I started my first blog fourteen years ago. The content included badly written, excessively long essays about who knows what. Most were never read, which is probably better.

I was fighting, discontent and depressed. I advocated with anger and was insecure about where I belonged, thrown into adulthood and wondering what the heck happened. But in 2010 something changed and that year I started Average Advocate.

What changed? I felt like I finally figured out my “purpose,” or my “why.” I was going to help ordinary people who felt overwhelmed like I did to change the world. I wanted it to be a community. I had such hope.

That was NOT what happened. True, I ended up making a difference in the world, I lead and started organizations, I got involved in social issues and taught people how to pursue justice. (Thankfully, I also became a better writer!) But Average Advocate didn’t become what I expected. There are many reasons why, but one of them was because Average Advocate was about me & my story of becoming a world changer.

Fast forward to the present. This week, I finally relented and put up my mug on the face Instagram. It feels right, because Average Advocate does tell my story. It is me, Elisa Johnston. And even though I hope you become an everyday advocate too, you will never be me, I will never be you, and that is a good thing.

However, It also feels so wrong, because I’ve spent so much of the last four years trying to hone-in on making Average Advocate be about you. I’ve practiced coaching people through methods to discover their purpose, direction, and how to make a life plan that will keep them authentic, intentional, & protect them from burning-out. I’ve helped start things, mentored, and discipled you. I’ve  experimented with paths to help people live justly and act compassionately and become world changers.

Average Advocate might be me, but I give you me in hopes that you might avoid my mistakes and find a safe place to start.

Average Advocate is me, but it is now about you. I’ve chosen to become a guide, in hopes that when you’ll trust me enough, you will allow me to pour into you to live a story worth living.

Now, I guess it’s about us.