Hello beautiful beings! 

While life seems to have been placed on a blatant pause, we at Pepa are still indefinitely humming, in the background. Like the majority of kiwi businesses, we are still open and here or you – although not physically, thanks to the power of technology we can stay connected. As hardcore empaths, everything we do in our work at Pepa is rooted in the sole purpose of spreading creative joy and hope through stationery, writing, and messages to touch any heart.

Our community includes a wide range of people, who are on a vast spectrum of interests, backgrounds, perspectives. We want whoever is reading this blog post to feel heard, for whatever reason you need to be. Whoever you are, we are here for you. 

A hefty chunk of what we’re collectively experiencing is a lack of purpose. Those who are working from home will at least have some occupation for the emptiness in the air, but you’re still only at home. Each new day feels like the previous did; like one of those cringey movies where the main character is stuck in a time-loop of the same day and have to fix something about themselves before they can move forward. It can be quite soul-flattening not having our usual purposes to wrench ourselves out of bed, but by no means do we have no purpose to do so. 

After all, we’ve driven our own lives up until today; we’ve decided on our own purposes. Sure, we don’t have our usual purposes to drive us, but just as we’ve proved in our usual lives, we can create purpose. We’ve simply become comfortable with the predictable, which is laying in an array of chunky pieces at the moment. We’d like you to think of this blog post as a hug. Or, if you don’t like hugs, a gentle hand reaching out to say ‘hey, we are here for you’. It’s been a struggle, but we’re doing everything in our power to keep Pepa going for you. We may not be able to post any products just yet, but we can at least empower you from our own homes.

We’re incredibly grateful to have the privilege of the Internet, social media, and technology. 5, 10 years ago this would have been a LOT harder on our natural desires as human beings to connect with others. So, today we’re coming out of hibernation and bringing you a bit of extra sunshine if you’re running low. We understand that everyone will be coping with this mad situation differently, and however you are, you’re such a badass. 

We want to validate your possible low-ness for what it is, but we also want to reassure you that there is always a sunbeam moment hanging around. It might be the warm sunshine, video-calling a friend, or sipping at a cozy mug of coffee (or hot chocolate! or tea! or wine!). Best said by Carissa Potter (founder of People I’ve Loved), “perception is reality”.

We’re using this post as a chance to touch base with everyone, but we can reassure you that there will be a series of blog posts that will follow! As artistic fanatics, we believe that writing is an incredibly therapeutic process. We can escape to other places without physical moving at all; a concept that sounds pretty delicious right now. If you’re feeling stuck, angry, sad, heavy, frustrated, you can process your emotions, thoughts and perspectives. Writing gives these things a physical place in the world, lessening the weight in our minds. It’s a bridge between the mind and soul, and a bridge between ourselves and others. 

If you’re new to writing or would like to learn some new methods, hold tight! In the next few weeks, we’ll work on building a portfolio of writing and journaling techniques for you to refer to in your own creative work. At the moment, we’ve got topics around bullet and gratitude journaling, “morning pages”, letter-writing to others and your future self, and “a line a day” writing. We’re wide open to any suggestions from you guys, if we’ve missed a topic you would like to hear about. We will be with you again soon! Stay cozy. 

 Ash x