happy first day of school newsletter!
bust out that five star notebook, crack open that planner, breathe in that earthy scent of freshly sharpened no. 2 pencils—because the brb crying newsletter is officially here.
in true back-to-school fashion, we’ve put together a little ✨ syllabus ✨ for you. here’s what you can expect from our weekly(ish) memo:
💌 dear diary reader: what’s on our minds—usually a 50/50 mixture of heartfelt and unhinged. prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
🍯 short n sweet cry recs: when you have 3 minutes to spare before your 2pm zoom and want to spend it sobbing (interesting choice……..); will mostly be TikToks and reels that infiltrate our feeds without warning.
🔥 a slow burn cry rec: books, movies, shows, or other long-form pieces of content should you ever find yourself with 10 hours to spare and zero plans. the kind of material we would cover on the pod (and maybe we will eventually???).
🤷🏻 <????>: our wildcard category. community events, sob stories, any other shit we feel like packing in. this is two earth signs trying to be ~flexible~.
🎧 pod drop: the latest with our podcast, us pressuring you to listen to it, etc.
broadcasting our thoughts via written word is new to us, but our little AP english hearts can’t wait to see what becomes of this (love you, mr. quinn!!!). so without further ado—let’s fucking get into it.
💌 dear diary reader: a love note from arns
I had a solid cry sesh the other day—and by solid, I *obvi* mean supernatural.
these past few weeks, I’ve been struggling with envisioning my future. I know where I want to be eventually, but to get there, I have to embody that reality now. easy peasy, right? wrong. so, so wrong.
in hopes of uncovering some answers, I reached out to spirit / source / whatever you choose to call the powers that be. here were my findings (don’t be fooled by the stuffiness of the numbered list; I was sobbing uncontrollably):
my greatest fear is that I am unlovable.
in my last life, I wanted nothing more than to express myself, but it left me somewhere dark and cold and utterly alone. I swore that in my next life, I’d do anything it took to be warm, safe, and loved—even if it meant sacrificing personal expression.
as they often do, my ancestors opened my eyes to what was right in front of me: the fact that it’s different here. spirit not only filled my life with warmth, safety, and love—as that’s what my soul desired most—but gave it to me in such abundance that I should never, ever need to question it.
alas, here I am, questioning it. using it as a crutch, constructing a dilemma in which I must choose between being loved and being me—as if embodying my truest self will make even an ounce of that love diminish. (as I write these words, I see now how silly that is.) go on, my ancestors assured me. let her be who she needs to be. don’t hold her back. she has all the love she needs, and nothing will change that.
where does that leave me? well, dear reader, right here: launching a newsletter about crying with my bff, both of us putting our best, must vulnerable selves out there for the world to behold.
as with everything we share, we hope this finds its way to whoever needs it. (and if you’re reading this, horrified at how bonkers this all sounds—tell your ancestors to watch their backs because my ancestors WILL fuck them all the way up.)
🍯 short n sweet
📺 ARNS WATCHED: did we get rich?
this heartwarming toronto-based couple makes me cackle every time with their infectious laughter. in this sweet lil video, they remind us that we didn’t just get rich—we’re richer than we could’ve ever imagined.
🎵 NINS LISTENED TO: “protector” by beyonce
”protector” is beyoncé’s love song to her children. every line destroys me. I feel proud of who I am because you need me. I first saw your face in your father’s gaze. BYE.
🔥 slow burn
📖 READ: anxious people by fredrik backman - 💧 9/10 tears 💧
we thought long and hard about how to possibly summarize this monster of a novel, but nins captured it perfectly:
truly, this book is best experienced going in blind. it’s heartwrenching, quietly hilarious, and a favorite on both our bookshelves. if you, too, have read it and were completely destroyed—let us know so we can be reduced to a puddle of tears together.
🌱 community
📢 CALLING ALL SOB STORIES 📢
whether you were hunched-over-full-body sobbing or nursing a single tear as it rolled down your cheek, we want to hear about it (and then blast it to the rest of our brb crying community).
here are some prompts for fun little details you can share, complete with a real-life example from arns:
what did you cry about?
I was watching episode 1 of Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE on netflix (had to see what the hype was about. sue me!!!!!!). gabe, the vocal coach, bids farewell to one of the girls who was just eliminated. in a 100000% unscripted show of vulnerability, he hugs her and admits she changed his life. his voice cracks a bit as he says, “if I ever have a future daughter, I hope she tries as hard as you.” huh!!!!
why did it make you cry?
I of course expected the girls to be wrought with emotion; they’re literal children fighting for their dreams. but show me a grown ass man speaking tenderly from his soul and it h u r t s (case in point: episode 001 of the pod where I talk about grown men crying).where were you / what were you doing?
at my kitchen table, waiting for our latest podcast episode to upload. the documentary was supposed to be light background noise but I was fucking hooked.on a scale of 1 to 10, how many tears were shed?
1/10 tears—more of an eye-glistener.
🎧 pod drop
it’s been a couple months, but we are SO excited to be back. on tuesday we dropped our new episode!!!
some highlights from ep 011: dads on vacation / a bridgerton sob story…
✨ NINS WENT ON A SAFARI
nins recounts her recent trip to tanzania and her discovery of a universal truth with the help of her incredible safari guide. listen to this crier of a clip below:
but…what if i told you that you could travel halfway across the world, and it’s still the same story? a person doing something hard for someone they love?
✨ ARNS BINGED QUEEN CHARLOTTE
arns delves into (skims over?) “queen charlotte: a bridgerton story” and remembers that love is a conscious choice that we make again and again.
that’s it. that’s all we got. we can’t wait to hear from you. ok bye love you!!!
in shambles,
nins & arns