Notes on December
I love December.
Not only because of warmer days and lighter mornings, not only because of mango sticky rice and pouring espresso over ice cream and all the shops and houses with the most perfectly kitsch decorations, all snowflakes and reindeer melting in the summer heat, but because the whole month almost kinda sorta feels like the day or two before going on a big holiday.
You can indulge the frenetic part of that for sure, worry about flight delays and passports and how many pairs of shoes you really need. Or you can indulge the fun part. You can indulge the part that is a little more like “I’m on holidays! It’s all good!” I don’t know. I feel like we could all do with a touch more of that.
We’ve all existed in a culture screaming the warnings of ‘letting things slip’ over the holiday period and sure, consuming only alcohol and fruit cake for a month is probably not a great idea but - did you ever go on holiday, care a little less about all the rules and then… feel even better? Me too. Interesting, no?
The theme for December in the studio is Deep Rest, and I realised today, how full circle this really is.
A back story:
In December 2018 (I had to search my inbox for this because I am *not* great at dates) I ran a free little (anti)challenge called seven days of rest. It was exactly what it sounds like: seven days of emails with rest postures and tips and talking on IG stories and (terrible) youtube videos and even a (very tiny) facebook group. I can’t remember how many people joined, it definitely wasn’t a lot, but I was SO excited and happy more than just my mum and I were down for the ride.
Soon after that, I decided to create a small series of online workshops around different themes, including a full length restorative class (that I had my friend demonstrate and filmed in my cute Newtown bedroom loft), journalling prompts, playlists and a suggested list of favourites to go along with the class. Sound familiar? Yep. It really was the beginning of The Daily Rest Studio, but it didn’t last for long, only a few people ever joined (I know some of you are still here, I hope you know how grateful I am!!!) and after trying for many months, it just didn’t work. I told myself I wasn’t cut out for the online life, and taught the workshops in person instead. I felt like a failure for a heartbeat or as long as it took, then peeled myself out of any embarrassment, and threw myself at something else. Nothing new there.
It makes me giggle now, realising how things work out.
I knew at the beginning of last month, we just had to end the year with the theme of Deep Rest. But still, a tiny voice deep in the recesses of somewhere was like, mmmm maybe that isn’t enough though? Doesn’t everyone already know it’s a studio about Rest?
That’s the thing about Rest.
It’s not sexy. It doesn’t have any spice. It’s not the sort of thing anyone wants to order off the menu.
But the other thing? It really, really works.
It makes a difference almost impossible to comprehend. And as much as I love spice, we all know when there’s too much fire, all you do is burn.
So I’m excited.
I’m excited about the month ahead.
I’m excited about I’m on holidays! energy even though I’m not going anywhere. I’m excited about swimming in the ocean and reading novels (I’ve just started Boudica and can I say, oh my god) and cooking a lot of great food and spending quality time with family and within the studio: celebrating, sharing and practicing my bedrock, my foundation, my wildly unexpected love: deep, deep Rest.
Because if you want to live a life of passion and joy and connection and beauty and dancing manically to Drake (thank you, Spotify, for reminding me how basic I am, year after year) then sometimes, the exact medicine you need is to fully embrace your boringness, your un-sexiness, your complete and utter blandness, most days, at least for a moment or two.
With soft holiday energy,
emmie
xo