Hey friends,
I (Gabby) have tried to sit down and write this newsletter several times, and every time I haven’t been quite sure how to put into words where Chris and I are at with Storied. But then I realized I’m just too much in my head and I should just do what we’ve always done here at Storied, tell you all what’s been going on as peers, partners and people who have been on this journey with us these last three years.
We started Storied in the pandemic. It was born out of a need to know if we were the only ones experiencing faith the way we were. We felt alone (like many people did in 2020) and so we created Storied as a way to send out our thoughts into the universe and hope they connected with someone else. It turns out, they did, they connected with all of you. These last three years at Storied have been so meaningful and much deeper than we ever dreamed they could be. So thank you, Storied would not be what it has been without all of you.
That being said, so much has changed in Chris and my life since 2020. Chris has started a solo music project, we’ve added two new members to our family, we’ve moved house, and this week our oldest started school for the first time. All of these changes are welcomed and wonderful, but they’ve required almost from us. Making the us both question if Storied is something we even have time for right now. There are practical and personal reasons we think it’s time to retire from this space, so let’s start with the practical first.
This year Chris has been working hard on his solo project, which we’re SO excited about. But that means that on top of his work with Rend Collective, it basically means he is juggling two full time jobs as well as touring and trying to stay a person. As you all know, we used to take turns writing these weekly newsletters to avoid burn out and give us space to feel inspired between each one. But the without Chris in the mix, it’s turned out to be too big a project to carry all on my own.
Onto my personal reasons— raising twins has been a non-stop, full-time job, and if I’m completely honest when I get a few breaks from it now and then, I don’t have the energy to sit down and write Storied. I’ve tried, only to stare at a blinking cursor unable to formulate any kind of coherent thought. I’m very tried and burned out.
This summer, I’ve shared, my mental health has really been challenged. It’s been hard to do basic things and show up for my family and myself everyday, let alone anyone else. I’m grateful to have a loving support system of family, friends, doctors and therapists, but I think I just need some time to rest and recover from the pace of the last year.
Beyond those reasons though, when I look back at what Storied has been these last few years, I also wonder if we actually has already fulfilled its purpose. We set out to talk about our evolving faith in hopes we weren’t alone, and we weren’t. And while we know faith is an on-going journey and we’re not done growing, I do feel like it’s the end of this particular chapter for me personally.
What’s Next?
Chris
As we’ve mentioned here before, so much of Chris’ solo project was inspired by conversations we had here in Storied. We asked questions like “can we be honest about our doubts and questions in community and still belong?”, “what makes someone a Christian?”, “how do you live in the tension of growing in your faith, when the spiritual systems around you are stagnant?” All of these questions are discussed in his new record, and really it’s because of all of you Chris really felt encouraged to make the kind of music that had been stirring in his heart for years. That’s a gift we’ll never really be able to repay.
Chris will continue to make music, and will likely launch his own email newsletter attached to his brand as an artist where might occasionally find some of the thoughts and writings you’ve come to be familiar with here at Storied.
You can stay connected to all his music, writings, merch, etc etc by clicking this link here. This space is about to see a ton of new content— music, videos, conversations and collaborations. All within the vein of the topics we wrestle with here at Storied. So if you’ve enjoyed what we’ve done here, I highly recommend you follow him and go listen to his music!!! (Two new songs out today!)
Gabby
As for me, I’m taking a step back. I know I’ll eventually continue writing again— it’s in my blood— but I’m not sure what form that will take yet. Maybe faith stuff, maybe culture and life, maybe even fiction. There’s a lot I want to do, and very little time in my daily life to do it. So right now I’m focusing on healing, on being a good mom, friend, and healthy human. I definitely get frustrated with myself for not being able to do everything I want to do, but right now I’ve just got to build a good foundation.
Storied
What will happen to this space? So as of right now our plan is to just stop payments indefinitely, this will allow previously paid subscribers to still access all our archives, without opening them up to the public. Our desire in keeping the bulk of our content here behind a paywall is not about being miserly or selfish, but only because every time we’ve opened it up, internet trolls come and scour these newsletters for “soundbites” they can take and publish out of context and wreak havoc. It’s exhausting and at this stage we just don’t want to have to deal with that.
So if you’re currently a paid subscriber, you will no longer be making payments, but you WILL have access to everything we’ve ever published here. If you’re a free subscriber, you will continue to have access to all the issues we’ve made available for free.
Last Zoom Call
We are going to hold one more Zoom call for our paid subscribers, and a link for that will be going out in an upcoming email. But for now, bookmark Saturday, August 26th at 10:30am CT/4:30pm UK Time. We’ll chat more about how to stay in touch, keeping the Facebook group alive and other house keeping items like that.
Final thoughts
Finally, I just want to apologize if this seems abrupt. We did start this year imaging there was a good chance it’d be the last one for Storied, but we couldn’t have foreseen all the forces that just made this summer what it was.
We are so grateful for all of you, and if you have any questions or concerns, you can always hit reply to this email and we will do our best to get back to you.
We love you all so much, and just want to say thanks for a beautiful and storied three years together.
Gabby and Chris
Well done!
This absolutely makes sense, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cause me sadness. All part of the human experience and there’s no guilt at all! Honestly this community has played a big part in how I’ve developed as a Jesus disciple and had led to new paths for our home church community, these things I am deeply grateful for. I’m deeply grateful for the honesty and vulnerability shown by folks, for the challenges to the way I see things that caused me to stretch, for the ways I saw people living each other in disagreement, for the zooms where we were received and cared about. Y’all are awesome and I will miss this.