Slow down.
I hope this email finds you resting.
This past week was quite the whirlwind with Christmas gift shopping and repairs at home. I felt exhausted, frustrated and irritable through it all. I was more susceptible to people’s energy and felt a deep sadness. It probably felt more profound because I was coming off a high from the other week. Then it hit me, it’s the week before my period — damn those hormones hit me hard this month. So last night as I was doing a brain dump for this week I spelled out in upper case “SLOW DOWN, IT’S PERIOD WEEK.” To be clear this isn’t a rescission of putting myself out there, I’m just, you know, listening to my body, it’s an often used cliché that holds plenty truth, I’m not being sassy. People who get periods understand.
In honor of taking it slow, I’m going to do something different today and share some recommendations from things I listened to, watched or read last week.
I listened to this episode of Still Processing twice. The goal is to not have to talk about Kanye. I don’t want to talk about him because I really like his music & I’m not sure I can give it up yet. I mostly don’t want to talk about him with people who refuse to acknowledge how harmful his rhetoric and ideas are, and maybe by listening to his music I’m refusing to do that too? I just want people to allow themselves to exist in gray areas when it comes to their faves. You can be angry with an artist whose art you love, you can disagree with their beliefs and ways, you can mourn the artist you fell in love with as a kid growing up. This might sound like a “separate the art from the artist” ideology, it’s not. God, this is becoming its own newsletter. I’ll stop and let you listen to it now.
This episode of Everybody Has A Secret was heavy, dealing with grief and the myriad of emotions a person can feel along with it. I’d recommend the other episodes as well, they are relatively lighter themes.
This house, the landscape, the material choice. It’s been living rent free in my head.
Earlier today I was writing in my journal how sometimes I catch myself controlling my body because I imagine what if it was being observed, seen — for example, you sigh and you realize how you’d sucked in your belly. This article isn’t about the body but about how we feel like we need to document & share online and even when we’re not we still hold ourselves to the same standards of performing.
I’m still figuring out a lot with the newsletter, such as what time it goes out. I’m settled on Mondays but I’d like to know what time you’d like to receive it. I thought 9am works because you can start your work day with it, then I thought maybe coming in at 1pm is like a little midday snack? I suppose a 4pm blast would feel like an opener for happy hour? Let me know on the poll, and if you’d like to elaborate on why feel free to comment. Just in case, this is EAT lol.
Thank you for reading; happy Jamhuri Day. I hope you’re enjoying your long weekend.
If you enjoyed this, please share with a friend.
Xx Wangu
Great read as always, feels like we are reading your journal without actually reading it. Thank you for this.
Such a good read. I've been in a similar space/ context so the resonance is high. Definitely checking out the podcast episodes and article. Keep it up:)