We have been on quite the platy-pause...
Hello you lost city of Atlantis.
Oh my.
It's been a while, friends.
Almost a year to be exact.
That's quite a platypause....
There are no words really. Words cannot capture what we have all been through this past year, and what we are continuing to navigate as we slowly inch our way towards year three of the pandemic. Like everyone else, I had been doing my best to make sense of life in this new reality. And I was doing it at first-- but at great personal cost. One that I didn't really have a sense of until early in 2021 when I hit a rather large wall. At that time, I had just (narrowly) survived the first semester of my full-time PhD studies, I was co-managing my consulting co-operative to keep myself afloat financially, and like everyone else, I was also looking down the barrel of another intense few months of pandemic lockdown. I felt breathless, broken, and like I was being held together by duct tape and hot glue. I loved writing these weekly dispatches, but ultimately this work was a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have. What I needed was to cut myself some slack. So I did. Without explanation or apology.
I have missed this weekly practice, and even sitting here now on a weekend afternoon in Mailchimp, writing this update, it feels very nostalgic. These dispatches were a consistent and very present part of my life for two full years. And I learned so much during the experience-- about the craft of writing, about learning how to express myself, about meaning making and sharing passion with others. But it was a lot of work, and the time and space freed up by letting it go allowed me to focus my energies on other parts of my life that needed attention.
That said, this past week, a random person left a thoughtful and vulnerable comment on one of my posts from 2019. It was a surprise, but it meant a lot to know that this thing I wrote almost a year and a half ago and was floating in the ether of the interwebs somehow made its way into her life, and her heart. I was really touched. And it reminded me of why I started writing this newsletter.
And so I guess I feel like I needed to check in with you, to say thank you for allowing me to disappear when I needed to. Not that I needed anyone's permission. But nor did I feel like I couldn't put this down when I needed to. I essentially 'ghosted' this community, and while there was maybe some confusion or disappointment, I sensed that people understood why I needed to take a break from the grind. Because I think we are all looking for ways to remove as much grind as we can from our lived reality right now. I am grateful for the space to navigate this era knowing that I am surrounded by acceptance, respect and patience.
I will not be writing these dispatches weekly again in the short or even medium term. My PhD and consulting life is so full of words, and I am so grateful for the richness. But it is about all I can handle for now with any regularity. I can however promise to deliver on the 'sometimes' in the new header of these dispatches, and will try to pop in now and again as life piques my imagination. Thank you for the space and understanding. And in case you want a little walk down memory lane, here are a few favourite dispatches from the past two years:
The meaning of life, the universe and everything
Discombobulation is the name of the game
Just a spoonful of kindness
Thinking about thinking about thinking
Making the case for public displays of affection
Embrace the darkness and let your solstice light shine
The key to the meaning of it all? Consciousness, my dear Watson!
The short stories we carry
Clothes encounter of a nerd kind
But wait! Perhaps all of this talk of overwhelmedness is feeling a bit too intense on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Well then why not treat yourself to a celebriduck and up your bath game?
Still too much realness? Then if you are not in the know, please join the wordle bandwagon already.
From one doing-her-best person to another, I am glad that we can do what we need to in order to stay happy and healthy. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a nourishing week!
Until who-knows-when,
The Earnest Platypus