summer break
Here we are more than mid-way through the Summer. It feels like it was just last week that I exclaimed, “it’s still so bright out!” just before 8pm. That light always plays tricks on me, easily fooling me into thinking I have way more day left as I easily overlook that I should have started prepping dinner an hour ago and now will inevitably be left cleaning up after a meal that started close to nine in the evening. But as we enter into August I can see the light shifting and starting to gently fade.
It was a soft start to summer. There were many signs that made it clear to me that routines and practices needed slowing down and so I am trying. Since the turn of the new year my work in the studio kept chugging along, the pace not much different than my pre-holiday allegro. Thinking back on it now I realize I was dropping into my default mode - which is hustle. I find comfort in the hustle, in being busy. When I stop and dig into that I see a person who thinks they are working to “make a living” when perhaps really the hustle and grind is one of many ways to be avoidant and numb.
After noticing this another area that needed a hustle adjustment was my social media habit - another “tool” I have used not only for business but to self-soothe and numb out with. I deleted the IG app off of my phone in May and planned on going forward with this new detachment for the summer but I have popped on to connect with new shops carrying my work and to post some new work. It just doesn’t seem to make the impact it once did for my business and so I keep reflecting on keeping my distance from Insta. My brain desperately needs it. My art practice desperately needs it. The bottom line is I just do not resonate with what is happening in that space nor am I inspired by it. It interests me far more in keeping up with my artistic practice and defining who I am within that, without the noise of scrolling or hyperactive videos. To call it a distraction is an understatement. I am aware that I have grappled with this for years and have talked excessively about it. After getting over and letting go of the grief I may have held for the simple “photo sharing app” I once loved, I am finally clear on what IG has become and that I no longer align with it. Also, for the past two years I have personally seen a drop in traffic to my website from Instagram up to this current moment. It is apparent that it is (in part) because I have stopped trying, caring or (to get right to the point) creating reels. And I am ok with that. There is much more to life.
And speaking of life… A difficult part of this summer has been losing our 14.5 year old pit mix after caring for hime since late May as he struggled with his health. There were many days recently when I chose to stay out of the studio to be close by his side in the comfort of our home. In the end we had to make a hard decision after discovering that he had an aggressive and likely malignant growth in his abdomen.
As two self-employed small business owners, my husband and I both have been navigating a newly empty and quiet house without our pup around. We’re also juggling how to take time away from work, take proper breaks and grant ourselves the self-care that a vacation brings all during a time when prices are skyrocketing, everything is booked, flights are being cancelled and gas is frighteningly expensive. We were lucky to enjoy a quick getaway to Georgia’s Golden Isles in early July and sometime after that I took a solo drive up to the New Jersey coast to deliver an order to a new stockist in Margate while also making time to visit family who live nearby and spent a full day taking in the salt air and sea.
Other little luxuries of the season… focusing on simple pleasures and comforts, lying in the sun for 20 minutes a day, preparing refreshing summer meals, morning walks, reading actual books, and writing actual letters in longhand to friends that live across the country.
