What’s True for Me This Week
The weekly column here that's a little chatty and personal so you can get to know me and my creative weird sometimes silly sometimes mundane little brain ...
I always invite you to come share what’s true for you in my chat where I make these little updates daily-ish. Sometimes just taking a moment to sit and say “what’s true for me” really makes a lot of things clearer. And I hope what people find there is a safe space for sharing their personal truths.
Apparently I last shared the roundup on February 18th, which makes sense because then I was moving and things got hectic.
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So, here’s what’s been true for me the past 2 weeks …
February 19, 2024
What’s true for me today is that at least once a week when I post these chats Substack has a glitch and it doesn’t post and I have to rewrite it usually using a different device and that happened this morning so this is post attempt two and it’s annoying. I woke up groggy and cranky about the busy days and the disarray but I sat down with a cup of coffee and a glass of water and spent some time clipping images out of magazines for art making and feel a lot better now. I am joining in with the 100 Days Project this year doing a combo of collage and found poetry from magazines and junk mail. Holding this loosely because every day may not work but setting the intention and noticing when taking the time feels good.
February 23, 2024
First night at new house was a success. What’s true for me today is I am relieved and happy and excited to stretch into this new life.
February 24, 2024
What’s true for me today is that my body is very sore from moving activity but my heart is so happy. I’ve shared a lot about the dogs and how happy I am to give them a yard. But also my partner and I are moved in together now and this is huge for me. My last two long term partners ultimately didn’t want to take that step and I did. This is very healing. We are both very happy. And it also feels really natural and easy. Early days still of course but we are cozy together.
February 25, 2024
What’s true for me today is that I’m trying to transition the dogs out of the human bed and onto human furniture next to the bed and it’s going well considering but it’s also exhausting and so I am sleepy this morning but also so happy. I love waking up and stepping right outside into the yard. The wild parrots of San Francisco flew overhead this morning while I was out there drinking my coffee. Perfection. I had planned to go to an art opening yesterday for the crochet mural I am responsible for but I was exhausted and achy and missed it and that’s okay. We can only do so much.
February 26, 2024
What’s true for me today is that I popped on here earlier to share and saw that on the last thread some scammer posted porn. I already banned and removed but it is so annoying to have to moderate such things. Hope it doesn’t become too much of an issue here on Substack! Also true is it is a beautiful day and I’m enjoying doing chores and setting up the house and I don’t particularly want to go to class today but I will and I am sure that’ll be fine too. I would just rather stay home and nest 🤣
February 27, 2024
What's true for me today is that it'll be my first long-ish day outside of the new home leaving the dogs on their own and it's a little nervous but they did well for a couple hours yesterday so it should all be fine. I'm amazed and happy at how naturally easeful this new place already is for all of us. And grateful. I'm really grateful.
At some point I have to sit down and figure out my finances and get some new work and I have to keep reminding myself that I can do that in March, that it doesn't have to be a this minute thing, but I admit the scarcity mindset around money has been kicking in a little bit.
This is a busy week ahead for school as I have two big presentations and a paper to prepare for and have fallen behind because of all of the moving but I've readjusted my mindset around that and plan to just be the "good enough" student this semester. (Which comes from the "good enough" mother or parent idea ...)
February 28, 2024
What’s true for me today is that it took me almost all day to get up and moving but now I’m having a snack outside in the sun and it’s lovely. Heading to the old apartment to do a final clean and be done with that place. All I want to do is stay home and nest but there are many other things to be done. 🤣 I love school but sometimes I wish I could just pause it for a month to catch up on everything. 🤷🏻♀️
February 29, 2024
What's true for me today is that my body aches and my nose is sniffly but I am also just so relaxed and happy. The plants in the yard are wet and the light is beautiful and the dogs are snoring and I am starting to work on creative things in this new space and it all makes me really happy.
March 1, 2024
What’s true for me today is that I feel things starting to settle back into something of a routine. Maybe not back. It’s a bit of the old routine and a bit of a new one emerging. I’ve always liked transitional spaces and the possibilities inherent within them and so I like this feeling. I hope over the next few days to organize my desk and calendar so that I feel a little more on track. The doing what is on the list is never exactly the point yet somehow organizing and planning it helps me feel settled and with direction. It is a little rainy with sun peeking out and I’m curious to see what the day holds. What is true for you today?
March 2, 2024
What's true for me today is that I'm doing some massive unsubscribing here on Substack and it has a little bit of an icky feeling because I know that one or two people might notice their numbers dip by one and be sad and I hate that but also it's what needs to happen. I subscribed to over 400 publications here last year and I read them all pretty faithfully but that's when I was working to make Substack my full time work ... and while that would still be the dream, I don't see that financially happening as a reality, so some things need to shift. The way my brain works, I need to erase a lot of stuff to make space and then I can start filling it back in again anew. So I may be unsubscribing to people I'll quickly resubscribe to. Or not. We'll see. It's all part of a process of figuring out what I want to take in and what I want to put out, which is a constantly fluctuating process in my whole life not just the microcosm of Substack.
LOOK FOR TOMORROW’S NEWSLETTER FOR AN ELABORATION ON THIS
Also true is I'm enjoying catching up with some reading here while sitting in the sunny window nook with a dog on either side of me.
I just had severe oral surgery. Assisted living did not get my pain killer filled. They lost the prescription. Then they lost my ice packs, which I had to buy myself. It’s been an unhappy time.
I also have not been able to get them to give me sufficient amounts of JELLO or ice cream to constitute anywhere close to a meal. I’m very angry.
I now have ice packs. I’m going out to try to go to church. Let’s see how it goes. It’s going to be a crazy 75 degrees today! In Iowa! I have on a Kelly green dress. I just cannot speak.
Kathryn, I have subscribed to well over 400 Substacks too and feel about the same as you, its too much, and doing this full time is not wholly appealing to me for quite a few reasons, including my continued healing from surgery. I look forward to reading your post tomorrow, when you expand on this.