any goals for my sabbatical. I don't even know how long it's going to be. All I know is that I'm going to get comfortable doing nothing.

My hope is that this will clear my mind, refresh my creative energy, and give me a needed clarity for the next decade of my life.

I feel like I have one final push in me for building something, I just don't know what at this point. That's the point of this sabbatical.

#entrepreneurship

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America’s unraveling under cognitive collapse.

To no one's surprise, Donald Trump's short time in office has been a circus of lies and missteps. However, what can't be overstated is the collateral damage caused by his actions, made even worse by alarming signs of cognitive decline.

Not even six months into his second and (thank God) final term, here are some of the promises that were made to us, and the realities as they stand today:

• Lower prices → cost of goods is higher

• Boost the stock market → stock market is lower

• 90 trade deals in 90 days → zero deals

• Make America great → deploys military against Americans

• Will end all wars → major global conflicts continue (e.g., Russia, Israel)

• Most “peaceful” president → starts war with Iran

Irreversible Damage

The scariest part is that we've yet to realize the full extent of the damage. When someone in power has severe personality disorders coupled with prevalent dementia, the entire world must bear the burden.

Families are being ripped apart. Our liberties are being shit on. Devastation is spreading. Innocent people are dying.

I fear that we'll never be able to recover, both domestically and abroad.

What We Can Do

While it's easy to feel beaten down by everything that's going on, it's imperative that we keep speaking out against the injustices of this administration.

Attend protests and donate to organizations that are fighting back. Never be afraid to call out injustices.

Above all: keep hope alive. We'll get through this, and then the long rebuilding process will begin.

#politics

For the first time ever, I'm doing nothing.

Since the start of this year, I've been struggling with motivation for my coaching service. This is natural, so I didn't dwell on it. In fact, it has happened to me in the past. Typically, I take a vacation or change up my routine in some way and that makes it better.

This time it feels different.

In 2023 and 2024, I hustled to get clients. I had countless free calls, met tons of great people, and landed 20 clients in a short amount of time.

This year, I haven't tried to get a single new client. Whenever someone finished their time with me, I didn't bother to replace them. In fact, I actually welcome it because it means fewer meetings. It was at this point that I began to question my desire to continue coaching.

The People Are Great

The thing is, I like the folks I work with. The ones that are still around have very successful businesses, are motivated, and are open to feedback. We have fantastic one-on-one sessions as well as group sessions.

Aside from the people I coach, I’m realizing that there are other aspects to coaching that I really don't like.

The obvious one for me is control over my time. When I had 20+ clients, a big part of my time was spent shuffling meetings around to accommodate everyone's busy schedules. It was exhausting in that I couldn't plan my own activities during the week. If there was a cancellation, then there was the stress of trying to find a new day and time.

I'm less busy than I was, but that element still exists. For example, any time I want to go on a vacation or trip, I'm front-loading sessions just so I can have some days off. Or, I end up taking calls while I’m away.

All of this is mentally taxing. I start to feel trapped, and whenever I feel that way, I start looking for ways to disengage. Having complete control over my time and what I do with it is what motivated me to start LearnDash in the first place. It's my North Star, so to speak.

But this is also about more than owning my time.

The pressure of not having complete control over my schedule is indeed frustrating, but I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't dissect this feeling a bit further. I've spent six weeks or so reflecting on why I feel the way I feel, and I've come to an answer.

Coaching gives me the ability to be creative, but I don't get to live the creativity. In my sessions, I offer up marketing ideas, brand building initiatives, and the like. I love doing that kind of thing, but part of that love comes from the execution of the ideas. Competing. Winning. I don't get any of that with coaching. It feels like training for a match only to sit on the bench.

Stepping Away from Everything

Since the sale of LearnDash, I've been constantly doing something. It was mostly out of habit, but on some level, due to outside expectations. Whenever you meet someone, they always ask what you do for a living. I felt uncomfortable not having an answer to that question.

The reality is that this has been a self-imposed issue. I need time to do nothing, for the first time in my life. I need mental silence and simplicity, so that's what I am finally doing.

I don't have any expectations or goals. I don't know how long. I'm living in the moment, and that's it. I'm focusing on the small things in life. The little pleasures. I'll see where it takes me eventually, but for now, I'm enjoying the ride.

#entrepreneurship

It simply lacks interaction, unless you only want to talk about politics.

The day that Elon threw out two Nazi salutes was the day I closed my Twitter account and went all-in on Bluesky. Honestly, to hell with that guy.

At first, things at Bluesky seemed encouraging. I noticed a lot of my contacts on Twitter were joining as well. There was a buzz of activity and a skyrocket of growth. It also didn't feel as toxic as Twitter, which was a welcome change.

But as time went on, that excitement dissipated. Turns out, those in my network who were joining also kept their Twitter accounts, and they went back to using it on the regular.

Not me, though. From the day I joined, I made a point to post something every single day (just as I did on Twitter). The difference was stark.

