Winter (Side A)
Okay, so, it’s been a year and a half since my first and only blog which was written about 2023 burnout and taking a month off social media to normalise being in my own brain without everyone else’s thoughts. That burnout came from having three busy jobs between my wife and I on top of the young family hustle while she transitioned from owning her own business to working for another organisation. Turns out it takes aaages to sell a business, so that very stressful and unsustainable patch dragged on and on until just recently when we were able to return to a life that resembles normality. Anyone who tolerated us during that time knows how cooked we were and anything that wasn’t absolutely urgent got shelved - including creative ideas, DIY projects and clearly, blog posts. We’re relieved to be through that particular chapter and this blog is a sign that I’m starting to feel normal again. (You may disagree by the end of this post.)
Seasons
I’ve been thinking about seasons a lot since reading ‘Wintering’ by Katherine May - which introduced me to this idea of life being cyclical and seasonal, rather than a linear sprint from start to finish. Thinking of life in seasons or chapters has personally been useful for being able to surrender a bit during the tough patches, but also for recognising the good ones - knowing that they too will pass. I’ve found that leaning into the seasons of each year and understanding the natural intentions that go along with them has also been quite useful.
In Wintering, May touches on this ‘wheel of the year’ pagan calendar that breaks the year up into eight segments, each with planting and harvesting guides, plus intentions that are linked to the natural cycles in nature. Being a freelancer, I can kind of set my own clock, so I’ve been experimenting with a version of this idea as a way to structure my time in a more manageable way and it’s making a lot of sense. Six weeks (plus a few days) is a good amount of time to focus on a project or bring an idea to life while keeping the day-to-day plates spinning, but it also lets you decide what you’re not working on for that time so you don’t drain the battery unnecessarily.
I happened to be staring at my records one day while thinking about all of this and had the idea to refer to these six-week chapters as Winter (Side A), Winter (Side B), Spring (Side A), Spring (Side B) etc. As a person with a lot of ideas and not a lot of spare time, this approach has allowed me to hold my focus on one or two projects - giving me enough time to make some real progress at a comfortable and reasonable pace, knowing I’ll get the chance to reset again in another six weeks. I’ve found that it also doesn’t hurt to put together a feast or a fireside hang with friends to mark the start of each one and talk about ideas and intentions. It’s all a messy work in progress, but it’s been a fun experiment with my close friends so far.
I have more thoughts on this, but for now I just wanted to get the idea down because my work and newsletters will probably be linked to that cycle and people may wonder why I keep referring to seasons as records like a lunatic.
During Winter (Side A) I’ve been resetting a bit after those hectic couple of years, talking ideas (including this one) with my Tuesday Club: James and Kim of Tumbleweed Tees/Kimberly Andrews Art, chipping away at a landscaping project at home, plus collaborating a bunch with videographer-wiz Chris Edivy-James at Reverie and music producer Chris Armour on a project that’s been on the list for a million years. I’m excited to share that shortly, but here are some recent images in the meantime to prove I still exist.
