Hi, I'm Katie! A Proper Introduction (2024)

Hi, hi! I thought a proper introduction might be warranted as I continue to slowly, but surely, grow my Substack writing journey. Get to know me with five questions below. And then, I’d love to hear what brought YOU to Substack. Why are you here and what are you loving about the platform?

Hi, I'm Katie! A Proper Introduction (1)

I’m so glad you asked. I’m Katie Timmerman, a 30-something upper midwest-living mom, wife, and full-time working professional.

I’m reigniting my love of writing and tapping into Substack as a platform to help me (~monthly) share more real life reflections as a mom of two who works full-time outside of motherhood. While I’m pretty active on my personal LinkedIn profile (please feel free to follow me and connect), I’ve been looking for other outlets for my love of writing. It’s been a very long time (helllooo high school!) since I wrote longer-form content for fun and pleasure. I’m diving back in, and Substack seems to be a fantastic platform to do so.

I’m fiercely protective of my kiddos and won’t share their names or faces here in this little corner of the internet. I’ve grown up in an age where people seem to be “fully on” or “fully off” the internet. The people I see sharing, often overshare and share extensively about their life and families. Those who are protective of their personal lives and families tend to shy away from much of a public presence online. I’ve been hanging out in the curious middle, wondering if it’s possible to write about life and family, while still fiercely protecting those closest to me. And guess what? I’ve decided it’s possible to live in the middle - where I can share thoughts and reflections online, but not exploit the childhood of my children.

I love yoga, knitting, and writing. And yes, you can expect me to talk about these things here. They’re some old favorites of mine (hellllooo pre-kids and pre-pandemic) that I’ve been slowly resurrecting now that our children are a bit older and more independent. Maybe you can relate? I’m convinced that we lose a little bit of ourselves in the early, frenzied weeks, months and years of early parenthood. However, my word for 2024 is Enjoy, and I’m trying to lean into it by digging deep to remember the things I LOVED to do before becoming a momma. And then doing more of them again.

For quite a few years now, I’ve been on a mission to cull my social media accounts down to the absolute bare minimum. I’m sure I’m not along in my struggle, but the amount of time and energy my social media channels were sucking out of me was absolutely out of control. And I mostly had nothing to show for it except wasted time.

At the time of writing this, the only social media accounts I have are LinkedIn and Instagram. At the end of 2023, I committed to finding even better ways to manage my time and my anxiety in 2024, and I realized a part of that plan required me to take a step by from Instagram. I was tired of mindlessly scrolling, and having the app downloaded on my phone made it way too easy to scroll away the hours. So I decided to dabble in removing the app from my phone for a full month and only view Instagram on a web browser. The process has been enlightening, to say the least. While of course there are good things that can come from social media, I am realizing how many hours I wasted mindlessly scrolling Instagram. Now that I’ve committed for a month to just browsing via a web browser, my actual time spent on the app daily has dropped to MINUTES. I’ve had more time that I could possibly imagine to dig back into the things (in real life, not virtual) I love most that actually benefit me and my mental health.

Well, it’s my little family, of course! My immediate family consists of my husband, two kiddos, and the cutest little dog named Margot. But outside of my beloved family, you might be curious who I enjoying being with and learning from. Maybe it’ll help you decide if you’d like to follow along with me on Substack?

I love people who are kind and curious. And let’s be honest, there’s a lot of people on the internet who are NOT those things. But in my little corner of the internet, kindness and curiosity will be here.

I love people who enjoy the written word. Books, blogs, Substacks, newspapers (remember those?), handwritten notes, and magazines. Because words can be fun and inspirational and educational and encouraging and moving and motivational and helpful.

I love people who have experienced that life has a lot more gray areas than black-and-white. Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s wisdom, maybe it’s a little of both. But I’ve learned this, and the people I jive with tend to have realized this little sentiment as well. Life is a journey - and at that, it’s often one that can be at times hard to pin down. But embracing the gray areas and the unknown is an essential part of riding the waves of life with as much ease as possible.

I love people who are trying to make a positive difference in the world, one person at a time. We’re not all famous. We don’t all have a million followers or extensive financial reach. But you know what? We all have influence. Our family. Our neighbors. Our communities. Our coworkers. I love people who realize this and truly try to make the world a better place, one person at a time.

Well, I’m busy (probably just like you!).