08/31/2026
Don’t mind me. I filled up my spiral notebook, so here I am typing what’s in my head on the internet while I’m eating a can of raviolis. 😂
I guess this is sort of my public diary at this point. I know getting it out will probably help me, but you never know who else might need to hear it too.
I told another photographer I really look up to this morning that sometimes I feel like I’m just not cool enough for social media nowadays. 😂
I don’t have the trendy city girl magazine aesthetic. I’m usually in tights, a Flora Bama tshirt and Birkenstocks that literally lean sideways because I’ve worn them so much.
And she said, “Hannah, honey, you DO have an aesthetic. You just don’t see it because it’s normal to you. When I look at you, I think Southern, funny, laid back and home. Like I could show up at your house, you’d feed me, and I could fall asleep on your couch. 😂 You’re always talking about country music, some old farmhouse you passed on the side of the road, Tennessee, cows or somebody’s grandparents that were cute. THAT is your aesthetic. And listening to you talk and seeing the things you enjoy makes this Miami girl yearn to visit the Deep South.”
And honestly, that stuck with me.
I think sometimes I get so used to noticing one version of “aesthetic” online that I forget there’s more than one way to be somebody’s cup of tea. ☕️
Some people love city lights, trendy restaurants and perfectly put together outfits.
Some of us would rather sit on our grandparents porch, listen to Alan Jackson, drive down a dirt road and watch Pawpaw stand in the driveway waving until our car disappears.
Neither one is better. They’re just different.
And there’s somebody out there looking for exactly what YOU bring to the table.
That goes for photographers, businesses, friendships, relationships, just people in general.
You’re not supposed to be everybody’s cup of tea. You’re supposed to be unmistakably YOU so your people can recognize you.
I genuinely don’t know what’s trendy. To my knowledge, zebra print and Nike shorts are still cool. 🤣
And I really do admire the girls who have all the cool outfits and can stand on the corner of some city street, look down at their shoes, and somehow it looks like the coolest picture you’ve ever seen in your whole life. And you know what I’m talkin’ bout lol. They ARE cool. They’re aesthetically pleasing as heck.
But that doesn’t mean I need to become them.
You’ll probably find me barefoot on the gravel driveway, wearing the same camo shirt you saw me in last week, crying because I saw a butterfly. 🤣
And somebody else is gonna look at that and think, “Yep. That’s my kind of person.”
Maybe that’s the whole point.
There really is a cup of tea for everybody. You don’t have to water yours down trying to make everybody want a sip.
Like Queen Dolly said, “You are enough. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn’t worth your time.” 🤎
I think I’m finally learning that being different from the people I compare myself to might actually be the whole dang point.
Okay, I think I got it all out of my head now. 😂
— Journal Entry No. 01
August 31, 2026
