👋Wait, they do care.
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Last week, I was all like: woe is me. Nobody cares about all the work I put out there into the world! Maybe I just should —- stop? IDK get a new hobby like bird watching.
This week, I get a call from Inside Edition. They wanted to interview me for TV about a story I wrote TWO YEARS AGO.
Life is silly like that. Right before you’re about to strip yourself of something you love, that perhaps nobody else understands, the universe dials your digits and says:
Wait, actually, don’t give up quite yet.
👋 Welcome to the Monday Pick-Me-Up. I’ll share the full story of what happened and what it was like filming a segment for Inside Edition.
Wait, they do care.
I had one of my lowest moments in a while last week for so many reasons (but I won’t even bother complaining).
One of the reasons was because I’ve put so much out there in the world and I just feel invisible sometimes. I’ve probably written 5,789 things on the article in the last decade. No exaggeration. Yet every time something is published, my brain says, good job! Now, more! more! more!
You go on TikTok and realize the creators who are a success don’t just post once, they post once every 20-minutes. Their entire life is lived in short video clips with trending audio behind it.
To keep up with something you love, you must let it ruin your life.
While that feels true, it’s not always the case.
Because listen to this.
On Monday, I’m sitting in an art class with Gemma trying to distract her from putting paint brushes in her mouth when my phone buzzes.
I see an email from a producer at Inside Edition:
It took me a couple of seconds to remember that in 2022, when I was pregnant with Gemma, I kept it a secret from mostly everyone. I told a few of my close friends and family members. I announced it to everyone else when I was 8-months pregnant.
I did this for two main reasons:
I was scared to lose out on work opportunities. I feared nobody would want to work with me if they knew I was pregnant or after when I became a mom. This wasn’t entirely delusional. I had told someone I was pregnant and the next day they canceled working with me on something.
I was really scared of becoming a mom (still am scared of being a mom) and I wanted to go through the journey of my pregnancy in a quiet way with a small circle of people knowing around me.
After having Gemma, I wrote a couple of articles about this and then continued on with my life.
The Inside Edition producer calls and asks me a bunch of questions. I give her a bunch of answers. She says she’ll be in touch soon — which in TV lingo means that she’s going to pitch my story to her people and if her people like it she’ll call my people (aka just me) and set up a time to film the segment. I tell her all sounds good and if she wants to come over to my apartment to film I can make myself anytime, any day.
I’m refreshing my inbox every other hour. On Tuesday, the producer asks if they can come over and film Wednesday at 3pm. ABSOLUTELY! I type back before asking Adam.
Any time but that, please.
He had a very important work call and having lights, camera, and action behind him just wasn’t going to fly.
But what Adam doesn’t realize is that these TV people might not work around our schedule. If I tell her: ummm can’t do that time — she might call up another person who hid their pregnancy and book them instead.
After accepting that 3pm on Wednesday would not work no matter how much I begged Adam to explain to his job that Inside Freaking Edition was coming over, I wrote back to the producer and said: When I said anytime, anyday I really meant that 4pm on Wednesday and 3pm on Friday are all that will work for me this week.
After some back and forth, by Wednesday it was confirmed that they would come film at 4pm.
I filmed a bit of a messy but honest vlog about what it all was like here.
The point of this story is that nothing you do is invisible, even when it seems that way.
Even when your boss forgot to praise you or the thousands of followers you have forgot to click the like button on a blog post that took you 5 hours and 36 years of experience to write.
Everything you do adds up to something, not nothing, often with unexpected delays, rarely when you think it will, and yet, it somehow always does.
Hold on to what you’re working so hard on. It’ll pay off one day. I promise you that.
Love,
Jen Glantz
⚡Instant Pick Me Ups
📖: I read this book a year ago and I’m still thinking about it.
😊: Obsessed with:
I’ve been Gua Sha and rolling my face for the past few weeks and have noticed such a major difference. My jaw line is more sculpted and my face just looks different — in a good way. Plus, the art of doing this before bed is really relaxing. Those two face sculpting tools have worked magic — and cost me under $25 total.
🎵: Loooooving this song. It’s so fun!
📝: Ps. if you (or anyone you know) needs a wedding speech this season (vows, officiant, maid of honor/best man, father/mother of bride/groom, sister/brother of the bride/groom) — I built these really awesome speech writing tools. Also, a eulogy tool (though I hope nobody you know needs to use that).
😊 My Real Life:
I went to the movies for the first time in 5 years and it was such a treat. I forgot how much I loved sitting in a comfy chair with a bucket of popcorn tuned into a movie. I hope to do this more.
I just want to say how grateful I am for people who work jobs where they handle those at their most vulnerable state. Gemma had an accident yesterday and we ended up in the emergency room (she’s okay - thankfully x 100000). But the people who cared for her were so helpful, supportive, and kind. Healthcare workers truly are incredible and I’m forever grateful for the people who rushed to help her.
Until next week, love you, and thank you for being here and supporting my dreams (aka this newsletter). — Jen Glantz