We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shayla McIntyre. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shayla below.

Shayla, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

I think the biggest mischaracterization of my work is that I am using my platform to be a food blog. Although I do post quite a lot of food content and it is unfortunately what I have showcased the most lately, it has always been a small portion of what I actually want to accomplish. Everything I want to communicate to my audience is in the name of my platform: Living Not Loathing. Simply choosing to live, be present, and experience life.

We all draw our creativity, inspiration, and will to live from somewhere. For me, sometimes my creativity can come from something as simple as having a good meal. No matter what the source may be, you just have to make an honest effort to take ownership of your experience and choose to live your life instead of going through the motions. Making an effort to choose living and cultivating your reality instead of hating it goes a long way. Even if that means just trying a new restaurant, visiting a new part of town 30 mins away, or finding a new park to visit. Everyone wants to take a big vacation across the country, but you can have a fulfilling experience right where you are and you don’t have to have the most resources to do that. There will be a time for vacations and a time for fancy dinners, but the focus should be on enjoying your reality even if you aren’t doing those things. If you pay too much intention to what’s happening on the internet and social media platforms, we may see someone having more “fun” than us, traveling more than us, or even doing activities we wish we were doing. In spite of social media’s influence, your life is still valuable and worth living irrespective of your socioeconomic status.

In addition to that, there are a plethora of things happening in our society. It’s so easy to focus on any one of those things and choose to let it weigh too heavily on our experience. It’s even easier to decide that there are too many negative things happening to even find joy in our human experience.

I said all of that to say that food, travel, and unique experiences around my city are a few things that help me feel alive and present, which is why my work may focus on food and my experience in those moments more than other areas at times. It’s also worth mentioning that having a 1 hour meal is much more attainable than a big vacation several times a year and it is the easiest and most relatable content to share with others. The food content will probably always outweigh the travel/unique experiences content, but Living Not Loathing is so much more than that.

Whatever it is that makes you feel more alive, do that thing. We have a million reasons to dread this existence if we choose to fixate on those issues long enough. Every day we have the opportunity to live freely and with intention and that’s the message I want Living Not Loathing to communicate.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started Living Not Loathing when I was in college just looking to have a more fulfilling experience. I was living in Miami, FL for a few years but hadn’t explored the city much outside of a few visits to South Beach. I decided that I needed to see what else was out there since it was a major tourist destination, but I couldn’t articulate what drew people to the city. I began visiting more places around the city and posting them on my personal social media page. People would ask me where I was and thought I was in a different location, but I wasn’t. I was visiting the places people didn’t take the time to search for. Those moments solidified my desire to be a resource to others while having fun in the process.

Living Not Loathing mostly provides inspiration and information. Information about things to do around my own city or whatever city I happen to be visiting. I use my experiences to inspire others to create their own experiences instead of watching from the sidelines via social media. Many people don’t know which places are worth visiting or aren’t sure how to start exploring on their own, and I provide that resource. Of course we could all do this on our own, but many don’t have time to explore or don’t have the passion to try new things without knowing if it will be worth their time. I’ve noticed that most people want a somewhat guaranteed enjoyable experience, not uncertainty. They want to know that they won’t be wasting their time or resources on a mediocre meal or venue. I make an effort to bring attention to places that are actually pleasant to visit and worthwhile.

I’m happy that people know they can reach out to me directly or visit my website when they need suggestions on things to do around the city. I want readers to know that even if the content I share isn’t quite what they’re looking for, they should still adopt the Living Not Loathing mindset in their daily lives. Actively choose to live your life no matter what your circumstances are. Make the conscious decision to be present as often as you can.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think some non-creatives struggle to understand that it’s okay to do things you’re passionate about purely for enjoyment without expecting compensation. I had a brief moment when I listened to those who insisted that I should capitalize on my work. That perspective negatively impacted my work. It started to feel like I had to turn a profit to justify creating my platform. Non-creatives couldn’t understand why I would invest time in something if it wasn’t solely for income. When I reminded myself why I started, I was passionate about my creative processes again. Now, my perspective is if I happen to receive profit from my work, that’s awesome. If I don’t, I still engaged in an activity that brought joy to me and others.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The opportunity to do something I enjoy while helping others drives my creative journey. Helping others will never be something I get tired of and Living Not Loathing’s mission will always be relevant. Society will continue to give us reasons to feel hopeless, but it will always be a good idea to actively choose to do the best we can with the circumstances we have in front of us. All we can do is our best, but we must tune out influences that could deter us from fully living the only life we have.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.livingnotloathing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cix6nSOJfGM/

Image Credits
N/A – all taken by me