Simplifying, Change and the Next Chapter
I want to nurture myself. My creativity. My art. My plants. My garden… I want to nurture so many aspects of my life and my business.
As I get older I’m remembering — again and again — how important it is to follow my own path. And travel at my own pace.
All year I’ve been trying to pay close attention to how I feel and what I’m thinking. And what it all means for me and for the future of my business. I want to cultivate change from within myself, not based not on external influences.
One day recently I erased the word “nurture” from the chalkboard in my studio and replaced it with the word “simplify.”
I’ve been craving simplicity. I’ve been craving quiet. I’ve been craving space and time.
What I most want is to sit in my studio and make art. Maybe that’s the real reason some of my other projects have been taking (much) longer than I planned — maybe those projects aren’t what I’m supposed to be working on right now.
Although I can’t completely set aside everything other than art-making, I’ve been looking at ways I can simplify and contemplating changes I can make to create a bit more space and time. One of those changes is how (and how often) I write my blog.
I’ve been writing here on my website since July of 2018, at first posting once a week and then in January of 2023, cutting down to blogging twice a month. Before that I’d been writing on Blogger starting in 2010. There I usually posted multiple times a week (which seems crazy to me now!).
I still do love blogs and blogging and I’m not going to stop writing completely.
Last June I began an experiment, writing once a month on Substack and once a month here. I also send my Joy Letter (an email newsletter) twice a month.
But I need a break.
I need to simplify. I need space for growing something new. This need has been building for a while (you can probably follow the breadcrumbs from post to post).
For now I’m cutting down to blogging once a month and I’ll be doing it on Substack.* I’m cutting down my Joy Letter to once a month as well (unless I have special announcements). I don’t know how long I’ll keep up this schedule, but I’m trying it out to see how it goes.
Thank you so much for spending time with me in this space. I’m especially grateful to those of you who have been around a LONG time. Your encouragement and support mean a lot to me.
I hope you are listening to how you feel, too. I hope you are tending yourself in whatever ways you most need.
Until next time, take good care.
*I started writing a long, complicated explanation of why I’m choosing Substack over my website — for now — but became exhausted and realized that quick posts that morph into untamable messes explaining things that don’t need explanations is one of the reasons I need a break from so much writing. I know not everyone loves Substack, but it’s working for me right now.