115. Words aren't flowing today.
7 photos and 7 short texts of what I've been up to and loving.
Words really aren’t flowing today and I can’t seem to string sentences together as I usually can. I’ve written a few drafts and I’ve structured my writing out on paper but all I can feel is resistance. I have a fight going on between two versions of myself: One wants to write and push through no matter what while the other one believes that I should allow myself to adapt the plan and enjoy myself.
My therapist always says that my idea of keeping my promises is important but that I should remember to be flexible and understand that I’m not a failure for having to change the plan. I’m sitting here, writing this newsletter, facing the blank page and filling it with words, noticing that I’m not feeling it and that my inicial idea doesn’t feel right; so I didn’t fail, I achieved to adapt and do what felt right.
I’ve decided to speak with images today and write short format, which is what feels right.
We bought our first ever real Christmas tree and named it Sylvester. We filled it with our second hand ornaments and it brings me so much joy. We bought one with roots because we want to plant ours in our garden once the New Year is over.
We get a lot of rain and grey skies here so I’ve really been appreciating skies like these and sunny days. I truly believe that embracing the colder and darker months is important and a part of life, but sunny days really do hit differently. They give me a boost to push through and know that it won’t be dark forever
I’ve been in a serious book slump since September and books are a big part of my life. They help me feel grounded, stay off my phone, feel motivated, grow as a writer, disconnect and they bring me deep joy in general. I’ve been adapting to my new salary and expenses and I decided to stop buying physical books and read on my iPad and iPhone to save money. At first it was fine, I flew through The Happening by Annie Ernaux but then everything just got stuck. With this auto-imposed book ban I felt limited and like I wasn’t enjoying the experience so I haven’t been reading. That’s led me to spend way too much time on my phone and read loads of newsletters. The latter has been great, but I’ve been missing a big part of myself. Life is too short to miss out on what makes you happy so I decided to buy a book on Vinted and after this long period of suffering regarding books, I can’t say how great it feels to have my mojo back. I’m currently reading The Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and I’m absolutely loving it.
Second hand shopping is a big thing here in France and my boyfriend and I love it so much, we’ve launched a project called Dimanche where we sell second hand items we find. My best find this week has been this green hat. I feel warm when I wear it and I feel so happy. My boyfriend calls me “Princess Pea” when I wear it and that makes me even happier. It cost 1 euro and it’s my favourite colour. The sunglasses I’m wearing in the photo were also a secondhand find and they also make me feel cool and cute.
We’ve been spending most of our time in the kitchen/living room now that it’s gotten a lot colder because we have the wood burner and instead of heating the whole house with the electric heaters, we make the most of the firewood and free heat. When 9 pm hits we’re out like a light on the sofa and we’ve both been loving falling asleep on the sofa before going to bed with our hot water bottles. Our family is here visiting so we got to nap with little Mobi (the white furry ball) and Mamá and Tato had some fun taking photos of us.
As I mentioned above, second hand shopping is our thing and our project called Dimanche brings us so much joy. We’ve been forcing ourselves out of the house on cold rainy days because it can be easy to want to stay indoors on the sofa and so we’ve been discovering loads of tiny village charity shops. We’ve found some real gems and we upload new objects every Sunday. It’s really exciting to see people buying things and send us photos using them.
*Important reminder: If you too feel like stuff isn’t moving as it usually does, take a step back, allow it to just be and give it some time. It will find its way back to you when the time’s right.
STUFF I WANT TO SHARE ↓
WellClub online community.
Musgo jewellery made in Spain.
Flama ceramics store + classes in Barcelona.
Dimanche Objects online Vinted store.
Some of my favourite newsletters on Substack written by women.
POMELO Book Club’s December read is Carcoma by Layla Martínez, DM me on Instagram if you’d like to join us.
pagesbymaria is my latest fav Instagram account regarding books.
I really like this format of the newsletter too 🫂🩵 And also the stuff you want to share at the end, I really like that ✨🌀
Emily thank you so much for the mention!! This was a lovely post, too. I love the photos and your sweet lil xmas tree 💕🌱