New year, same you (but rested)
Thinking outside the socialized capitalism box always feels radical
As the year is winding down, the temptation to enter the new year with great gusto and big plans is hard to ignore. The presence of that looming pressure is built into our social wiring, but it’s also not necessarily an absolute truth. I’d invite you, instead to explore in your writing practice, how you might enter the new year rested, prepared, or renewed.
Further reading:
In Durga Chew-Bose’s collection, Too Much and Not the Mood, her piece “The End of the Tour” is an exploration about societal pressures, especially on women, to be available and visibly striving, and how self-care can be a radical act in that regard.
Jenny Odell’s collection, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, is basically a manifesto about resisting the attention economy and reclaiming space for rest, renewal and deep contemplation. Her chapter, “On Rest,” urges readers that stepping away from capitalist productivity models is necessary to for mental renewal.
Amber Karnes, one of my favorite yoga leaders, wrote an essay for Yoga International about creating a shame-free new year which I think about often.
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