A Gentle January for Create Me Free
Receive snail mail from me, explore "What is emotional and psychological health?" and other things to come, slowly and steadily, in 2025
I love the turn of the calendar page. I love that it gives me a chance to start fresh and new, to reset, to reflect and reconsider. I love Mondays because on Mondays the planner begins again, and I can think about all of the things I might like to do in the week. It doesn’t matter that most of them won’t get done - productivity isn’t the point. The point is in the thinking, daydreaming, organizing, planning, intention setting. It’s about the energy of starting again regardless of what’s to come.
I love Mondays. I love the first of the month. I love January, the first of the year. But also January is winter. January comes after a very busy November and December, when the sunlight of daytime might be getting gradually longer each day but half the day is still darkness.
So, yes, I’ve made some plans and goals, for my big picture life this year and for what I’ll be sharing here at Create Me Free this year. I’ve hung the new calendars, cracked open the new planner, started making lists and diagrams and plans. But even though that’s begun, the weeks ahead won’t be filled with tons of activity. There is no need to rush into the year ahead, no need to make sure that the things I’m starting start right now.
January is a good time for quiet, slow, simple, gentle. January is a good time to continue letting all of the ideas marinate a little bit longer. The year ahead has plenty of time for concocting the creations and savoring them. It will all taste better marinated.
Bumi likes receiving mail too
New in 2025: Receive Snail Mail!!
In the fall, I created and sent out nearly fifty pieces of blackout poetry collages to other people here on Substack. In December, I sent holiday cards to every single person in my address book, and I did my best to personalize each of them with stickers and quotes and handwritten messages. And I realized I really love doing this. I love sending out happy mail.
So, new in 2025, anyone who chooses a paid subscription to Create Me Free, even at the super discounted rate of just $10 for the whole year, will have the option to receive occasional snail mail from me, mostly in the form of handcrafted art (collage, crochet, handmade cards, etc.)
NOTE: If you are already a paying subscriber and want to receive mail this year, just fill out this Google form.
January’s Theme: What is health?
Each month, I’m focusing on a specific aspect of what I study, which is the complex relationship between art and psychology. These monthly themes are based around the questions that I ask in interviews. The first one is a re-examination of “what is health?” More specifically, what is emotional and psychological health, although this is often inextricably tied to physical health. After all, how can I truly examine the relationship between creativity and health if I haven’t (re)considered what health means.
I often say:
When I use the term “mental health” I sometimes mean things with a diagnosis and symptoms but just as often I mean something akin to “how the challenges of life are affecting our thoughts and experiences.”
Which is true, but I want to burrow into that more and see what emerges.
2025’s Big Project: Hook to Heal Reboot - Craft As Therapy Workshop Group
My big project is that I’m launching a flexible online year-long crochet/knit/craft group based on my book Hook to Heal!: 100 Crochet Exercises For Health, Growth, Connection, Inspiration and Honoring Your Inner Artist.
Each month, we’ll explore how to use my crochet exercises to reflect on, engage with, and “improve” (whatever that might mean) different areas of life. These exercises are easily adapted for knitters and I’m welcoming other thread/yarncrafters as well.
Stay tuned for details, those are common soonish.
2025 Community Collaboration: What I Have and What I Need Resource Exchange
I started this seed of an idea a couple months ago and have had some amazing people step up and give some support. I decided to postpone doing any more announcements about it during the holiday season. Marinating, as I said. But more info about this will be coming soon as well.
Other things you can expect to likely see at Create Me Free in 2025:
Ongoing publication of interviews, including interviews answered in images and/or sound as submitted by people who want to share how art and psychology are connected for them.
My own lived experience as an artist with ongoing health issues via essays as well as visual art.
Research into the topic including relevant discussions of art history, contemporary art, contemporary psychology, books I’m reading, exhibits I’m attending, etc.
Links to and promotion of other people here on Substack who are writing about similar things in beautiful and diverse ways.
I haven’t completed updating the 2023-4 essays on Substack and will be particularly working on making sure that all interviews are up-to-date meaning that I’ve removed any paywalls, checked all links, removed irrelevant promotional stuff and so forth.
Here’s the part where I tell you that the year will be able to expand more with more support. I would love to begin offering small stipends for interviews and guest posts by 2026, which can only happen with paid subscriptions.
I always give at least ten percent of my own income to other artists, writers, performers, makers, creators … The more I earn, the more I can give.
And I try to make it easy for people to give at a rate that is manageable for them by offering a sliding scale. This will be changing slightly later this year but currently you can get any of the following discounts just by clicking the link for the rate you want and signing up:
25% off in ‘25 - The 2025 discount rate on an annual subscription
Flexible Discount - 10% off either monthly or annual subscriptions
Lucky 13 Discount - 13% off forever
Gotta Pay the Rent Soon Discount - 50% off one year
Grateful for the Gift - 75% off one year
Barely Getting By Discount - $10 flat rate for one year
Thank you so much for the snail mail I received with awe and joy! Happy new year to you Kathryn💜
Very cool ideas here, Kathryn. Thank you! Happy New Year. 💕💕