Breaking the chain

It was last Sunday, December 28th, when I realized another Friday had come and gone. And then I realized, after 37 newsletters - never missing a 9 am send - I broke the chain.

I was still relishing in the opportunity we had to gather with some of our chosen family and eat a meal from foods grown here on the Front Range. 5 busy humans, taking advantage of the nationwide moment to pause, relax, and share joy. In fact, we were sharing stories with friends until almost 3 am!

Cooking and sharing in meals with friends and family, spilling stories about love, adventure, grief, or perhaps contemplating 3I-Atlas, feels like it touches on something ancestral. And not just because I come from a long line of storytellers (you should have heard the room at the ol’ family gatherings), but because humans have been gathering around the hearth to share in bounty, sharing knowledge, stories, and insights for an incredible amount of time. It’s what shaped culture, myth, religion, and celebration. It’s what formed language and expanded our minds, connecting our ability to access imagination with the dexterity to control our breath and vocal cords with enough precision that others might make meaning from these sounds. It’s really mindblowing to me how much stories shape our perception. The stories we tell each other, and the stories we tell ourselves. Crazy stuff like “I can’t slow down now.”

I want to tell this story: it’s a gift to give our full presence to the people and moments in front of us, even at the sake of something else. The to-do list never ends for an entrepreneur most humans, and we know that consistency is the secret ingredient to most things. So let’s offer ourselves a permission slip to let some things seep through the cracks…

Sunday morning, we drove out to Barr Lake State Park, one of the best places in Colorado to see Bald Eagles and other raptors. Delighted to find snow, and savoring the 17 degrees and “white water,” we were greeted by a Red Tailed Hawk. We saw 3 bald eagles, a group of 3 red-tailed hawks, and on our way out, a Golden Eagle!

While not writing a newsletter last week, I did start a new Illustration course to learn new ways to add shading and textures to my designs. I was so inspired by seeing the Golden Eagle soaring that I made a new illustration to satisfy my class assignment:

While this design has no intention to be printed on apparel, the techniques I’m learning here most certainly will show up in my new works. The dance between drawing and learning software is super interesting to me! Apart from the typical end-of-year things a business must do, I continue to pour more and more into my designs as winter settles in.

PS Happy New Year - at least according to the Gregorian Calendar. ;-) However you honor this step into a new calendar year, I hope your year is full of new stories to experience and share, and that you remember to gift your full presence in community. I have big dreams for Earth Medicine Apparel Co., and look forward to sharing my own stories from this crazy planet we share.

Feeling inspired,

Founder, CEO