Daily Digest: 8
Read a book. Take a nap. Set down your phone for an hour.
It’s ok to unwind. It’s ok to rest!
You aren’t meant to produce something every minute of your life.
Stop rushing. Slow your mind.
When we take time to relax it gives our brain space to let go of the focus which opens up our thinking.
Take a deep breath.
And another one.
That’s so much better already, isn’t it?
Ok, now seriously put your phone down and rest because it might just give you your next big idea.
Daily Digest: No. 1
Last night while reading Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, a book about sharing your creative journey as its happening to build community, I suddenly realized that sharing my days has always been a key component to my creativity. I love taking daily photographs and I miss posting them!
It was a lightbulb moment 💡 When thinking back over the last 10 years I have felt like my creativity was misplaced, wandering around beside me or just even reliant on others.
How did I get here?
One word: Instagram.
I know, I heard your groan, but it’s true and the dates on this blog prove it!
When I joined Instagram it became my main channel for sharing and I wasn’t even very good at it. I’d post a photo here or there but I stopped doing the writing and communicating. I stopped thinking things through as much.
I’ve been feeling it a lot lately but last night I put all the pieces together and woke up to the fact that social media is bad for me. It might be good for you, and I definitely like it(!) but it’s pulling down my creativity.
What do I mean?
I started this blog in 2007 and kept a very active journal of my life until about 2012. And then came Instagram. I all but stopped keeping the active record of my day-to-day activities in exchange for the fast photo posts of a scrolling nonstop feed.
I felt lost. I didn’t know where to share or what to say.
I had started a yarn company so I tried blogging under the brand but that never felt right because I have too many other interests. The posts had disparate topics and were ultimately just confusing my customers. The brand needs to stay kind of knitting focused but the rest of my creativity needed an outlet.
So… then I’d hop back to Instagram and spend hours scrolling. What did that do other than let me look at pretty pictures and get riled up by other people’s opinions. Ugh.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about what is essential to me. What is going to move the needle in my life and my husband’s life? What are the baseline things we care about and want to do? Where do we see ourselves in another 10 years?
Phew, heavy shit.
But it’s been good, great even, because I suddenly remembered that I actually really like blogging! I like to write. I like to take pictures and talk about them (or other stuff altogether like this post!). I like to share! I like to collaborate.
And, most importantly, it’s a KEY COMPONENT to my creativity!
Gah, I could write that last line over and over I feel it so strongly. The revelation kept me up nearly all night!
My mind was open and free again. Free to post and share in the way I want to without having to say “Link in my bio! >>”
It's been a long time since I blogged about my life on the great big internets. I have refreshed my site to be just heatherwalpole.com because it reflects me best now.
Things are going well at Ewe Ewe. I'm working on growing the business and expanding the brand's reach. It takes a long time to have a strong brand in the yarn industry. Shop owners want to know you're going to be around next season. I'm happy to say that each year the company and product line have grown and the company is starting to look the way I imagined it would. That was almost four years ago now!
Other than that there's still three crazy dogs here with my husband and me. We spend a lot of time playing with them, cooking good food and exploring the amazing world of San Diego craft beer.
Here's Charlie.
And Lola.
And Henry.
And it's Friday so I'm going to go enjoy this martini!