Hibernate, Marinate
What if we made January an in-between month?
Welcome to 2023. Here we are.
We’ve made it to the first Friday of the year.
I like transitions and I like cycles and I like new beginnings, but shifting into the new year always feels a little more complicated than just making a fresh start. Yes, we’ve turned another page in the calendar, we’ve said goodbye to 2022. But that doesn’t mean we’re entirely ready to hit the ground running. We’re coming off the energy of the festive season, and most likely, we’re still tired. I know I am.
We need more than just a couple of days to reboot. Need I remind you that it’s winter and our bodies are still craving hibernation mode? Despite what “new year new you” mantras that circle around us quietly embedding themselves into our minds and inevitably planting seeds of doubt and critique, we need more decompression time.
Which is why I don’t always think that the 1st of January is the best time to start new things, and instead, I like to advocate for using January as an “in-between” month. A month where we exist between the old year and the new year and allow things to settle. It's not a "begin time" but more of a "rumination time." One where instead of focusing on brand spanking new and sparkly beginnings we focus on creating some time for reflection, on listening to what we need, on creating some additional space for ideas and thoughts to percolate a bit.
There is definitely something to be said for the fresh start effect, which I learned about this week while listening to Dr. Maya Shankar talk with Dr. Katy Milkman on the podcast A Slight Change of Plans. We are better able to commit to fresh starts—new projects, habits, etc.—on specific event dates; a birthday, an anniversary, a move, a new year. The feeling of having a blank slate, a fresh start, helps to be a catalyst for making changes, and new chapters make for excellent times to make the changes and shifts we want in our lives.
There’s no wonder then that we can feel hopeful going into a new year, and it can be a great time to start new things. This is not a call to quell all resolutions. But it is a reminder that we are allowed to be gentle and mindful with how we approach the new year, what intentions we set, and how we go about establishing the habits and rituals that become not just a month-long affair, but an ongoing investment in ourselves, and as such, our creative process.
Allowing January to be an in-between month isn’t necessarily easy. Even though I set out to give myself two full weeks off over the holidays, I found myself floundering in these last few days. Thoughts of business strategy, what work I need to be thinking about, what projects I need to set in motion, and all the things I “should” be doing sneak in. All that mixes together with the remnants of burnout leftover from the end of the year and it all quickly starts to escalate the feeling of the January blues.
What do we do with that?
For starters, we don't avoid those feelings. We acknowledge that we need rest, that we can’t sprint into this new year at full speed without some downtime first. There are different kinds of rest, from sensory rest to creative rest, and we need all of them. I think that January can be a particularly good time to think about how all types of rest fit into our everyday lives, and how we can be intentional about cultivating more of it (this is an ongoing practice that regularly requires us to check in with ourselves).
This month can also be a time to slowly start to cultivate some gentle rituals and habits, things that help to feed our creative practice but aren’t necessarily acts of art making. Last year I did Yoga with Adriene’s 30-day January yoga journey, and I am doing this year’s Center program. And if you’re thinking to yourself right now, “but it’s January 6th, it’s too late to begin,” I would say that some yoga or some physical movement sometimes is better than no movement at all. And please know that I did not start on the first day either.
Which then brings me to the act of creativity. What does our creative practice look like at the beginning of the year? Whatever. You. Want. It. To. Look. Like.
I am reminded of the conversation that I had with Dr. Girija Kaimal in episode 5 of the Creative Fuel podcast, about how essential it is to develop a creative practice in “peace time” so that it can help to carry you through harder times.
What creative practice feels gentle for you right now? What feels fun? What feels restorative?
For me, that’s showing up in my sketchbook and just making marks. It's pulling some Oblique Strategies cards. It's reading. It's planning out a knitting project. It’s also being more intentional about how I take in creative inspiration. My friend Andrea Slusarski always inspires me with how beautifully she fills sketchbooks with notes, and I’ve been intrigued by Krista Tippett’s approach to contemplative reading. As January usually involves more reading for me, I going to try infusing the month with a bit more note-taking in my sketchbook, simply as a way to highlight what sticks out for me, to reiterate it with pen and paper. This isn’t a resolution, it’s simply an intention. Try it for a bit, see where it goes.
Above all else, January is a time to consider all of the things that can help to inform and fuel our creative process. We can approach this month with gentleness and with curiosity. We can see what transpires if we don’t push so much, if we give things a little more space to develop and form organically.
I know that we can’t all take this in-between month in the form of days off (how absolutely glorious would it be if everyone just stopped emailing all month long?), but I think that we all can find a little decompression, a little slowness, and a little inspiration in these days if we give ourselves the scaffolding to do just that.
This is your permission to give things a little extra space, to allow yourself some more time for rumination. I know that I have some things that are percolating, things that need a little more “thought time” to them before I can press the go button. And I need this permission as much as the next person.
Hibernate, marinate, and I look forward to seeing how we all move forward into this new year.
-Anna
A LITTLE CREATIVE INSPIRATION
“In the long run, it will ultimately not be possible to rescue attention and focus in a world that is dominated by the belief that we need to keep growing and speeding up every year. The growth machine has pushed humans beyond the limits of our minds.” - Johann Hari
Make a less/more list
Try out some boring resolutions
Find more awe
If you need a good January book, I just finished The Authenticity Project and loved it
UPCOMING CLASSES + WORKSHOPS
Virtual Workshop: Papercutting Letters, January 17, 2023 6-8pm PT
I'm teaching a virtual papercutting workshop entirely focused on lettering. A good chance to practice your papercutting skills and get excited about typography. More info + tickets
Virtual Workshop: 2023 Creativity Roadmap, January 24, 2023 4-6pm PT
After a few weeks of marinating on things you might be in the mood for setting some creative intentions in place for the coming year. That's exactly what this workshop is for. Part of the Creative Fuel Collective programming, this session is intended not to create a strategy for more creative work, but rather, how to infuse our everyday lives with more creativity. More info + tickets
PAUSE: A creative retreat for rest and recalibration, February 23-27, 2023
Hosted in a beautiful forest setting just a ferry ride away from Seattle, this creative retreat is devoted to digging into the restful and restorative elements of the creative process. More info + tickets