Belated reflections on the first month of my term of sort of sabbatical / long service leave. I built this vision the end of last year I think, probably in Darwin. Journal more, pray more, slow down, be creative, and take term 3 at 4 days a week and spend Wednesdays doing ceramics. I’ve been steadily digesting some good podcasts and audiobooks (see Cal Newport and Gloria Mark, the Ezra Klein show interviews are good but they appear all over the place, and also Ezra Klein on the Search Engine podcast with the topic “Is there a sane way to use the internet?”) about attention and deep thinking. I was really noticing the last couple of years how hard it is for me to be immersed in anything anymore, a book or a movie, so I started retraining myself in 2023 or earlier by reading light YA fantasy series in paperbacks (not audiobooks - I do love audiobooks but the point I was seeking was not multi-tasking and being deeply immersed in a world just by holding and reading a book and not doing ANYTHING ELSE). I deleted tiktok back in summer. I recently started deleting Instagram off my phone every Sunday night and trying not to download it again until Saturday. I enjoy Instagram a lot and I do contribute to it, I post, I comment, I like, so I still want to be on there, but I had an addiction to pick it up at the slightest feeling of boredom or hard work. And Instagram content is better when you use it less often - when you catch up on your friends, rather than get a whole bunch of never-ending filler feed and sponsored posts and memes. So I think this is a good balance. I have somewhat turned to other apps to fill the space (Substack and Pinterest) but I also have sometimes doodled ideas for ceramics, or journaled, instead of opening instagram, so that is a win.
This is a very rambling out of order post but that’s the context I guess.
Church made a lovely moment out of me finishing up and taking a 3 month break from the music team, and it was super sweet to be appreciated, and I also think it was a helpful thing for our little night congregation to see and share in, appreciating that it is good to serve and it’s also good to take a break, and it’s good to celebrate service not just when someone leaves or retires! Many people serve faithfully for decades in sunday school or music or outreach or social justice ministries and it’s good to acknowledge this is a special thing.
The first week of the holidays I had covid (3rd time) super annoying and I was impatient with possible ongoing infections but thankfully I recovered just enough in time to go on holidays to Wentworth Falls with sister and JK and Sweep! I managed to walk a big section of the Grand cliff top walk. The house was very comfy and restful so we did some jigsaw puzzle and crosswords, cooked dinners at home, ate out for H’s birthday, looked at Leura shops, had hot chocolate and saw the 3 sisters. At first I thought, just napping in the afternoon is a waste of time I could nap at home, but then I realised, I do not nap at home, at home I Get Stuff Done. In a holiday house nothing needs to be cleaned or fixed or weeded, it’s a reprieve from daily demands, so it actually good value really to just nap or soak in a bath, things I could literally do any day at home but I rarely do.
I bought 2 lino prints at the Nook, they are not cheap so I pondered for a couple of days, but I am starting to want more things on my wall and not just things that I have painted or sewn. Have other people’s art and how they see the world. Speaking of seeing the world, I took great joy on the bushwalk of noticing the water. Waterfalls, creeks, dribbles and drips and pools. As I walked I filmed snippets to create a reel of water. This reminded me of the linocut of the pool of water and I decided that yes I should buy it, there was a strong creative connection with it this week. The ladies in the Nook said that the artist was going to be quite delighted to sell two, as they are more expensive than most things in the co-op.
The first week of term I was pretty busy, 3 birthdays, I gave JK her portrait of Sweep and the card Sweep made for her, and we went to the Farmers Wife for lunch with Denise, and generally swanned around. Dad has a simple meal out, and Johnny had lunch and a cake with a few family. I gave him a red helium balloon because I noticed how obsessed he was to play with them at my birthday. It was $2.60 and it definitely was a good value present. He took it to bed and everything.
And yay, I did my first Ceramics class. It was great. I consciously switched off my efficient goal frugal brain because I didn’t want to force an outcome of creativity or productivity and fail due due being pretty new at it. So I slowed down and went with the flow and let my decisions be shaped by what looked OK at the time. Me and another new person in the class were guided through a coil-then-wheel salad bowl. I also made a little cat with my spare time. It was good to play and 3 hours was long enough to not be rushed. This is my storage box that stays at the workshop, with my clay, the tools that Elsie gave me, and other miscellaneous things.
The next week I was tired from all the birthdays and busyness, but I therapeutically carved a soil structure inspired design into the outside of my bowl. It feels like an artwork. I’m proud of how I let the bowl have straight sides and not conform to a curved bowl shape. I’m proud of how the carving design percolated through my brain from my day job. I’m proud that I was able to slow down and be patient and enjoy the process and not just rush to the most efficient outcome - productivity and efficiency is a real strong side of my personality. Week 3 I leaned more into productivity and I think I want to try and hold that back, but on the day I just wanted get something finished and not have so many WIP on the go. However more on that next month.
My colleagues are so excited for my classes and love the idea of using LSL this way. For me it makes so much sense because I don’t want to do a long overseas holiday this year, I want to do more creative stuff - but I don’t want to fit it in after work, because that is making my life more and more busy and hectic. Taking a day away from work is creating more space in my week. All part of the slow down, reflect more, create more, scroll less, pace myself better. Even things like not having to be so strict about bedtime on a school night (eg church and home group nights) because I know I’ve got Wednesday off to catch up a little bit.
It’s good to be having this taste test term of 4 days a week at this point in my life, and indulge in learning something new that I’ve been curious to try for a few years now. It’s that middle aged season where I’m kind of set in a pattern and good at the skills that I need in my life. Breaking the pattern a little, and playing with new creative experiences.
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