Welcome back to What Needs Knowing. First off, apologies for the surprise absence last Friday. Life happens, what can I say.
This week’s post is bittersweet and needs no introduction. Let’s dive in!
Moments: Your Exit is on the Right in 1 Week
I started this newsletter over a year ago. Holy moly, things were different in March 2022. I was job hunting, half-heartedly some days and feverishly on others. I was fighting the inevitable confidence drought that comes with deciding on the—albeit temporary—direction of your life. And I was taking note of the internal monologue that would periodically ask me if I was ever going to write down some of the thoughts in my head. Sending out Volume 1 was like having a dream that you jumped off a bridge and stuck the landing and then deciding to go jump off that same bridge in real life and somehow expect the same result. It wasn’t easy but fifty volumes later, I think I’ve stuck the landing in real life.
What started as book reviews and previews of Formula 1 race weekends grew into short pieces about athletic greatness, grit, and cultural touch points. I am deeply proud of a few volumes not just because of the subject matter or my approach but the way I developed a voice I believe to be authentic, real, and even a bit sassy at times. What can I say, I liked imitating Lucy from The Peanuts—aka the sass queen—when I was a kid.
In September last year, I lost my grandmother. I had a difficult time getting a handle on my emotions just after it happened and in the week that followed her death, I felt a bit like I was drowning in an ocean with no land in sight. But then I began to write Volume 27: Smile Wide and Feel Deeply. I wrote through the tears and poured all of my grief onto the page. To say it was cathartic doesn’t even scratch the surface. I actively grieved through this newsletter but also found the closure I needed to move forward when I hit the Send button that week. Thank you to everyone who unburdened me by opening that email.
As the winter began, my non-writing life became more complicated and I accepted a new job. What Needs Knowing became a side gig. The posts got shorter and my delivery time became erratic but I didn’t stop writing. WNK had been a lighthouse in the storm of uncertainty that comes when you graduate college and don’t have success with the first (or second or third) options of what you’re going to do with all your so-called potential. Writing this each week reminded me that I did, indeed, have that potential.
It’s been four months since starting my job and while the writing is still deeply gratifying for me, I have much less time in my days to devote to all of my personal pursuits, let alone add any new ones. I want my world and skillset to keep expanding and to try my hand at the things I’ve always dreamed about but never had the time to try—both writing and beyond.
It is with that in mind that I announce next week’s Volume 52 of What Needs Knowing will be the last for a while. I have some really cool things cooking up in my bag of tricks but in order to give those tricks the time and energy they deserve—and demand—WNK will be going on a hiatus.
Spending each Friday afternoon of the last year at my computer writing for all of you has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life so far. Thank you so much for being my readers. When I look back on the year we’ve spent together, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Talk to you next week for the last time for a while,
-Mackenzie “one more to go” Timbel
My favorite posts from the past year—to both write and share with my readers:
It’s been an honor to us all to follow along, yoha to you!
I have so enjoyed your joy and wisdom on living! I too cried reading about Margo's mom. So cathartic for those who have a mom the same age... what a rich life she had. Onward to ultimate frisbee and other worldly adventures. Ocean sailing races, and Formula One are a few things you introduced me to. Thanks Mackenzie!