After living out of 2 suitcases for 1 year, 1 month, and 2 weeks or 13.25 months, I’m ready to nest and be still. Drop into the void.

Perhaps I identify more as an animal. Ready to nest and cocoon inwards, migrating my way toward the land of integration.

This past year has been the time of my life. Both good and bad. Traveling and living nomadically. Eating my way around cities. Seeing friends. Meeting new people. Sharing drinks with David and loved ones. Working remotely and having a business that can sustain this. When I feel those highs in both my personal and professional life, it means I also see those freaking low lows. Doubt, confusion, depression, anxiety all stand side by side with love, creation, excitement. We’re all friends. Maybe frienemies. There are nuances to life and we need to remember that. Social media life is too easy to paint one side of the picture.

“We are conditioned to believe that it doesn’t matter unless there are clicks, impressions, likes, comments, engagement; that our work doesn’t matter unless we’re known.” — Holly Glenn Whitaker

Because of this, it’s now time for me to do the complete opposite. Nurture stillness. A different type of “time of my life.”

Letting the Year Soak In

It’s time for letting the year soak in. What did I learn from all my travels? What did I learn from being with my partner for so many days at once? What did I learn from being alone after that big trip in August? From living with my partner’s parents, essentially my in-laws, for a little over a month? What’s next from all this?

Nesting in the new City I’m calling home

People keep asking whether I’m ready for Chicago winters (oh yes, I moved to Chicago if I didn’t let you know already!).

My answer: ask me next winter because this winter I’m ready to hibernate. I’m ready to shut down. Tune in. And soak inward like a warm stew in a crockpot.

Plus, I have my own little office now! Well, actually it’s a den transformed into my office that I’m in love with right now. I’m calling it The Zen Den, I’ll share more once I have it set up.

Stepping back from Social Media to Write More

And part of this winter manifesto is stepping back from social media. I’m not sure for how long but I’d like to spend more time writing. I’m a huge advocate for consuming less content if you’re trying to be creative and create content. I share this concept and other helpful tips in From Content Mind to Content Marketing Free Course.

I’m exploring working with a writing coach. Of course, the Universe always somehow sends me people when I need them. Adrienne reached out to me via OM Marketing to work on her marketing and that same week I was googling ‘BIPOC writing coaches‘. Nothing came up so I’m not only excited to put her vision and work into a succinct brand but to get the right people to work with her through intentional marketing strategies — so that people searching for her work can find her!

What does our mind need in moments like this? According to Vedic Psychology

In Vedic psychology, we talked about the 4 parts of the mind:

1. the irrational emotional mind (Manas)
2. the storehouse of memories and emotions (Chitta and Samskaras)
3. the wise inner self, and (Buddhi)
4. Our sense of I and individuality (Ahankara)

Part of what keeps them in harmony and keeps our minds balanced or in goodness (sattvic) — is to create structure, routines, and daily practices. Our mind, especially our irrational emotional mind actually doesn’t like structure. It gets bored easily, and it wants to constantly be stimulated (hence social media) but when the irrational mind is out of balance or running the show, it’s like in insatiable hunger — nothing will be satisfying. Either we’re chasing the next excitement or we’re feeling heavy and depressed.

Here are 5 Tips that I’m using this Winter to Help My Mind and Self Get Back to Balance

1. Write down your 10 most frequent thoughts
2. Take the day to notice who or what is stimulating your senses. Without judgment, write them down.
3. Begin an awareness practice of when you say “I feel” do you actually say a feeling? Or is it a thought?
4. Develop your feelings vocabulary with something like the Feelings Wheel or a therapist
5. Take some time to step away from our devices. These tech companies really know how to exasperate our Manas.

Hibernation, starting now…

It’s been lovely reflecting here. I’m curious, what would be your winter manifesto? If you feel called to share comments in Substack or email me.