This high achieving dead possum is sending love to you, my dear high achieving dead possum friend! I am in this same struggle. I’m sorry you are too, but it is somewhat comforting to know we feel like rotting corpses in solidarity 😅💚 Much love to you!
Ugh, so sorry you are feeling it too. But you are right — it is nice to know you aren’t alone — I love your phrasing too. Cheers to being rotting corpses together this holiday season 😂 Sending love to you!!!
I love the holiday season (or the potential of what it CAN feel like) but it's always stressful for me as someone who -- probably unnecessarily -- feels like they need to be the Christmas elf keeping up the magical environment and mood for everyone else. And as soon as I decided I was over doing that, I had children! 🥴 Nevermind!
One thing I've always done is have a "Me-Shopping-for-Other-People's-Gifts Me Day" where I peruse the town's shops, by myself, as utterly slowly and luxuriously as I want. I always inevitably end up with a few things for me too, and I try not to feel bad about that!
Kelsey, your description of the Christmas elf is so relatable. I was also the cheery one in my family and magic of the season definitely felt like "my job." And that probably gets even more complicated with kids! You want to give them good experiences, but also you are a human with lots of holiday feelings haha. I love the idea of a FOR YOU day to recuperate that also includes gifts for yourself. I'll have to try that this year ;)
This is so wise, Rachel! You're on the right path. I'm amazed how much agency you've started taking over your life in the last couple of years—it's inspiring! I'm struggling with the blank page right now. Disenchantment is hitting me HARD, but reading books I love and seeing plays and films —those are inspiring me. And I am with you about creating cozy moments at home. That ALWAYS helps me. You got this!
Thank you, Taylor! And I try to imagine myself in frog and toad and go from there to find the cozy 😂
Also the struggle with the blank page is real! I attended a workshop (no idea when) and the speaker talked about how that struggle IS the process. It really helped me! All the tension you are experiencing is essential to creating work that is more you. Isn’t that so beautiful? Anyway I love your strategy for moving through it — so smart.
I enjoyed this more than I had any right to. :) WAIT! That's right: it's okay not to feel guilt from something that is not directly about my own accomplishment. <breathes out slowly>
I feel you, sister! The holidays are always bonkerballs, and they were stressful as all get up when I was little. I just wanted to be back at school, and I didn't look forward to birthdays much. Though, of course, now, I look back and think: ahh! Holiday and summer break was when I did SO MUCH READING!
My best tip for facing anything tough--that I don't do nearly enough--is to remind myself that I can treat myself like a friend, instead of a discipline case to manage. (It's an ongoing battle.)
Dead opossum spirit FTW. THANK YOU, especially, for the photo-illustrative step-by-step movie-watching instructions. 😂 They give me the confidence to try this myself, hopefully sometime soon. 🤞
Haha, love the full embodiment of the guilt struggle. RELATABLE.
About your childhood experiences with holidays and birthdays, SAME! I loved school and I often lived in books during the holidays. They gave me laughter and peace and connection when those were hard to find sometimes. Probably a big reason I ended up wanting to make books (and I'm guessing that maybe the case for you too?)
Side note: it feels like some sort of synchronicity that you mentioned how birthdays were hard for you. There's a story idea that keeps calling to me and it happens to be about just that. But I get in my head about it when I hear things like "all kids love birthdays!" Like somehow the only issue to have with birthdays is adult struggles with getting older. Then I read about kid you (and I also heard a kid birthday story from one other person this week) which confirmed what I've felt for a while: whether or not kids love their birthdays, I think many kids have complicated relationships with them. Thanks for the extra bit of motivation and connection about that today -- I needed it!
Oh my gosh, such a good tip. The way you phrased it -- "a discipline case to manage" -- hits just right. Working on all that myself. With you!
Enjoy your dead opossum movie night when you get the chance to do it ;)
RACHEL!!!!!! (See what I did there?) You are such a gem, do you know that? A GEM! I loved this from beginning to end.
And my only trick for facing the holidays is trying to go outside every day. I don't always achieve it, but wow, do I feel better when I do. (This is not only for the holidays but applies any/every day.)
Haha, appreciate you so much!!! And thanks for the compliments.
Your trick is EVERYTHING. Lately it has so been hard for me to go on walks but when I do, I feel better 100% of the time. Why is it so hard to do things that are good for us? 🤣
I seriously love it — and one of my other favorite things is that in addition to the regular movie suggestions, they also have “if you like this movie, also try this” tidbits to go down rabbit holes.
And haha, yes! We can all be dead opossums together. The term helps me laugh through the frustration 😂
This high achieving dead possum is sending love to you, my dear high achieving dead possum friend! I am in this same struggle. I’m sorry you are too, but it is somewhat comforting to know we feel like rotting corpses in solidarity 😅💚 Much love to you!
