Hi, I’m sara.

I’m an overthinker in the very literal sense of the word. My brain tends to latch onto small things and stretch them into big questions, which is either a gift or a personality flaw (I guess it depends on the day). I also have ADHD, which means I’m rarely interested in staying in one lane for too long. I like so many things, always want to try something new, and usually have at least 3-5 creative ideas happening at once.

I’ve never really fit neatly into boxes, and I don’t particularly like them anyway. The second I feel myself being defined too narrowly, I feel this immediate urge to step sideways, climb out, or redraw the outline entirely. You know that feeling of nails on a chalkboard? That’s how being in boxes feels to me.

I’m an artist and a writer (I think?), though I spent a long time trying to decide which one I was supposed to be. The truth is I’m both, and probably a few other things too. I love writing because it helps me make sense of things, and I love art because it helps me say what words can’t quite describe. I also really love thrift stores, iced chai, long drives, video games, and the strange, familiar feeling of nostalgia for things I can’t quite name.

I don’t really consider myself exceptional at any one thing, but I do have a strong talent for self-deprecation. I mostly feel like a “pretty okay at a lot of things” person, and I’m learning to love that. Or at least just be O.K. with it. There’s something freeing about realizing you don’t have to be the best to make things… you just have to be willing to try.

The Honest Studio is built on that idea, but it’s also built on something deeper. It’s for the deep feelers and the people who think “too much” and feel “too much.” It’s for the ones who don’t always know where they fit, or who feel a quiet sense of longing they can’t quite explain. It’s for people who move through the world with a little nostalgia, a little melancholy, and a whole lot of questions.

It’s a space for curiosity, imperfection, and gentle experimentation without pressure to get it right. Permission to make things, try things, and explore things even if you’ve never done them before. Permission to not be an expert, to simply begin, and to be exactly as you are while you’re doing it.

More than anything, I hope what I create here helps people feel a little less boxed in, a little more connected to themselves, and a little less alone in this beautiful, chaotic world.

I’m really glad you’re here!

Things I overthink for no reason

  • how long is “too long” to pause before replying to a text

  • whether I said something weird 3 years ago that someone still remembers

  • why I can remember lyrics from 2009 but not why I walked into a room

  • if other people also rehearse conversations in their head like a script

  • whether I am accidentally making things more complicated than they are (yes)

Little things i love

  • a brand new, freshly opened notebook (that I’ll likely only write in ¼ of)

  • finding the most perfect pen unexpectedly

  • when a song hits exactly right in the car, while on the way to the thrift store

  • a giant bowl of cereal for dessert (because that’s what it’s really for, right?)

  • re-reading old journal entries and feeling like I’m meeting myself again

  • the first sip of an iced chai or a Diet Coke before anything in the day has gone wrong yet

unhinged but true things I do

  • start one task and accidentally begin three unrelated side quests

  • forget what I’m doing mid-action and just stand there trying to reverse engineer my own life

  • fully reorganize something instead of doing the thing I was supposed to do

  • say “I’ll do it in a minute” and then emotionally detach from time

  • set alarms and timers for everything because if I don’t, the house would likely burn down