Hello, January!
HAPPY 2022!
How are you feeling in this new year?
I am sitting in my studio right now, getting a slow start to the new year. The past 17 days with my kids home for winter break was a lot. November and December were busy and full, and it seems that easing my way into 2022 is how it's going to go over here this week.
I had visions of jumping right into the studio this morning after dropping C and G off at school and getting right to work, planning and scheming and dreaming and doing, but it seems the older I get the more time it takes me to switch gears. I am tired! I need some time to adjust. Solo parenting is no joke, and I am grateful for some quiet today!
I used to get really excited about the beginning of a new year, and I would spend time in late December reflecting on the year, thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in both my work/creative life and my personal/home life, making lists, pulling cards, choosing a wor for the year, planning planning planning. The past few years I haven't done that at all. I'm not exactly sure why.... because I do still love this time of year and the fresh energy that seems to come with it. But it's almost like I understand now that January 1 is really no different than December 31. It is the turn of a calendar year, yes, but it's just the next day in a series of days. I used to put so much pressure on January 1 to be the new beginning of everything – New habits! New feelings! New strategies! New new new! I think a lot of us do that. Now I seem to be rebelling against it by doing none of that. Ha! I don't think that's the right answer either, and maybe at some point I'll settle somewhere in the middle. I don't know.
I listened to a Creative Pep Talk podcast episode this morning that talked about this – the idea that the way we split up time is just something that humans completely made up, when in reality it's all just an ongoing, horizontal line. January 1 is just a day in a long string of days. (Do you listen to this podcast, by Andy J. Pizza? It's so good!! If you're a creative person, it's definitely worth a listen.)
I'm not sure if it's depressing or liberating, not making any grand plans or big sweeping goals at the beginning of a new year... but it is what it is for me this year, so I'm rolling with it. Also, it seems like tiptoeing quietly into 2022 might not be a bad idea, given how these past 2 wild years in our world have looked!
Ever Forward art print available here
None of this is to say that I don't have hopes and ideas floating in my mind about what I'd like to create and accomplish; just that I haven't put any pressure on myself to have it all figured out right now at the beginning of January. I have wished for years that I was someone who was better at strategizing my forward movement and developing clear plans; learning to work smarter, not harder. But for better or for worse, I seem to be a 'wing it and figure it out as I go' kind of person. I make a lot of mistakes. I course correct as I go. I don't know how to change this, or even if it needs changing? From the outside it looks like everything is so clear for everyone else, when on the inside of my own life everything often feels like a jumble of disjointed thoughts. I imagine sometimes people look in on my life from the outside and believe the same thing about me. Aren't we humans funny that way?
I do think I'd like to spend more time writing in 2022. I have always enjoyed getting my thoughts out this way, and I find it helpful and cathartic. (Note to self: remember that! Writing helps!)
Anyway! My 10th fabric collection with Art Gallery Fabrics, called Rain or Shine, will be coming out in February, which feels exciting! The lookbook for my most recent collection, Flight Path, will be coming out next week as well – if you are someone who sews, keep your eye on my Instagram as I'll share a link to the lookbook there as soon as it's live.
I illustrated the cover of this book, Gratitude Journal For Teen Girls & Mom, and was excited to receive samples last week. I love how it turned out!
I can imagine moms being super into a book like this and teen girls... maybe less so (haha). But who knows! I do not have a teen girl yet. Just one who is about to turn 3 who acts like a teenager. Ha.
You can find the book here if this subject is of interest to you or someone you know!
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May your January be all that you hope it will be, and more. I'm sending you much love and many good thoughts from my little creative corner of the world.
Happiest of Happy New Years to you!
xo
jessica