Ugh, so sorry you are feeling it too. But you are right — it is nice to know you aren’t alone — I love your phrasing too. Cheers to being rotting corpses together this holiday season 😂 Sending love to you!!!
I love the holiday season (or the potential of what it CAN feel like) but it's always stressful for me as someone who -- probably unnecessarily -- feels like they need to be the Christmas elf keeping up the magical environment and mood for everyone else. And as soon as I decided I was over doing that, I had children! 🥴 Nevermind!
One thing I've always done is have a "Me-Shopping-for-Other-People's-Gifts Me Day" where I peruse the town's shops, by myself, as utterly slowly and luxuriously as I want. I always inevitably end up with a few things for me too, and I try not to feel bad about that!
Kelsey, your description of the Christmas elf is so relatable. I was also the cheery one in my family and magic of the season definitely felt like "my job." And that probably gets even more complicated with kids! You want to give them good experiences, but also you are a human with lots of holiday feelings haha. I love the idea of a FOR YOU day to recuperate that also includes gifts for yourself. I'll have to try that this year ;)
This is so wise, Rachel! You're on the right path. I'm amazed how much agency you've started taking over your life in the last couple of years—it's inspiring! I'm struggling with the blank page right now. Disenchantment is hitting me HARD, but reading books I love and seeing plays and films —those are inspiring me. And I am with you about creating cozy moments at home. That ALWAYS helps me. You got this!
Thank you, Taylor! And I try to imagine myself in frog and toad and go from there to find the cozy 😂
Also the struggle with the blank page is real! I attended a workshop (no idea when) and the speaker talked about how that struggle IS the process. It really helped me! All the tension you are experiencing is essential to creating work that is more you. Isn’t that so beautiful? Anyway I love your strategy for moving through it — so smart.
Frog & Toad is always the answer!
So lovely, Rachel!
I enjoyed this more than I had any right to. :) WAIT! That's right: it's okay not to feel guilt from something that is not directly about my own accomplishment. <breathes out slowly>
I feel you, sister! The holidays are always bonkerballs, and they were stressful as all get up when I was little. I just wanted to be back at school, and I didn't look forward to birthdays much. Though, of course, now, I look back and think: ahh! Holiday and summer break was when I did SO MUCH READING!
My best tip for facing anything tough--that I don't do nearly enough--is to remind myself that I can treat myself like a friend, instead of a discipline case to manage. (It's an ongoing battle.)
Dead opossum spirit FTW. THANK YOU, especially, for the photo-illustrative step-by-step movie-watching instructions. 😂 They give me the confidence to try this myself, hopefully sometime soon. 🤞
Haha, love the full embodiment of the guilt struggle. RELATABLE.
About your childhood experiences with holidays and birthdays, SAME! I loved school and I often lived in books during the holidays. They gave me laughter and peace and connection when those were hard to find sometimes. Probably a big reason I ended up wanting to make books (and I'm guessing that maybe the case for you too?)
Side note: it feels like some sort of synchronicity that you mentioned how birthdays were hard for you. There's a story idea that keeps calling to me and it happens to be about just that. But I get in my head about it when I hear things like "all kids love birthdays!" Like somehow the only issue to have with birthdays is adult struggles with getting older. Then I read about kid you (and I also heard a kid birthday story from one other person this week) which confirmed what I've felt for a while: whether or not kids love their birthdays, I think many kids have complicated relationships with them. Thanks for the extra bit of motivation and connection about that today -- I needed it!
Oh my gosh, such a good tip. The way you phrased it -- "a discipline case to manage" -- hits just right. Working on all that myself. With you!
Enjoy your dead opossum movie night when you get the chance to do it ;)
RACHEL!!!!!! (See what I did there?) You are such a gem, do you know that? A GEM! I loved this from beginning to end.
And my only trick for facing the holidays is trying to go outside every day. I don't always achieve it, but wow, do I feel better when I do. (This is not only for the holidays but applies any/every day.)
Haha, appreciate you so much!!! And thanks for the compliments.
Your trick is EVERYTHING. Lately it has so been hard for me to go on walks but when I do, I feel better 100% of the time. Why is it so hard to do things that are good for us? 🤣
That movie night book looks so up my alley! Also now fully incorporating the phrase "dead opposum mode" into my vocabulary.
I seriously love it — and one of my other favorite things is that in addition to the regular movie suggestions, they also have “if you like this movie, also try this” tidbits to go down rabbit holes.
And haha, yes! We can all be dead opossums together. The term helps me laugh through the frustration 😂
Literally reading your response as your PW interview lands in my inbox. You're a rockstar! Even if sometimes a dead opposum one!
😭 Thank you, Sarah ♥️