Walking the self-care talk
Hello you oven-proof casserole dish.
Let me start this week with (yet another) favourite James Baldwin quote:
“If we understood ourselves better, we would damage ourselves less.”
And I really take this advice to heart. Since I started this weekly newsletter almost two years ago (and the Festive Platypus a few years before that), you have been on this journey with me as I have been exploring different ways to do just that-- better understand and navigate the human experience. Whether it is asking what real self care looks like, how to accept the inevitability of failure, taking guesses at the meaning of life, embracing the winds of change, confronting our shadow side and biases, exploring the power of kindness towards ourselves and each other, or just accepting what is: we have been touching on so many topics related to being good to ourselves and each other.
This week was the first official week of my new PhD adventure, and while I remain super excited about the present moment and the future opportunity of this move, I am already seeing how much time and effort this crazy choice is going to require of me.
The academic work is going to be its own creative pursuit in a lot of ways, and I appreciated rewatching Elle Luna speak about the crossroads of should and must when pursuing a project like this-- which, like good art, shakes the foundation of what you know and how you define yourself.
After this first week, I do feel shook-- in all the best ways. And in choosing to throw everything up in the air to pursue this path, I have chosen "must", as Elle would say. This choosing, however, means that there are some shifts that are going to be needed for me, from me.
Which brings me to this weekly dispatch. I was hoping to keep going on with weekly essays until at least December which would be my two year mark. However, I can already see that this is going to be difficult to keep up.
Like a healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow, so too should a person's life. And at present, the number of creative commitments in my life has grown too big for me to do any of them well. I feel the need to create the conditions to thrive, with a full but manageable plate rather than to keep ALL THE THINGS on to my plate and start dropping things on the floor.
Because then I will slip on the food that spills off my plate (likely crispy eggplant tacos with queso and a tomato-cilantro salsa, just so you have an image). And so I will fall on the floor too, rolling around in my delicious tacos. And I will inevitably throw out my back due to said taco-slip. And then I will have to do laundry and make new tacos and who will drive me to my chiropractic appointments?
You see? I just don't have the time for any of it.
Ultimately this comes from a place of rich abundance. I love everything that I am doing right now. But my life is shifting, and I need to make some decisions about how to use my limited time on so many wonderful things.
Which brings us to these dispatches, and means that moving forwards:
With a twinge of regret, we are going to be switching to bi-weekly dispatches (ie: every two weeks). I will still be sending them out at the same bat time, same bat station (ie: Sunday mornings at 7am). But the frequency will move to twice a month instead of every week
Similar to last year, I am broadcasting an OPEN INVITATION for people to contribute guest posts on the weeks I am not writing. I really feel like this is a little community that has formed, and while I deeply enjoy writing these dispatches, I know so many wonderful people are part of the community and have tons of insight and thoughts to share. So... consider this your official call to action! Honestly, I would love for this platform to become more of a choir of voices rather than a solo aria.
So that is where we are at, and what things will look like for now. I am sad to have to pull back on something I enjoy so much, but I am not sorry to be doing so. While setting up my new PhD blog recently, I actually re-discovered in my archives an old travel blog that I started way back in 2006 when I was living in Peru. While I was mostly writing at that time to be in touch with my family, rereading that little snapshot reminded me of how meaningful it can be to share our lives with others through writing.
Which leads me to say THANK YOU: for being part of this ongoing effort to give words to human experience; and for your understanding as I take time and space to navigate this transition in my life. (And if you are really craving a weekly dispatch, here is a list of 80 of the best single-operator newsletters)
With this gesture, I am trying to walk the self-care talk, and give myself the space I feel I need right now to live my best life.
It's a wild ride, and I am so glad you are part of this journey!
But wait! Perhaps all of this talk of change is feeling a bit too intense on a sunny Sunday morning? Well then check out this really interesting collection of pictures from the photographer peeking at your phone
Still too much realness? Then please enjoy this video of an over-active listener. As I am discovering this week with all of these Zoom classes, every session seems to have at least one major head nodder. And I am into it!
From one ambitious person to another, I am glad that we can be supported through change together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a follow-your-bliss-filled week!
Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus