Squishing a year in a day

What I do instead of resolutions

Hi there!

I know this is a bit late, but we are still in January so it still counts: happy 2023! Instead of making resolutions, I like to squish an entire year into a day. It sounds stressful, but it’s actually the opposite. I approach it in three ways.

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Here is the audio version of this newsletter if you want to listen to it like a podcast:

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Make a collage

I spend the first day of the year collaging my feelings about the year. I don’t go into it with a plan. I simply cut out words and images that stick out to me. I rearrange them in a way that feels “right.” And then I take a step back and see what meaning my brain comes up with for the year within the collage I created. It’s kind of a weird process, like I’m looking at someone else’s art and finding meaning, but it’s really fun and I actually discover a lot of things about my hopes and dreams and fears for the year — both during the process and throughout the year when I return to my collage.

Last year’s collage ended up being a combination of connecting and letting go. Very fitting for what I learned and experienced in 2022. Here it is:

This year’s collage has themes of exploration and learning new things and sight and who knows what else. If you’re up for it, I’d love to know what you see:

List soul happy tasks

A few years ago, I realized that I wanted to design my life around the things that made me happy. So I asked myself, “What makes your soul happy?” and wrote those things down. I figured a year is made up of days, so I might as well design my days around those tasks to have a happy year. It sounds simple but it seriously changed my life. I had spent a lot of time before that point trying to build habits and not getting anywhere. But now I can actually build habits and it’s been more FUN than discouraging. It also replenished my creative life, helped me overcome perfectionism (meaning change my mindset to help me better deal with my perfectionism when it pops up…it pops up less but just wanted to be honest that it still pops up), and led me to children’s books. So…I highly recommend the exercise.

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Follow the 10 minute rule

I design my days by listing the days of the week on a google doc with a soul happy task list to complete each day. To check the boxes, all I need to do is complete 10 minutes of each task. After the 10 minutes is over, I can either stop guilt-free or continue doing it if I happen to want to. Funnily enough, I almost always continue. For me the hardest part is starting. But then I’m like, “Oh yeah, I like this.” I don’t know why it is so hard for me to do the things I like but that’s a topic for another day (or a long therapy session).

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What does 2023 look like AT THE KID TABLE?

As I asked myself this year what would make my soul happy, CONNECTION popped up a lot which will definitely influence this newsletter in a few ways:

1. I want to connect with other children’s book authors and illustrators, so I’m starting a video podcast called AT THE KID TABLE. I’ll chat with friends about their kid table experiences and creativity and upcoming books live on Instagram. And then I’ll share the video and audio here as well so you can watch or listen depending on what works best for you.

2. I also love connecting with others through the things they create. Some of my newsletters will be about what I learn from creators in the past and present as I analyze their books. And kinda related to that, just in case you’re looking for something fun to do, I’ll still share lists of picture books and other things that inspire me.

3. Part of the reason I started this newsletter was to figure out how to be more myself online. So I’m going to keep connecting with amazing people like you with illustrated creative nuggets and jokes making fun of myself and (hopefully) relatable stories. You may also see me on camera more since I’m trying to get more comfortable with that. Silly videos are my jam. I just need to get brave enough to make more of them.

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What does 2023 look like for me so far?

Right now, I’m celebrating the milestone of receiving my first ever super duper official editorial feedback last week! So for the next few months, I’ll be working on my debut picture book. It still hasn’t been officially announced, but once it is, I’ll be able to share more exciting details.

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What does 2023 look like for you?

I would love to know what you are excited about this year. Feel free to leave a comment or reply to this email, and I’ll celebrate it with you.

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Here’s to a marvelous 2023! I’m so glad you’re here. Thanks for sitting with me AT THE KID TABLE.

Your happy-she-finally-created-the-newsletter-that-had-been-nudging-her-mind-for-a-month friend,

Rachel

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