24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being: 22

Overwinter your creativity.

Welcome to 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being, a digital Advent calendar for slowing down and making space for presence, creativity, and gratitude. If you missed a day you can catch up here.

Hello friends,

How are we all taking a break in the coming days?

I take a solid winter break between winter solstice and early January. A pause, a reset. If creative ideas come to the surface, I let them. There’s always a notebook to scribble in. If I feel like going into the studio, I am allowed. Creativity works on its own schedule after all. But I don’t give myself any demands or expectations. Certainly don’t do any external projects that I would consider “work.”

I try to let the process be still for a bit. All in the name of rest and regeneration.

But I’m already thinking of what things feel like after that period. We all know that creativity can often thrive on momentum. And after a break, it can feel difficult to pick things back up. So I like to ensure that my current self does all it can for my future self to be able to pick up where I left off.

My friend Caroline Donahue suggests hibernating your writing, and it works great for other big creative projects that you need to step away from for a bit. She recommends writing yourself a letter about your project that’s as descriptive and detailed as possible.