This is one of my more woo-woo posts, so skip it if you’re an eye roller :-)
My plan for this summer is to take really good care of myself.
This means resting more and working less. I’ve been working hard for the past four years. In 2021, I left my job at EILEEN FISHER, Inc. to work at a tech start up. I lasted about a year and a half there, working entirely remote very full days. As an operations first kind of girl, working long hours on a computer was taxing, and working in a technology company was an incredibly steep learning curve. When that job came to an end, I started my own business, which is something I am incredibly proud of and love, and can be exhausting. In the early days, I spent six months networking like crazy to finally land my first clients and since then I have been navigating and trying to balance having the right amount of clients and the right amount of work. I have been fortunate to have, in some moments, more work than I want, and now that I have established my little business and have a couple of really fantastic clients, I think it’s time for a transition into my next phase, which is about making choices and saying no to some work. It’s about prioritizing my own personal balance and well-being, and doing work that feels meaningful and sustainable (“able to be maintained at a certain rate or level”).
As I write this, the other half of my brain is going, “tell them how scared you are”. I do have fears that my clients could drop me, that if I slow down a little bit I will pay for it, that I won’t be able to find more good clients, etc,. Fortunately or unfortunately, that fear is always there, and that risk is always there, I have learned. I have experienced being laid off from a full-time employee position, so I know that no one position is forever stable or promised to me. A reality of working in a newer, less standardized landscape, the circular economy, is that there are risks no matter what. Side note, that being said, I also think that the most standardized and dependable jobs are likely those that AI is coming for, so who knows. My point is, I don’t want to act from a place of fear, I want to craft a life that feels right.
So, this summer, I am taking more time to do simple non-digital activities, you can laugh at me, like making sure I do the dishes in the morning after breakfast and working out most days and making time for acupuncture and dentist appointments. And, I plan to spend many an afternoon hanging at my local pool. I feel vulnerable telling you all this, and I think it comes from my own learned belief, reinforced by our culture, that work is the most important thing. I’d argue that working hard and being busy is respected, and is understood widely as the most valuable way to spend your time, with money and more money as the ultimate goal. So I’m calling a bit of bullshit on that. Just for myself at least. I can say with certainty that I am much happier now, incorporating more restful and creative practices into a balanced life, making less money than I have in the past.
My favorite example of how I plan to use my extra time and something I have been enjoying immensely for the past few months is ceramics/pottery. I took a few classes in my 20s and loved the arts as a child and adolescent, but this part of me took a back seat for the past decade (coinciding with having a child). In restarting this practice, I felt like a little duckling being dropped back into water. I remembered so much of the basic skill of skills of centering, bringing up your walls, wedging, glazing and trimming. I am fortunate that my funky town of Ossining has a dedicated pottery studio and offers affordable classes. I currently spend 3-6 hours a week in that studio and transform what is effectively mud into beautiful, useful objects.
Beautiful useful objects are my personal holy grail. They are at the core of a successful circular economy as well. There’s nothing I love more than an object or tool that is designed well and is pleasing to the eye. Conversely, I hate nothing more than a badly designed tool, especially kitchen tools. Don’t get me started. But while I’m here, why would any company bother to waste the time and materials it takes to manufacture a tool or object on a large scale that doesn’t even work properly or well? It actually makes me angry.
Anyways, here are some of the pieces I have made recently.
When I go to the studio, I am, there’s no other way to say it, in the flow. I am happy and focused and using my hands and listening to other people chitchat about their lives, laughing. I cannot get enough of throwing on the wheel, making bowls and mugs and vases and plates. I think at night as I’m going to sleep about how I want to trim those bowls and cups, even imagining a new technique. To my delight that technique actually works and did what I wanted it to. I love the uncertainty of the glazing process, knowing that what you see now is not what you’re going to get, and you have to imagine what it’s going to look like and hope for the best. When I get my pieces back, after their second firing, it truly feels like my birthday. Holding and examining these objects that I made is deeply satisfying and makes me feel proud of myself. I am proud that I have reawakened a creative physicality and found a way to incorporate it into my life.
So, that’s what I’m up to and that’s how I’m doing. I hope every one of you is able to find time for the things that you love and time to take care of yourselves over the coming months.
Cynthia
cynthia@moltevolte.com
So great!!