Movies
Where Are the Stories for the Rest of Us?
Why culture forgets us once we’re past our “prime," and why we’re not done yet
Shannon Hilson
Writer of essays, reflections, and cultural commentary. Exploring creativity, inner life, and what it means to grow wiser on purpose.
Life
Things I'm Not Saying Anywhere Else: A Brain Dump
These days, I share a lot of myself in writing across different spaces – particularly Quora, Substack, and Medium. But some thoughts don’t really fit anywhere official. They’re too quiet, too in-progress, too unresolved, but they're not necessarily private journal thoughts, either. So this time around, I’
Writing
What I’ve Learned From Blogging Every Week (Even When I Didn’t Feel Like It)
You know those writers who always seem to have their act together? (Of course, you do.) They’re cranking out newsletters every week, dropping blog posts like clockwork, and somehow still finding time to live aesthetic Insta-worthy lives full of matcha lattes and annotated novels. I used to assume those
Work Life Balance
How I Make Time for the Work That Actually Matters
Tips for creatives trying to balance paid work with soul work
Art
"I'm Broke, But Can You Make Me a Masterpiece?"
Why custom art isn’t free just because the tools got faster
Life
The Myth of Wasted Time (and Why I'm Not Playing That Game Anymore)
So, this week seems to be shaping up to be more about recalibrating and recentering than anything else. I saw that coming, though. The universe has had my hands full lately with several months of tasks and little emergencies – broken appliances that needed fixing, jury duty I couldn't
Creativity
Turning Weird Feelings Into Sacred Text
So, I've found myself thinking more about different kinds of stories and all the things they can mean. And not just the wholly fictional ones we invent out of thin air when we feel like being creative, but also the semi-mythologized stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Lately,
Life
When the System Hands You Humans Instead
When it comes to jury duty, there seem to be two types of people out there — the type that loves the idea of serving on a jury and the type who will do just about anything to avoid it. I’m a million percent the second type and have been
Creativity
What We Really Give When We Create
When you first start sharing any sort of art online, it's never long before you start feeling... pressure. It doesn’t matter whether you’re posting paintings, poems, AI renders, divination spreads, or half-baked shower thoughts. The moment people like what you do — really like it — you’re
Mental Health
Maybe the Problem Wasn't Me: Rethinking Anxiety When the World Really Is Too Much
There’s a really common narrative people love to circle back to when it comes to anxiety. Maybe you’ve heard it. You get all worked up about something ahead of time, because you're sure it's going to be an absolutely shit show of an experience.
Belief Systems
Ashes in the Shape of a Flag
I used to really look forward to posting on social media for Independence Day. I had this whole collection of humorous and over-the-top graphics I liked to share as a way of reminding people to make room for fun at some point in their day. But this year? All I
Neurodivergence
Normal Is a Lie: Choose Yourself Instead
Life's taught me a lot of hard lessons over the years, but in my case, one of the most important ones was also one of the hardest to learn. It's that people are allowed to be disabled and to have limits. And they shouldn't