What’s saving my life: December 2024

Simplifying the season where we can

If you like this newsletter, you’ll love the Pidge Post Studio, a Seattle-area practice centered on slow, offline connection. Writer and teacher Anna Sullivan creates space for rest, play, and community through Substack letters, snail mail letters, and in-person workshops and retreats. Her upcoming series, Release || Receive, combines yoga and journaling to navigate the transition from this year to next.

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‘Tis the season for…….

• Illness!

• Kid illness!

• Overwhelming travel plans!

• Enormous to-do lists (Decorate! Buy the gifts! Wrap the gifts! Order the cards! Address the cards! Mail the cards! And on and on and on and on….)

• Pressure to ~*make everything magical*~

• Exhaustion

• Money absolutely disappearing

• Change in routines

• …rest? but only if there’s time

How are you coping? I’m feeling a bit underwater with pretty much all of the above, so if you are too, you’re not alone! That’s got to count for something, right?

Historically, I have loved the Christmas season. In college, I watched Love Actually on repeat while studying for finals, and I still listen to Christmas music year-round (cozy Christmas jazz is so great in the background while I work!). The joy of the season was always so palpable! Thinking about it now is actually buoying my spirits.

But in reality, lately, the holidays have also been hard. Hanging Christmas lights outside is a lot of work (and is especially frustrating when the meticulously stored lights from last year are halfway not working). Everything is expensive! There is work and childcare and there are competing, complicated family dynamics to manage, and I am tired.

This year, I’m lowering my expectations, doing the bare minimum to create magic, and soaking up the abundant joy already existing in this season of my life. I’m hoping to keep things simple as a reminder of what really matters. Remember, we can’t do it all!

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With this goal of simplifying while finding joy, there are a few things that are saving my life:

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