Spring Is in the Air 🌷🌱

Dear Friends,

Spring is in the air. I’ve heard the first cardinals warbling to each other outside. There are small flocks of chickadees and gold finches flitting by and chattering in the trees around our yard. I see the trees waking up. If they could yawn, they would.

I’ve been silent throughout this winter, with my last newsletter sent in October. I’ve felt Winter’s call to slow down, and so I have. I used to dread the winter—I saw only its cold, its rigidity, and none of its charm. Raised in a culture that believes rushing around, working continuously, and constantly striving after something just out of reach is “just the way it is,” the gifts of winter eluded me.

But seeds need the quiet and stillness the winter brings so that they can burst with life in the spring. This winter’s rest was needed, and I feel more “ME” than I have for a long time.

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Volunteering at the donkey sanctuary continues, no matter the season. Here I am enjoying a fun moment with my donkey pal Zack. 💜

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I've been rethinking my relationship to what I create. I've heard editors and agents refer to books as "products." We, as writers, are producing a "product." When I hear this, I envision people on an assembly line, pumping out widgets.

I have decided that that definition of creative work doesn't work for me. AT. ALL.

We live in a "product-driven" society where the intangibles are scoffed at or ignored, where the selling, the buying, the consuming, the "audience engagement," the sales numbers, are all that matter. And we are seeing how that model is burning us all out. How it is robbing our environment of its ability to maintain balance, as we see it as yet another "resource" for exploitation. This widget-making mentality robs us of our ability to see each other as human beings first.

Over the winter, I came to some conclusions—simple ones really. I create because it gives me joy. It connects me to my inner self.

We all must figure out who we are—who we REALLY are. And then go from there. That knowing only comes from slowing down, from listening to the voice inside. Going through a stage of Winter-Wise quiet, so we can joyfully step into Spring's burst of life.🌱💫

The way back to joy can be uncomfortable as we swim upstream in a culture that reduces everything to dollars and cents, but when we find ourselves again, it's worth the struggle.

Are there areas in your life that need "reclaiming?"

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Zack, my donkey pal enjoying a sunny winter day.☀️

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Leave a comment about your journey back to joy. 💜✨

Happy Spring,

Andrea