hi & welcome :)
welcome to something new that tanesha is doing.
Hi, It’s me, Tanesha!
I am literally giddy with excitement about starting this Substack! I don’t even know where to start. I figured it would be best to introduce myself and provide a little context.
So hi, I am Tanesha Renae. In the daytime, I am a pediatric psychologist working with kids & teens with cancer, sickle cell, and other blood disorders. I truly love love love my job and it is just such a privilege to work with my patients and their families.
At nighttime and in my free time, I contain multitudes. It so hard to describe myself in a few words, in a few activities, in a few boxes - because I occupy so many. I am a sometimes streamer over on twitch, sometimes a YouTuber, sometimes a gamer, sometimes a huge book nerd, sometimes a blerd, sometimes a decent friend. And sometimes I’m none of those things and I’m just Tanesha, a blob in her bed watching K-dramas and anime.
I used to have a blog that I ran in college with my friends, and I love writing for fun. There was a time where, I was scared of returning to blogging - do I have anything new to say, will people even care to read, do I have anything that I feel worthy of sharing? The world is literally on fire again, is it worth saying anything or writing anything? I’m not sure. But what I am sure about, is there’s a strong pull to start back writing, blogging, etc.
The pull is so strong that I tweeted about starting this newsletter/public journal for a few years. But every year I seem to be able to successfully talk myself out of doing it.
2020 - the world was on fire.
2021 - grad school is literally dragging you thru the mud.
2022 - you are in the thick of residency, relax.
2023 - you have nothing to say since you aren’t in grad school anymore.
2024 - there’s no time for another passion project; you need to niche down.
None of the excuses really matter at this point. Even if this newsletter/public journal fails at least I tried, right? Life is all about trying and failing and trying again and failing forward. I want to let go of the idea that to do anything. It has to be done perfectly because it doesn’t give room for creativity or spontaneity. I want to be someone who tries things and who does things because they make her happy. The idea and thought of the newsletter/public journal has made me happy for months and I haven’t even posted a single thing.
I know at this point, you are probably thinking, “okay cool, but what will this look like?” My goal is to post weekly, on Sundays/Mondays. As a recovering perfectionist, I want to give myself grace to miss a few weeks, especially as I am getting started. This Substack started as “10 Things with Tanesha,” so I’ll try to keep the theme in mind, but also open enough to change my mind on what I want to share. Definitely informal, definitely a safe space for me to be honest with myself, definitely a space for a silly goofy time too.
Finally, I would be remised if I did not bring attention to the CA fires. The sheer amount of devastation that has happened so fast, has my head in a tailspin. Especially, on my social media, seeing Black elders lose everything and still being so hopeful. If you can, please consider donating and contributing to mutual aid efforts.
So, with that welcome, I hope that this may be inspires you to do something that you’ve been wanting to try for a while. Or maybe it just told you accountable to being honest with how you’re feeling and what you’ve been going through.
See you all next week.
With love, kindness, joy, & excitement,
tanesha