This was perfect, just as her posts that I read as soon as she put them out. I am, like you and Devon, a writer for the sake of sharing. I shut my FB and Twitter years ago, and took a year break from IG as well, because it's a platform that glorifies stuff with little content and cute pictures. And believe me, do I know the absence of "likes" on general life's pics...I actually stopped posting them. It is still a mean to connect with a very few (forget 11, 000, I have a private account with, like, 40 followers?) friends and share my own adventures (no longer being anywhere near the "top of my game"). Even those 40 I consider "friends" barely account for 15 likes. Go figure. And my blog, oh, man...it used to have many hundreds of reads for each post and dozens of comments! Now? No comments, maybe 10-20 clicks, and that's after I post on IG that I wrote something - and even text some friends about it. People stopped using their time (and brain?) to contemplate. Quick fix, a big mountain, and hooray type of short sentence. This is why I appreciate your, Sarah, writing, even if I don't connect to some of it, why I am looking forward to more of Devon's, and why, when I do connect, I make an effort to comment. It is more than a click of "heart" at the top. It is about connection, and respecting other people's time, and though process. You go, Devon. Be you. I am about to turn 53 (right behind you, Sarah), and still need validation from others, and keep fighting this thing tooth and nail. Stepping away from the spotlight, in my case, just as Devon's, due to health, for nearly 7 years, was very helpful. Returning to sport at the new, much more subdued, level, is humbling. I'd like to think I am closer to figuring out why I still do it, than I was when I was, sort of, "somebody". Even if I thought so before.
Thanks for writing about Devon! Women of Distance is one of my favorite podcasts and glad to see she’s on Substack now. I appreciate that there are elites out there that are saying no to what I view as the over commercialization of our sport. I’ve also always liked how Devon isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
This was perfect, just as her posts that I read as soon as she put them out. I am, like you and Devon, a writer for the sake of sharing. I shut my FB and Twitter years ago, and took a year break from IG as well, because it's a platform that glorifies stuff with little content and cute pictures. And believe me, do I know the absence of "likes" on general life's pics...I actually stopped posting them. It is still a mean to connect with a very few (forget 11, 000, I have a private account with, like, 40 followers?) friends and share my own adventures (no longer being anywhere near the "top of my game"). Even those 40 I consider "friends" barely account for 15 likes. Go figure. And my blog, oh, man...it used to have many hundreds of reads for each post and dozens of comments! Now? No comments, maybe 10-20 clicks, and that's after I post on IG that I wrote something - and even text some friends about it. People stopped using their time (and brain?) to contemplate. Quick fix, a big mountain, and hooray type of short sentence. This is why I appreciate your, Sarah, writing, even if I don't connect to some of it, why I am looking forward to more of Devon's, and why, when I do connect, I make an effort to comment. It is more than a click of "heart" at the top. It is about connection, and respecting other people's time, and though process. You go, Devon. Be you. I am about to turn 53 (right behind you, Sarah), and still need validation from others, and keep fighting this thing tooth and nail. Stepping away from the spotlight, in my case, just as Devon's, due to health, for nearly 7 years, was very helpful. Returning to sport at the new, much more subdued, level, is humbling. I'd like to think I am closer to figuring out why I still do it, than I was when I was, sort of, "somebody". Even if I thought so before.
Thanks for writing about Devon! Women of Distance is one of my favorite podcasts and glad to see she’s on Substack now. I appreciate that there are elites out there that are saying no to what I view as the over commercialization of our sport. I’ve also always liked how Devon isn’t afraid to speak her mind.
This is fantastic. She's always been someone I've been meaning to interview.