No One is There

Okay, that's an exaggeration. Specifically, no one is there to talk about anything other than politics. The posts with the most comments, likes, and reshares are all political. Full stop. That's what it is, a political echo chamber.

Look, I'm not opposed to political echo chambers. For me, that's what my Mastodon account is used for. I wanted to use Bluesky for something else. I wanted to talk about entrepreneurship, software, WordPress, and occasional life stuff. Similar to what I do here on this site.

So, that's what I did. And the engagement was very underwhelming. No one freaking interacts on the platform! It's like talking in an empty hallway. The occasional passerby will “look in my direction”, but that's about it. This isn't after a few weeks, but months and months of continuous posting.

Twitter is Better

The sad thing is, Twitter would have been way more enjoyable, and a better home, for these posts. There is an audience beyond politics. Actually, I had done a good job filtering out all political rage-bait posts from my feed before I left. I enjoyed the experience on the platform.

To me, this is the biggest downfall of Bluesky. If you're interested in interacting with like-minded political advocates, then it's a fantastic place to be (and so is Mastodon). Just know that there is a very limited scope of other popular topics beyond that.

Twitter is, and probably always will be, the best option for this kind of social media medium. But to be fair, I haven't tried Threads (I currently can't stomach using another one of Zuck's platforms).

LinkedIn for the Win

In my attempt to find a home for conversations around the topics I enjoy, I turned to LinkedIn. In one week, I had more social interactions, from ONE post, than nearly my entire time on Bluesky.

Think about that. Just one post.

For me, it's time I move on. The topics I like and the audience I want to reach are not on Bluesky. They are still on Twitter, but also on LinkedIn.

Going forward, I'll post now and again on Bluesky, but probably with the same frequency as my Mastodon account. If Elon ever sells Twitter (not going to happen), then I'd jump back there.

#personal

Alcohol and entrepreneurship often go hand-in-hand, but they don't have to.

Last year, I wrote a post about how I was cutting back on my caffeine intake, and how it was a bit challenging at the start. Once I got through the initial withdrawal symptoms, it got easier. Truth be told, I was quite surprised at how my body was addicted to a certain level of caffeine each day.

In that article, I included a link to another article I wrote some years ago about how I gave up drinking alcohol. Making that change from drinker to non-drinker is something that I'm extremely proud of, especially because I never thought it would be something I'd ever do. Ever.

Alcohol played a massive role in my social life, and I explore that topic a bit more in that article. However, what I didn't fully address in that post, and what should be addressed, is the role alcohol often has in entrepreneurship.

Why I Can Speak on This Topic

I've been an entrepreneur my entire life. After more than a decade of trying different ventures, I finally found success in LearnDash. Shortly after its launch, I left my corporate career to do it full-time. I went from being on the road every week to living and working from home. No more office, no more boss. I was free!

In my first week of freedom, I got drunk around 2PM each day. My life felt surreal, I was in my 20s, and I was in “vacation mode”. That didn't last, though. After the first week, I got my shit together and wouldn't drink during working hours, but I would soon come to see that the theme of alcohol remained.

From the very beginning of my first entrepreneurial success, alcohol played a significant role. Whether it was to celebrate, to mark the end of the day, or to network, it became a pillar of my experience. Since I was working at home, I didn't know how to get out of “work mode” unless I was cracking open a beer.

More often than not, I didn't drink to get a buzz, but rather to just “relax”. However, as the years went on, I felt that I needed to disconnect even more. Business life was stressful, and my personal life wasn't any better. So, I self-medicated. When drunk, suddenly those things didn't feel as emotionally intense.

From Bad to Real Bad

In a scary turn of events, alcohol eventually stopped being a tool to disconnect for me, and I started to equate it to some of my business success.

Looking back, that is when I can say that my relationship with alcohol changed for the worse.

I'd tell myself that it was important that I drink because it helped me to network. I did strike some amazing deals in the late hours of the night at a hotel bar with other entrepreneurs (at conferences, for example), so I attributed that success to my drinking.

What I didn't see at the time was that this wasn't due to the alcohol, it was due to me as a person. I always struggled to give myself the full credit I deserved, and by putting alcohol up on a pedestal in this way, I made it near impossible to quit drinking. I was telling myself that if I quit drinking, I wouldn't be successful.

So, I continued with my unhealthy pattern. Alcohol wasn't for special occasions anymore. It was part of my personality, my success, my way of life. I took a keen interest in different whiskeys. I thought I was being “cultured” by knowing flavor profiles and making recommendations to friends and family, or when networking. In reality, I was cementing alcohol into the definition of who I was. I was proud of this useless whiskey knowledge.

But here's the thing: as the years went on, I became more isolated than ever before. Something that was meant to be done in a social setting became the reason I chose not to go out or interact with anyone. Sitting at home, knocking back half a bottle to disconnect became more appealing. I was spiraling, and I knew it.

