goodbye ea lifestyles

the end of paid subscriptions and weekly posts

After thinking about it for a while, I’ve decided to stop writing weekly EA Lifestyles posts.

Why stop writing?

Surprisingly enough, I have less time for writing than I did when my baby was smaller. When he was really little, the easiest activities for me to do around him were ones where he could be close to me - things like writing. Now he’s older, the easiest activities for me to do involve a lot of movement. It’s easier to fold laundry, but harder to write. He also a sleeps less! And when he was small, he was happy with anyone taking care of him; now he’s older, he prefers a parent. All that adds up to a lot less flexibility as to when I can write: writing now directly trades off with leisure time. I predict this will be even more true when I go back to work full-time in January.

The EA community is also in a different place from when I first started the EA Lifestyles Substack. In early 2023, the EA community had experienced a series of scandals. There was a lot of focus on what was wrong with the community, with some people questioning whether we should have a community at all. I wanted to focus on the things I love about EA. I think I’ve achieved that! And I’ve been seeing more and more of that type of writing on the EA Forum and Twitter recently, making me feel like my style of writing is a little less “neglected”.

After nearly a year of writing, I feel I’ve explored what this style of writing looks like, who’s interested (nearly 300 people!), and seen the EA community move on to a different place with a different set of needs. I’m ready to move on too.

Didn’t you advertise your paid Substack literally 2 weeks ago?

I was looking for an honest signal from the market, and the market spoke to me. :)

This is very sudden!

I know. I’m a little sorry for that! I’m hoping I’ll still post here occasionally, but I’ve been having to push myself to get my posts out recently. I want to see what happens if I only post when I feel like it.

What happens now?

• Paid subscribers will receive a partial refund

  • For example, if you signed up for an annual subscription six months ago, you should get half your money back

  • If you don’t receive your refund, please reply to this message or contact Substack directly

• I’ll keep posting from time to time, here or on Twitter

• When I have more time, I might start posting regularly again - but equally, I might put time into the EA community in other ways, such as volunteering as a mentor or trustee

Thank you

I honestly wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in “Cosmo magazine for EAs”. I especially didn’t expect anyone to pay for it! It sounds a little cheesy, but I’ll miss you. I really, really enjoyed writing for you.

See you around,

Kirsten xx