30 Comments

The more folks who shout from the rooftops about taking time to reset the better so thank you for this! Realizing that you need to reset your nervous system following a heavy workload is a beautiful thing. Reading about you cutting the gorgeous square of colorful fabric I was right there in the room with you and soaking it up, I could feel the energy of intentional relaxation.❤

Expand full comment

I wanted to elaborate when I said we need more folks talking about resets like this...it's to help us culturally overcome the guilt associated with it. It seems like the idea is starting to crack open, the concept that we need to honor all parts of ourselves, perhaps not at the same time but as best we can. In doing so we may need to sit and read for hours or have a nap. That needs to become OK in our culture. This is why we need to talk about it.

Expand full comment

Yes! I understood you completely. We really need a more holistic view of wellbeing that includes space for rest and reset.

Expand full comment

I find that I do this in order to reorganize my brain and prepare for the Next Thing.

Also: Tears of the Kingdom is so much fun -- I've been struggling to make time to play it lately, but I find it's a great way for me to grow my capacity for anxiety management, because it's a safe place to explore, take risks, and "die" and try again without any real-world consequences.

Expand full comment

Yes to all of this! The last two Zelda games have been the first video games I've really deeply loved. We played absolutely all day on Mother's Day and it was the best. I agree, there's something about the challenge and also the framework to try again. I love the open world of these games so you can take everything on at your own pace. 💫

Expand full comment

♥️ I've only just been considering that some of my post-burnout tendencies (like reading for hours on end of talking mindless walks outside) can have some purpose besides avoidance. I do have to be careful (and honest with myself) about differentiating regulatory practice from avoiding important tasks... but this post begs me to consider whether my desire to regulate OR EVEN avoid is actually just proof, from the inside out, that I need a break. thanks for sharing, as always!

to answer your Q's, I'm noticing that it's massively dependent on how nourished I feel - when I feel undernourished and overwhelmed (like now), my non-work day feels like the perfect time to do almost nothing, to passively absorb a whole novel in the bath. but if I had to answer this question another time, when I'm feeling deeply fulfilled and just taking a day away from work, I would move my body or take a movement class, grab lunch with a friend, and write through dinnertime ♥️ (I wonder if I've just pinpointed the waxing and waning of my creative process, dependent on feelings of nourishment and fulfillment - or perhaps self-regulation).

xx thanks for letting me write a book here 🙃

Expand full comment

Yes! I think investigating what we are drawn to and what function it might be serving is so critical! I want to dig more into this because I don't see "procrastination" talked about in this way.

Always feel welcome to write a book in my comments. I am here for it! 😂

Expand full comment

I relate to this post so much! I love to knit and crochet and for the longest time I thought of them as just “hobbies”. Now I realize they are important self-regulation activities because they allow me quiet time to move my hands repetitively and let my brain rest. Textile arts and crafts are true lifesavers! This has inspired me to reflect a bit on my own relationship to self-regulation through creativity 🥰

Expand full comment

Yes! Making with your hands is so powerful! 🧶

Expand full comment

Interesting. I think this is what collage must do for me. I didn’t make that link, but now that I have maybe I can be more conscious about it and use it more often and consistently, and do a bigger collage project when I need it and also in the between times when I get lost or unsure about where I am or going.

Expand full comment

Yes! Collage is another one of my favorites for a reset. ✂️💫🌀

Expand full comment

It’s super interesting. I’m going to write this down, a reset process list, with collage on it (and whatever else I learn helps in future) so I do it when I really need to. I needed to do it this last week (post family wedding burnout) but I didn’t, and it’s been fresh in my mind too haha. Mind you, I’ve been too tired for anything so maybe I needed to hide in my wardrobe as much as I could first 😉

Expand full comment

Oh that strawberry cake is happening! 🤩

Expand full comment

So Nathan convinced me to add strawberry purée to the cream cheese frosting as well and it was a disaster! It was too runny and ran off the edges like a certain wizard's birthday cake. But it was also delicious. The strawberry cream cheese was even better on pancakes. 😂

Expand full comment

I wonder if putting icing sugar in it would have made it thicker? 🤔 I’d like to play about with that!

Sounds delicious regardless 🤩

Expand full comment

There was some, but maybe more! Or less purée. Anyway, it is worth a try. So good! 🍓

Expand full comment

Awww thanks for the shoutout! I still need to check out Wheel of Time, and I'm excited to see how your cloak turns out. I realized I run on hyperdrive a lot... partially out of that compulsion we've discussed, where I feel like "I have to finish the chores before I can do anything fun", but also this weird culture that perceives the opposite of "busy" as "lazy" and therefore downtime is disapproved of. But the more I stretch my arms out towards slow living, the less I'm in alignment with that philosophy of the lazy/busy dichotomy.... I think I need to write a post about this.

Expand full comment

I would love to read that! 🥰

Expand full comment

i love this, Sarah! i still have a pile of scraps if you still want them. getting to the PO is tough for me but it's on my list of to-dos <3

Expand full comment

I would love them Red! This is just the beginning of my scrappy projects. I want to take what I learn from this (I am crazy quilting the hood and yoke) and make some fine art textile pieces I can submit to art shows.

Expand full comment

I just loved all your shares and the insight into your wonderful creative world here Sarah. You are truly an inspiration! ✨🥰✨🏩🎶💜

Expand full comment

Likewise friend. 💫🥰🎨

Expand full comment

New reader, and so happy to have found your lovely newsletter! Fellow elder millennial here who used to pay my friends brother in Reese’s to defrag my computer. 😂 also, so glad to know I’m not the only one with 500 tabs open...and I have definitely gone on rabbit hole searches for lost Sesame Street clips - my favorites are the “let’s get the rhythm of the hot dog” hand game & buffy Saint Marie nursing her baby 💔 I’m so glad you are making connections and finding things that are restful and regulating - can’t wait to see the cape!

Expand full comment

Haha! I love that. And now I have two new Sesame Street clips to Google. 😂

Expand full comment

Oh my goodness, I used to love watching the computer defrag. Watching those little squares move and change colour was marvellous.

Expand full comment

Sorry bit of an irrelevant comment

Expand full comment

No such thing as an irrelevant comment here! Especially as I mentioned defragmenting. ☺️

Expand full comment

This reminded me of how important creativity is for my nervous system regulation. And how I have no more shame that this is the truth for me. I stand by it and all the things I need to maintain to get and stay healthy. I hope it inspires others to do the same. Rest is resistance. Rest is radical.

Expand full comment

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Expand full comment

@Sarah Shotts, I LOVE this! I’m very late to this post, but I can relate to it so much. I’m autistic and I also use creativity—specifically making things with my hands—as emotional regulation and a sensory reset. Lovely to read about yours here.

Expand full comment