Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Kaiser and Alex Donnelly.
Hannah and Alex, please share your story with us.
Moons En Masse started in January 2017. My boyfriend, Alex, and I do not spend a lot of time together because of work schedules and commutes, but we cherish our time together deeply and wanted a place other than Instagram where we could look back and remember all the experiences we have had together. Initially, we didn’t create it for anyone else but us, which meant that it was organic, slightly messy, and very honest. In just a year and a half, it has done so much for our relationship with each other and has helped us articulate our values. We are inspired to spend our time differently by trying new things and just overall maximizing the time that life allows us. We have learned through our experiences with the blog that living intentionally makes us feel more joy and more gratitude. It has also forced us to overcome our perfection paralysis – we publish content no matter what, with the mindset it’s just for us. In the last six months or so, we’ve begun shifting our focus from strictly documenting our story to examining ways that we can create content that shares a meaningful message about living intentionally with others. We’ve asked ourselves what we can offer others as we seek to share strategies and musings about living a good life, because we have noticed that a lot of young creative people are asking themselves the same questions that we grapple with on a daily basis. Our goal for the blog moving forward is to create an online community based out of our site where people can connect and work through these questions together.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Overall, our biggest obstacle has come with the shift in focus from content strictly for us to content for others. We do not want to lose the original mission of the blog, which is to catalog our experiences together – but we don’t want our narrative to dissuade our audience from engaging with the content that focuses more on the big questions we think about. We want to be of service to a community of people, but it is hard to balance telling our individual story of love while still discussing the wider philosophical concepts of intentional living.
moons en masse – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
moons en masse began as a way for us to catalog our moments, memories, and our overall journey. It still very much is that, but it is also space for Alex and I to share our thoughts on what it means to live an intentional life filled with joy and gratitude. We believe that taking time to acknowledge and even analyze those moments (even moments that aren’t super amazing) are what bring lasting happiness, growth, and evolution. Above all, we value transparency and honesty as we communicate our experiences. If something didn’t go our way or wasn’t fun or we are feeling down and out, we try to be as honest as possible about what we are feeling. Because life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, adventures, and vacations – and it doesn’t need to be. We hold the mundane and every day in just as high regard, if not higher than the “exciting” stuff.
Because we advocate for recognizing the everyday stuff, I post recipes on our site as well. In the last year, in particular, I have gotten incredibly interested in and passionate about cooking and bringing people together to share a home-cooked meal. Living in an urban environment and being a young adult, there is a lack of appreciation for honest, home cooked food. I believe cooking doesn’t have to be hard, a chore or a labor – the recipes I post are easy, relatively fast, and will fill your soul as well as your belly. I never feel more satisfied with myself than when I make a new recipe and have that first bite, to discover just how delicious it is.
Our biggest accomplishment so far with moons is the direction that we are looking to go next. We want to create a community of like-minded individuals that are also interested in exploring what it means to live an intentional and fulfilling life anchored in gratitude. Being in our mid-twenties, this really is the perfect time to address these questions and suss out exactly how we want to manifest our lives. We know from meeting people and talking with them that our peers are also struggling – we want to be a reference and source of inspiration for people that are looking to define what a good life means for them.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We’re working to fight against the traditional societal definition of success, having learned that the traditional notions of success don’t lead to happiness-es. It’s not about views, followers, or money made that brings joy. In a world where the social media gaze lasts less than six seconds and there is less interest in long-form content, we succeed by showing up consistently. By being present and persistent in making. No matter what the future of moons en masse holds, we’ve already succeeded by making it what it is – a place where we can look back on memories we’ve made, and the thoughts we’ve grappled with that have helped us shape the life we live today. I am so grateful for everything we’ve made so far, and I am excited to see what we make next – regardless of who is following us and our journey. We definitely have goals for our lives and for the next chapter of moons, but if we aren’t practicing gratitude now, then we will never have achieved what we set out to do in the first place.
Contact Info:
- Website: moonsenmasse.com
- Phone: 616-843-1281
- Email: moonsenmasse@gmail.com
- Instagram: @moonsenmasse
- Facebook: moons en masse
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