Helpful Thoughts for 2023

notes from my first day back

Today was my first day back from the holidays (highly recommend the Friday re-entry for those who have not sampled), and I found myself suspended in the kind of calm clarity that can only follow a complete hiatus from all things corporate/ publishing/ writing/ creativity related. I can feel this window into enlightenment closing a degree or two with each “Sounds good!” that I type, so in an effort to wedge it open a little longer, I have written myself a memo.

I’m sending it along in the hopes that it is helpful to you, since you are likely also involved in something corporate/ publishing/ writing/ creativity related.

I wrote it in second person, as one does.

Helpful Thoughts for 2023

+ This year needs to be about learning to guard your own energy. Choosing what you want to pick up, and what you want to carry.

What are you getting out of juggling other people’s anxiety? An excuse? A tether? A sense of forward motion? The illusion of security?

You need to find different ways of feeling safe. Wet blankets = comforting, but wouldn’t it be better to just have a dry blanket?

+ Scarcity is a culture that trickles down from the top.

You didn’t create and are not responsible for the panicked reactions of others.

It is not your responsibility to always be the light-filled cornucopia, either. It’s tempting and kind of a high, but how often does bibbity-bobbity-booping around actually leave you energized? Admitting circumstances are beyond you isn’t a cop out, it’s a mark of maturity.

+ People will try to rush you—don’t let them.

This includes you.

+ Learn the difference between not engaging and censoring yourself and act accordingly.

You will want to find a rule for this, but you will need to take it on a case-by-case basis.

+ Don’t refuse to compete as a way of biting your thumb at snobby people.

Some people won’t like you, and they will find ways of letting you know, sometimes on a regular basis. There will be no way of standing up to them, and this will drain you.

Since you have a lot of Pisces in you, not caring is out of the question and attempting this will also be a drain.

Figure out ways of acknowledging these feelings and experiences that don’t take disproportional amounts of time and don’t take it out on yourself.

By this, I specifically mean don’t get furious at yourself when you can’t find a way of turning slights and annoyances into fuel for your creative fires. Fact: “Everything” is not material—in small doses, these toxic substances can act as accelerant, but used to excess, and all you’ll have to go on is deadly fumes.

+ Make sure you’re taking your drama from healthy sources. Stewing and plotting and forensically rehashing events you can never explain are the equivalent of visiting the drive thru. A little is OK. But only a little.

+ In so many arenas, responsiveness now = presence. A lot has been eroded. Try to be aware of when you are working and when you are not. It’s not always what it seems.

Example: Checking email in pjs on the couch with Freddie is actually working.

Example: Worrying at your desk for fifteen minutes before and after a meeting is not.

+ Take intentional breaks—if you don’t your body will take them for you. It’s so much more rewarding to deliberately take a walk for forty minutes than to accidentally lose that same amount of time intermittently on Instagram.

+ There needs to be a shift in emphasis from production to process, otherwise you will never be able to stay recharged and your work and overall happiness will suffer. Figure out a pace to work where you can still feel diligent without burning yourself out.

Spend some time thinking about quantity vs. quality. You also have a lot of Capricorn in you, and it feels good to be able to hit deadlines and produce at will.

But is overproducing stripping the minerals out of your work? If you can’t guarantee the quality, what is the quantity worth? This is a genuine question—it’s possible you care more about quantity than quality.

Wouldn’t it be freeing to feel a sense of satisfaction from an amount of time spent rather than a goal achieved? An hour spent working on something should not feel worthless if it doesn’t produce a checkmark on your list.

+ Reacclimate in this new season of life to the process of sharing and its various discomforts.

Dare to share even when all you have are old parts in a drawer.

Dare to share something that isn’t quite done yet. On impulse. On a whim.

Dare to share when you have other work outstanding. When it might make someone feel slighted or mad.

+ Experiment with flakiness. Dare to be inconsistent in public.

How many more newsletters would you write if you didn’t feel like doing one meant you had made a commitment in stone to repeat the process evermore?

You believe that a job worth doing is worth doing well, but who gets to define well? A Yahoo Answers article on the best way to create a web presence you read in 2018?

How much more would you attempt if you weren’t afraid of breaking with precedent?

Maybe that’s why the Wednesday Addams dance is so important—she’s willing to go against type, in public, just because it suits her.

And it’s thrilling.

Wishing everyone a fabulous start start start to 2023!