Hitting My Rock Bottom

As it is often said, you need to really hit your rock bottom before you are ready for a change. It has to be personal, and really rattle you to your core.

For me, that moment came in 2019. The specifics of which, in reality, don't matter. If you're drinking heavily (or even more than you know you should), and you read about my rock bottom, then your mind will justify how your situation is different. It will protect your ego, and therefore your habit. I know, because that's what I used to do. My story is not personal to you, and it has to be personal.

What does matter is that when I hit my rock bottom, I was a mess. I cried. I screamed at myself. Most importantly: I never wanted to feel that way ever again.

That day I decided to quit drinking. I didn't know what to do, so I wrote for three or four hours straight in a journal – just a pen and paper. I wrote about the issue I had, why I hated myself for it, how I needed to get better, my insecurities, the direction my life was going in, and where I wanted to go.

When I wasn't writing, I read this book and listened to this audiobook. And I finally admitted to my therapist that I had a problem.

Every day, I wrote in that journal (for months on end). I stopped drinking cold turkey, because there is really no other way. I tried them all, and let me tell you something: it was fucking hard. Trying to limit yourself, for example, won't work because the contract you make with your sober self is different when you're negotiating with your drunk self.

"I missed having a buzz. I missed numbing my emotions."

No one really talks about this, but it was exhausting to be with my own thoughts 24/7. I was going to bed at 8:30PM because of how tired I was without my usual escape. I experienced daily “thought fatigue” as I processed my emotions.

But as time went on, I got used to being with my thoughts. I enjoyed better sleep. I lost weight. Furthermore, I regained confidence. I also made more money (the opposite of what I thought would happen).

What this time gave me was evidence that all the preconceived notions that I had about alcohol, all the lies, were fabricated to reinforce a life-destroying addiction.

I still don't drink alcohol, and I'm not even remotely tempted by it. I am 100% present in life, and I'm always in control and clear-headed. Furthermore, I sleep great. I'm the healthiest I've ever been from a physical standpoint, and as an added bonus, I no longer have to lie to my doctor when asked how many drinks I have per week!

Alcohol and You

My story is not unique. Far from it, actually. Perhaps you too are struggling with something similar. Maybe you don't think your drinking is as bad as mine was, but I can promise you that if you continue down your current path, it will be.

Because that's what addictions do. They start small, then they snowball, and before you know it, your new “normal” is no longer normal to the outside world. It's cliché as hell, but the first step in all of this is to recognize that the problem exists. You can't regulate it. Setting “drink limits” never works, and you know it.

If you say to yourself, “I don't have a problem”, then there's a very good chance you have a problem. You're already rationalizing. That's how it begins.

Many people would disagree with me on that, and I understand. If that's you, then I have a challenge for you: stop drinking for six months, today. Throw away all the alcohol in your house.

If you immediately rejected that possibility, think about why. What excuses came to your mind to rationalize why you don't need to do that? If you didn't have a dependency, then you would have no problem giving it up for six months. That's a fact.

If you said to yourself, “I could do that, no problem,” then prove it. Otherwise, you're just lying to yourself again.

Look, I'm just being honest, because your mind will do everything in its power to lie to you about this. I know, because I told myself all the same rationale. It's because you've had years upon years of conditioning. Alcohol is part of your pastimes, your friend group, your business life, and more—but it doesn't have to be. In fact, it shouldn't be.

Think about it this way: there is no bad outcome when you stop drinking alcohol. Not one. In fact, quite the opposite. It's all gain, and then some. I can attest to that.

You're Stronger than You Know

I know you can give up alcohol, you're just as strong as anyone else who has done the same. As an entrepreneur, you don't put up with excuses in your business. It's time to apply that same philosophy to your relationship with booze.

That said, you don't have to do it alone. If you find having a support group helps, then there are plenty. You can read books (like the ones I mentioned earlier), listen to podcasts, post on Reddit, talk to a therapist, or whatever you need to help you build momentum and stay committed. The resources are there waiting for you.

Step 1 is making that commitment and “saying it out loud”.

If you need someone safe to say it to, then you can email me.

#entrepreneurship #health

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Married for four years, but it feels like more.

Four years is not a very long time, but I've come to see that it's not the number of years but the memories within those years that make that ultimately makes it feel short or long.

Lorena and I got married four years ago today on a somewhat humid, rainy day in Austin, Texas. It was right in the middle of the pandemic, so the wedding itself was a “micro-wedding” (at least that's what the venue sold it to us as). I think there were 12–15 people there total.

That day feels like forever ago. Maybe it's because since then we've moved two times. We've been through the other side of a pandemic, health scares, professional transitions, countless family visits, vacations, and more.

Through it all, wehave grown closer. We've learned more about each other and about ourselves. I find that with each passing month, I love something else about her. I appreciate her for who she is and the qualities she exhibits on a daily basis.

Next year is the big “number five”. It's easy to get caught up in those obvious milestones, but I don't want to overlook these first four years and just how special they have been.

#personal