Ebb & Flow

I've got change on the brain.

Dear reader,

It’s cold out this morning, though perhaps not as cold as it should be. I’m sitting up in bed drinking a very hot coffee and thinking about the day, week, and month ahead of me. As a recovering chronically late person, having time in the morning to do such things is still something of a novelty for me. People who knew me a few years ago would be shocked at the turnaround. I used to snooze my alarm in my sleep so many times that it would eventually stop going off, resulting in me waking up about five minutes before I was supposed to be at work and scrambling to condense twenty minutes of prep time into one. I don’t miss it, I must say, but I also thought it would always be that way. It seemed to be a core trait, fundamental to my very being, and not having it would have meant I wasn’t actually me anymore.

I’ve been thinking about our capacity for change lately. Over the holidays, I went to see my family out in New Jersey. I was struck by how a few of us had changed in ways I hadn’t imagined possible, myself included, and mostly for the better I thought. I quit smoking a few months ago–another thing that felt inextricably tied to who I was. Someone had quit drinking a few years ago, which I’d forgotten, and someone else seemed to have mellowed out significantly, almost to the point of a full personality transformation. We’re all getting older, yes, but that’s not always a guarantee that things will change. If anything, there is just as much chance of us becoming set in our ways, stubborn and immovable as we sometimes are. Still, it was nice to see evidence that it doesn’t have to be that way.

With that at top of mind, I’ve been thinking of changing the name of this newsletter. When I started it, I thought I wanted to use it as a channel for promoting my ceramics–that was the whole point of it, in fact. As time goes on, I’m finding that it doesn’t quite fit my needs anymore. I’ve also been having some shifts in how I think about my artmaking practice, which I’ll probably discuss at a later date. All signs are pointing to change. I have some ideas for new names but haven’t settled on anything yet. I’ll keep you all posted.

Despite all this change, I still wish you a wealth of rest and relaxation. This holiday period can be rough in many ways, so I hope you are able to take care of yourselves in whichever ways feel best.

Until next time.

xoxo

Emilie