24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being: December 1
Seasonal compass.
24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being kicks off today. If you want to keep getting this seasonal offering, please upgrade to a paid subscription.
Hello friends,
Here we are. December 1st, and the beginning of this calendar. First off: welcome. I am so happy that you are here, particularly those of you who are joining for the first time. These newsletters will drop every day between now and December 24th. There will be audio on all of them, so feel free to listen instead of read. You can find some more Advent calendar basics and information here.
This is my 8th year of writing 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being. Much like the pressure of staring at a blank page, every year when I sit down to put it together, I never really know where to begin or where it will all go. It always feels a little intimidating to think about the calendar as a whole, so I know exactly what I need to do: take it one day at a time.
I remind myself that a big endeavor can only be conceived through the small steps taken along the way.
I took a writing workshop a couple of weeks ago and the instructor, Jolene Brink, mentioned her own practice of writing one sentence a day. Using a lined notebook, every day gets a new line.
also has a sentence a day practice. There is something to the daily words that slowly accumulate over time. The small steps taken along the way.December has a tendency to come at us in full force. There’s even the surprise when the first day appears. Really, already? We take a deep breath and prepare for the sprint. The holidays, the events, the deadlines, the flurry.
December is the crescendo, but also the slowing. The chaos and the silence. There are endings, but also beginnings. December holds it all.
It doesn’t feel like there’s time within that to just settle into that single line on the page?
But what if there was?
For me, December has always been the start of a very special and particular season. Like Anja Dunk in her book Advent, I’ve come to think of this time as a kind of fifth season, a place situated snugly between autumn and the winter solstice. It has its own pace, its own particularities, and it welcomes its own succession of festivities and magic moments that aren’t just about what happens on Christmas Day.
There are many small steps along the way.
To view these upcoming weeks in this way feels more spacious to me. Less pressure on what’s at the end, more focus on what’s here in front of me.
To do that we need a marker, a cue. Something that says, yes, this time is here, instead of sprinting into it and missing the transition. The first of December this year happens to correspond with the first of Advent. This evening, after I get back from a all-day holiday market, my marker will be a candle, a small mug of glögg. Music maybe, but perhaps only silence or a conversation. Mostly just taking time to mark this beginning of the season, to take a celebratory pause.
I said that when I sit down to write this calendar, I never really know how to begin. That’s not entirely true. I usually come back to the same starting point: identifying a seasonal compass.
A seasonal compass is not something that gets us perfectly from point A to point B, but something that helps guide the way. An arrow that offers a direction, a gentle nudge to encourage you to take another step forward. The path may change, it may narrow, get twisty and hard to follow, but the compass stays there in your pocket. You can take it out, feel its weight in the palm of your hand, let it help you decide what to do next.
In today’s culture, December is so often a month of doing. A seasonal compass isn’t for that. It’s not for creating a checklist or more expectations, it’s for finding a sense of how you want these days ahead to feel. How you want to be.
For a couple of years now, I’ve started things off with the same prompt, inspired by one written by Skye Baynes.
Let’s begin this season with one question:
What do you want this season to feel like?
We live in a culture that doesn’t really trust feelings, but I am constantly reminded that checking in with how we feel (both emotionally and physically) is often the best guidance for how to proceed. Our own internal compass.
What are the emotions that feel essential in the weeks ahead?
What state of being would you like to experience in this season?
That helps create your seasonal compass.
Mark the transition.
Then follow the small steps along the way.
-Anna
ADVENT CALENDAR BASICS
What do you need for the days ahead? Not really much more than carving out a little time to read/listen. You may want to use this as a morning ritual. Or you may want to come in and out. I know it’s really hard to keep up with a daily email for 24 days and I don’t necessarily expect you to. You can always find the archives here.
Some days will have a specific question or even a few links for creative inspiration, others may have just a written piece that’s meant for reflection. You may want to engage in the comments, you might just want to stay off the computer and take your thoughts into the day with you. This really is meant to work however you need it to.
More basics can be found here.
KEEP GETTING THE ADVENT CALENDAR
Today’s calendar installment went out to everyone so you get a little taste of what this calendar is.
If you would like to keep receiving the calendar, please upgrade to a paid subscription.
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Have questions about the Advent Calendar? Check this page.
