Crafting is what's bringing me joy right now (why I am letting softness lead the way in 2024)

Y’all, I’m embracing softness.

And softness for me right now is found in crafting. One of the most exciting moments of December (besides getting engaged) was perusing Michaels. I made a point of going down every single aisle to investigate all of the materials, and let my mind run wild with ideas.

I really loved a good art project as a kid. I still remember this one summer when we made these beaded shirts at a fine arts camp I attended. We tie-dyed cut the bottoms and sleeves into strips to attach pony beads to them. My beads changed colors in the sun(!). We all wore our masterpieces to camp the next day, clinking and clanking around campus. The whole experience was enchanting. There’s something so satisfying to me about dreaming something and then making it a tangible reality. Crafting continuously connects me back to this magic.

For the past few weeks, my fingers have been busy knitting, beading, and applying little bows and rosettes to shirts. I have sketches of future pieces I intend to create, and my “craft corner” aka, half of our couch, is cluttered in half-finished projects.

I’ve always been a bit of a busy-body, and as I get older (and have learned about my human design (highly recommend checking yours out here)), I understand how crucial it is for me to be in motion. Softness for me, comes from fluid movement. Executing ideas. Feeling alive in my body. This all reminds me of my humanness. I’ve been tapping in each morning to listen to what I need, and taking action on what comes forward. Yesterday I took a wandering walk to the chocolate factory for a hot chocolate chai and the best cookie, and picked up a dried hydrangea cluster along the way. The day before that, I tuned into a Gaga class, moving my body in wacky ways. Words can’t describe how ecstatic my body felt when at the end of class a familiar (and favorite) song came on. I felt alive. I felt fluid. And all of this allows for more inspiration to arrive. It also provides me with so much clarity and direction.

2024 energy feels very different to last year’s—even only two weeks in. There’s a certain pulse, an undulating, disorganized rhythm that seems to be rising to the earth’s surface. And the way it is coming through for me is not in a way that I’m used to experiencing. So far, the only thing that feels clear is to play more. Allow for organic uses of time. Rest. Follow whims. I feel like Alice eating the cakes and drinking the drinks and not knowing what will happen next, but instead of obsessing over which to eat or drink first, I am approaching it all with openness. What I’m being rewarded with is that the more I allow myself to go with the flow of these fancies and explore all edges of my needs, I am rewarded with more expansiveness in my work.

In the past few weeks I’ve felt productive—pumping out freelance writing pitches (a thing I’ve felt afraid to do for a very long time), I’ve gotten clearer on how I’d like to present MOJALVO, and I am putting together a new (exciting!) business idea. By allowing my body to drop into softness and into creativity, more and more is arriving, effortlessly.

If you remember, boundless is the word I’ve decided to work with this year, and so far, I think I’ve chosen well. Boundless is the ability to exist in the expansiveness. It’s knowing that by allowing for more play and less rigidity I might invite more clarity in around things that felt hard. To be honest, I’ve never loved rigidity, and trying to squeeze myself into a daily routine has never quite stuck for me. What the past few weeks have showed me is how much play and softness and crafting can lead to more clarity.

So, I’m really excited to sink deeper into this formlessness. Continuing to do whatever calls to me and pursue projects that bring me a feeling of joy. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

As 2024 settles in for you, what are you feeling energized by? Are you also feeling this softness? I’d love to hear how you are.

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