“Platforms simplify the containers for your creativity.” A thought I have been simmering on as of late from an incredible podcast shared by Cody Cook-Parrott this morning.

As 2025 approaches, I want even more simplicity. I am noticing a trend in fall into winter. I am becoming an anti-texter once more and do not enjoy texting much at all. I purchased a flip phone. I seek simplicity and space to write my words. I am seeking spaces with people who sound and look like me, which can be harder to find.

As a house hermit, I am feeling less drawn to more and more drawn to less. This week, I have been feeling full. I feel beyond full actually and, like I have too much stuff. There is a local woman I have been following for quite some time who has let go of the majority of her personal belongings and is biking around to connect with others. I find her life pretty inspiring, and even more so as she is now close to someone whom I love dearly. Here is her online space if you want to learn more and use socials: Do Nothing Society

I am reflecting on the notion that I am not a machine, I am a human, and I want to continue to remain on that thread of human connection. In order to do so I need to relinquish the tether that the metrics of online sharing have for me.

I am so grateful for dear friends who mail me snail mail which I love, and I have been listening to episodes on leaving social media behind which feels supportive to me always (at least for the past five plus years).

If all I need is a digital archive of where I have been as an artist, why must it be on Instagram? Does tagging a brand offer better thanks than actually sending a card in the mail expressing gratitude?

As I have decreased my online presence by deleting Twitter, spending four months of the year offline, and, having phone off evenings, I still feel like I am looking at the numbers which have stopped increasing because I really don’t care that much.

I care more about the conversations I have behind the scenes with those of you whom I communicate with as opposed to having a chat thread in a DM or a text conversation which I am notorious for either a) not replying to or b) disappearing mid-thread as I don’t want to be tied to my phone.

I spent 2023 personally experimenting by writing down every compliment that was told to me. I wanted to see if I saw myself clearly and I realized that I am a much better human than I give myself credit for. I was notoriously hard on myself without reason to be. Recently, someone told me the sweetest compliment, and I hold it so dear to who I am and who I continue to be.

I am writing from my living room where I have paused novel writing as the repair person showed up 3 hours early—thank goodness I woke up this morning and got out of bed. I am learning I love the art of slow mornings and sleeping in on my cycle days. I sit with my porridge in hand, with stewed apples and maple syrup and homemade almond milk—gently nourishing my belly.

Social versus parasocial dynamics are something that is shifting in this new era, and I am slowly shifting with it.

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Written under a Capricorn Sun and a Scorpio moon, feeling mellow.

Some listenings:

Link to listen direct: here

Link to listen direct: here

:: Other tidbits and mercurial ramblings ::

Some things we have been up to at home:

Baking a thanksgiving quiche

Setting up a freezer as moths ended up in my yarn stashed in storage, which is making me rethink the amount of yarn I have on hand for my winter making

Knitting projects

Beading projects

Lego world building

Finally reading some books and zines

Deciding very intentionally to not increase my book collection until I read all the books purchased from 2022-2024

Deciding that this break may not be the time to finish unpacking the home

Landing on the reality that rest is more important—the utmost importance

“Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.” —Quote that landed from the Off the Grid Podcast (Quote is by D.W.)

How can I embrace feelings of being seen without metrics? For one, I stopped checking who listened to my podcast and who reads my posts. I am thankful people read, and I am seeking to build reciprocity and to inspire.

Some musings for 2025:

How do I want to restart the podcast?

How will I balance momming with school?

How will I balance school with my need to rest?

I started to partake with societal norms by using emojis—is this something I still wish to partake in?

Gratitude:

In the time I spent writing this with very loud repairs happening behind me, our washing machine is repaired—thank you so much

The lessons my friend and voice teacher of many years bestows—thank you so much

The rain and strong winds last night which did not knock out our power—thank you so much

The speed in which I can read along and sing in Japanese is still there which tells me something is okay—thank you so much

My ability to seamlessly write my traumas for my upcoming debut novel and still feel whole afterwards—thank you so much

My therapists who keep me glued and centered—thank you so much

My daughter who offers me a sober reckoning of my shortcomings, and loves me regardless—thank you so much

My sweet dear friends—thank you so much

You—for reading my words and continuing to support the newsletter—thank you so much

Happy December 27th.

Here is an old tune I made up in December of 2020 on the way to somewhere for all those who deliver our presents this time of year, and take on the burden of others: