Thoughts on being a Maker and Considering 2025

We are full on into fall at this point, even though is is just the start of September. The leaves are starting to change in my neck of the woods, and the pull to cozy sweaters and hot coffee instead of cold brew are tapping at my window. With the fall comes the launch of most 2025 planners, and with the launch of those planners comes thinking ahead to the new year.

It seems early to me this year.

There is always a pull for me to look ahead. I am a planner, so having events and tasks on the schedule works well for me. But, typically at this time, I am still thinking about my current year’s goals and plans, and not yet thinking ahead to the new year. However, this year is different.

I started to get some ideas about next year back in July. What? How can that be? How can you plan so far in advance? