I miss writing. I miss having a place to order my thoughts, to share them with others, to connect over ideas. I stopped because I felt like I didn’t know what to say/didn’t have anything to say, the perfectionist in me not wanting to clutter up inboxes unless it was *really important*.
What I forgot is that writing is as much for me, the writer, as it is for the reader. I make sense of the world through structuring sentences and letting each new word sooth the jumbled mess of thoughts in my head.
It was in fact this quote from bell hooks, shared around after she passed away a few weeks ago that gave me permission to return to writing. Reminding me of the importance of all our voices in our shared narrative. It took the pressure off a little, allowing me to focus just on the writing, less so on what I’m trying to achieve or what the audience might want. I just need to write.
‘In French, “cultiver son jardin intérieur” means to tend to your internal garden — to take care of your mind.’
The idea of cultivating my own Digital Garden also spoke to me. I'm drowning in information, opinions, ideas, and content. I’m sure like many of you, I’m on social media, read books, blogs, listen to podcasts, meet interesting people, watch shows, go to events and more. This is my day to day existence. What I’m less good at, is processing and learning from this endless stream. Again I’m drawn to writing regularly again to encourage better ways to consolidate what I’m consuming and as Patty Mou says, have ‘better digital poops’.
And finally, another pull back to writing, writing, as Byrne puts it, is networking for introverts. The last two years, as we’ve hunkered down in our homes and disconnected from much of the physical world, I have to admit, I have thrived in some ways. I am well rested, have nurtured good health and wellbeing routines, eaten well, been more productive, more connected with my local community and have felt myself become more rooted in my physical environment. I’ve come back into alignment with my introverted self.
What I miss though, is the joy of building and growing relationships, finding my people, the spark of connection over shared interests. As life has become mediated through screens and video platforms, I found that the richness of many of my relationships has suffered. I love meeting new people, immersing myself in a community of people doing exceptional things and learning from them. However, it is exhausting and I’ve never been able to find the right balance of doing this in person and carving out enough time alone to recoup.
Perhaps, then, writing is a way to reach out to people, find those like minds, have conversations and work together in a more sustainable way.
So, that’s why I’m back to writing The List:
To write for writing’s sake
The cultivate a digital garden of sorts
To connect and build community digitally
I make almost no promises about what this writing will look like, the topics I’ll explore, the frequency, what I want from you dear reader. All I promise is that I will write.
What I’m currently spending my time on:
Running Impactful. Max, Al and I are building and growing Impactful. An impact strategy agency working with ambitious organisations who want to put their social and environmental impact at the heart of everything that they do. Can’t wait to talk more about some of the work we’re doing here and rollercoaster that is my first venture!
My key role/project with Impactful for the past 5 months has been as Interim Head of Global Programmes as Assembly Global, a multinational performance marketing agency. Here we’re working towards a B Corp certification, embedding The Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for impact and scaling impact across their global business as they grow as a business.
Zebras Unite London Chapter Co-lead. Zebras Unite is a founder-led, cooperatively owned movement creating the culture, capital & community for the next economy. Along with my 4 other co-leads we manage the growing, active London community. Come join us!
Visitor Host at The Southbank Centre. One of my great joys, working at this iconic venue across the site during the eclectic and diverse programming on evenings and weekends.
Being an auntie for the first time. Little nephew Musa was born in May and I cannot get enough time with him!
How I’m kicking off my year:
The end of 2021 was blur. I was on autopilot/survival mode in many ways, perhaps the pandemic’s stresses finally taking its full toll. I needed a break and a reset. I’ve started the year is pretty classic ‘new year, new me’ fashion, lets see how progress go with these:
Taking stock and planning ahead. Reflecting Forward Notion Template (Thank you Jonny Miller for this gift of a template!)
The Year Compass. One I’ve used for the past couple of years to make tangible, actionable, schedulable commitments for the year ahead
A deeeep clean of my flat. SO satisfying. Pulling everything out of every cupboard in every room and Marie Kondoing it all. The kitchen (fridge, freezer, spice cupboard etc.) was especially therapeutic. Creating space, decluttering, giving everything a place. As my space cleared, so did some deep crevasses of my mind.
Move 30 day yoga challenge from Yoga with Adriene.
#100daysofnocode Challenge built by fellow Year Here Alumni Max Haining. I can’t code and probably won’t learn much more than the basics, but with dozens of new tools, you don’t have to. Loving this crafted email course on the best no code tools out there and what you can do with them.
Google photo deep clean. Removing the 90% of junk images from google photos, so I have a feed of pure memories and good times, adding my favs to my Google Nest Hub display, which scrolls through my photos and brings me infinite amounts of joy. I’ve been searching for a way to display large quantities of photos without printing tons of them for ages and the Nest Hub is perfect. Top 5 purchases of 2021. So good I bought one for my mum too.
Last thoughts/requests
I want to revamp my CV/how I talk about what I do. I’ve seen fancy ones on websites/canva PDFs, does anyone have any good templates/examples/processes to follow?
Jonny Sun’s writing gets me every time. As a ZZ plant owner and someone prone to thinking that I’m fine and ‘surviving’, this on ‘The ability to tolerate neglect’ made me stop and think.
I completed some Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging training with The Southbank Centre a couple of weeks ago. The entire session was excellent, but I’ve been reflecting on one resource in particular that was shared. Written in the 1980s, and a staple text for understanding privilege/advantage, Peggy Mcintosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack feels every bit as relevant today as it likely was when it was first written 30 years ago. What has stuck with me, is the specificity of the list of privileges/advantages she notes she is afforded and how powerful it is to take the time to note them down. I’ve been thinking about my own privileges of education, nationality, class and lack of physical/mental disability and making a note of them. I’d be curious to know if you’ve ever engaged in similar exercise. If so, what next? How do you practically demonstrate allyship in the world?
On that point my dearest friend Sabah has a book coming out this month which talks specifically about Supporting Trans People of Colour. This is at the top of my reading list this year.
Would love to hear what you’re up to right now and what 2022 has in store for you! Drop me a note if you’re reading this, lets connect!
Until next time, R x