Work-life balance
staying active without expectations
Kaliko Journal is a free newsletter about natural dyeing, textiles, art practice, and life by Ania Grzeszek. This publication is divided into two sections: ”Plant Dyeing” and “Studio Practice”. You can manage your subscription by clicking “Unsubscribe” at the bottom of the email and opting IN and OUT of the sections that interest you.
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Writing this from my home office, which is a chair right next to my boyfriend’s (husband!) home office, as he zooms about programming (which is not what I need in my ear right now anyway), and as I think about work-life balance. It used to be such hype a few years back when I first started building my own business. Work-life balance. Does anyone remember what it was supposed to be…?
At the beginning of this month, I took the “Organizing your day” class by Marlee Grace. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoy their writing and I wanted to experience them as a teacher (and also, support their work). “Organizing your day” sounded more like a class on life than on business which aligns with what I needed at the moment.
Marlee’s class didn’t teach me any tricks, show new tools, or introduce time management techniques. Gosh, that was honestly great and a relief. I loved it because it gave me permission to do things the way I like doing them already. It made me feel light. Isn’t it easy to give to the narrative that we only need to change the way we do things, or actually the way we are, and things will get easier?
Maybe it’s the consumerism culture, always telling us we are not enough and we need more (tools, ideas, knowledge), or our inner critic, pushing us towards unattainable perfection. Let me tell you, things got easier after this class because I didn’t change anything. Instead, I embraced the way I do things already. Having a scrappy daily to-do list in my notebook, writing morning pages when I remember to, and sketching project ideas by hand and forgetting about them for a few years. And not working after 2-3pm—latest 4pm, which is really enough to implement everything I want to implement.
I’m not sure if anyone cares, but maybe that will give you the permission you need, too, so here’s my
Weekly outline: Mondays—newsletter and socials, Tuesdays—off (therapy day), Wednesdays—business development, Thursdays—studio projects, Fridays—studio projects, Saturdays—documenting my work, Sundays—off.
Daily outline: 10am - 1pm—Creative work; 1pm - max.4pm—admin, 4pm-6pm—personal fun.
I don’t think I ever actually stuck to the outline. It serves me as a mere structure to orient myself towards. Just like a rigid structure of a warp in weaving, which invites you to break out when you feel creative and have fun with it for as long as you need. And when you’re overwhelmed and need support, you go back to the under-over-under-over-under pattern and let it soothe your mind.
I don’t want any work-life balance, especially in a creative business. I want a life where I have fun working, don’t need to put any barriers up, and work is not in competition to life (what’s life anyway?). I made peace with the fact that my work and life are blended, I experience my life through my work and inform my work through my life. Again, nothing new, but a new realization for me. Which again frees me to finally do things I feel like doing, knowing that if it serves me, that’s all I need. All I need to do is keep active in what feels right, without expectations.
Following this knowledge, I signed up for an oil painting class at a local art school. New wonderful worlds are opening up as new paintings with no aesthetic value are being produced. Because it’s about learning not the outcome. It’s scary and I am having fun.
In the same realm, I am sending out this weekly Monday newsletter again today. This time I publish it without a plan or agenda. I just want to stay in touch. Substack helped me forge new connections in the past weeks, and that was another highlight of this month. So I send it out knowing there is a chance it will do it again. Or it won't!—but at least I stayed active in the pursuit of things I care about.
To round up this email I thought it would be amazing to extend its connection-forging abilities to all people signed up. I created a Substack Thread (pretty much a chat box). In this thread, I am asking you to introduce yourself, as short or as long as you want. Believe me when I say there are people with some amazing life stories, insights, and ideas on my subscribers’ list. And you are one of them, so give us all a chance to get to know you.
These things might spark your interest:
my latest posts:
Liz of the Dogwood Dyer is continuing her monthly subscription for dyers, I signed up last year and loved the knowledge and resources she shared for just 10$/month
my friend Rebecca just launched the Avocado Dyeing course, Rebecca is the first botanical dyer I followed and whose book I purchased, she’s a wonderful teacher so I highly recommend her
art21 videos are better than Netflix
Next week I will come back with another tutorial.
Until then, wishing you a lot of sunshine,
Ania
Your routine sounds lovely! I find there are seasons where I easily keep to a schedule and balance that works for me and seasons where I struggle with it. I’m trying to find ways to stay focused on what I want/need to be doing while also recognizing that there are times when I’m just not at my best and that’s ok
Oh, please don't put your beautiful painting in a drawer! If you don't like it then gift it to someone...it really is a wonderful painting.