welcome to photo fridays!
an space to practice presence, peace, connection + belonging
about me
hello, i’m happy you’ve found yourself here. before you begin roaming around, i want to introduce myself. i am hannah strippelhoff. i like to call myself an aspiring human with a sensitive spirit. embodied practices, creativity, and exploration are all ways i like to express the everyday tension between the joy + grief life brings. i’m learning lots of things in this season, but the most important is how to love this limited, liminal life of mine.
i have a master’s degree in social work and currently walk with children + families in our community through a role at a local non-profit. i am passionate about community development, creative spaces, restful rhythms, sharing stories, and compassionately caring for one another. i could talk all day about trauma-informed care, connection with creation, holistic health, and spiritual experiences. restorive practices for me include rock climbing, hiking, simple + slow moments with people who make me feel safe, water coloring, embroidering, and gardening. my newest hobby is baking with sourdough:)
i live with a husband whom i love and our kitty mocha joe in an old house we’re slowly reviving. i just turned 24 + i’m learning lots about receiving the goodness before me while grieving what’s been broken. writing is one way i witness the world + tell of this tension i feel + see. my two favorite words right now are liminal + reciprocity.
i spend most of my days feeling like my life is so simple AND too complex. i love sharing stories and would be overjoyed to share more about myself + listen to pieces of your life if you’d like. feel free to message me if you have more questions or curiosities!
about photo fridays
a few years ago i noticed my own need for connection, belonging, presence, and peace. i found myself intentionally slowing down + staring at my actual life. part of my practice involved taking photographs of my mundane, middle minutes to remind myself that glory + goodness were greeting me in my right-now reality. this practice has helped ground me in presence + peace. i’m privileged to say i have incredible friends whom i love dearly, but most of them live all around the world, and i’ve felt disconnected. for many reasons, i’ve also lost the level of belonging i once felt. because of this, i decided to start sending my closest friends photo friday updates where i shared random words that found me throughout the week and pictures i’d snapped in my ordinary days. three years later, this rhythm still sustains me.
over the weeks of photo friday exchanges, i’ve witnessed the power of intention- of presence, peace, connection, and belonging. my spirit + soul have been nourished in more ways than i can number, and i sense the invitation to share with a few more folks. so, here i am:)
photo fridays have been a way for me to share parts of me heart + stay connected to my closest friends. it’s my hope that starting this substack can help create a space where you feel safe, seen, and inspired to slow down, notice, and name your mundane, middle moments of life. i hope we might connect through the commonality found in our humanness. i hope my pictures taken, often with little thought, and my random words, mostly written when i need them, help you remember that you already belong.
