Dear friends & colleagues, dear faraway nearby,
How has this month been treating you? I had the pleasure and challenge to participate in some long awaited projects and am learning how to travel again under new circumstances with a baby. So this month’s letter is a sweet check-in with some thoughts & learnings straight from my notebook from a crowded train compartment:
Business
A reminder: Don’t make important decisions when you’re tired, exhausted or unwell, especially when these decisions are about adding workload instead of providing some ease. Most of the time the decisions we make under these circumstances don’t hold up against the test of time.
Feeling uninspired is often caused by a lack of rest
When we talk about success we mostly have a partial picture in mind about career success but somehow we think career success equals a good life. Most people understand that success has more layers to it and it’s worth it to consider what wealth beyond the accumulation of money looks like to you: What causes do you support? Are you hoarding all the resources or do you care about redistribution? What legacy are you working towards?
What does abundance mean to you? In many of the conversations I’ve been having the past weeks we talked a lot about abundance and it is so interesting to see what it means to different people. Many define abundance as financial wealth but when I ask what wealth looks like people usually don’t no and answer something like “enough money” but what does enough look like in numbers? Our personal level of enoughness looks very different but if we just strive for more instead of looking into concrete numbers and milestones of stability we are not working towards abundance but in fight-or-flight state battling our scarcity demons and our decisions will look very different.
Anything—projects, people, promises—that compromise your sense of integrity are too expensive and will never bring the reward you hope for.
Life
A question that puts always things into perspective: How can I make this easier for now?
Another question that has been serving me well: What phase are you currently in? And what attention does this phase require?
I started to read “This Is How We Survive: Revolutionary Mothering, War, and Exile in the 21st Century” by Mai'a Williams and am still thinking about her encounter with a community leader in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. She asked the woman about her hope for her community and she replied: “I want a moral liberation for my communities. ‘What does ‘moral liberation’ mean?’ I asked. She said it was a society that would reward her sons for working towards the good of the community, because right now they were rewarded for destroying the society.”
It honestly puzzles me how trains are be part of public transport and yet accessing them when you're not able to climb stairs makes it really difficult to rely on that transportation.
What have been your summer learnings or thoughts. Hit reply or leave a comment below.
Recommendations
Reading
Hilma af Klint Inspires an Artist to Take a Closer Look
This is another edition for the art as labor chronicles Artists Should Never Take on a Commission Without a Contract
If you haven’t already you all should read this exquisite interview about Beyoncé's Evolution.
Swirling Images of the Cosmos, as Seen From Earth
What Happened to the Hagia Sophia Is a Terrible Shame
Erik Hoel wrote in his newsletter about why Writing for outlets isn't worth it anymore and why so many writer are trying new models.
A life of leisure was once the aspiration of the upper class. But now, bragging about busyness is how people indicate their status. Could a pandemic change the way busyness is glorified?
A group of artists in Detroit is developing a “Habibi Futurism.”
The only attention these peeps should get Targeting racist trolls by putting their comments on billboards
What paying subscribers got this month
I started the first new format for paying subscribers called Inspirational Fridays, a bi-monthly format sharing resources (this month has been about writing resources), artists or the month, favorite lists and so much more
The additional museletter was about The gendered language of success.
The month of September will be all about finishing the year strong and going into a new season. There are some great bonus things in the making for paying peeps.
As always I love to hear from you. Hit reply or send some thoughts my way via anabelroro@gmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter or Instagram.
Yours,
Anabel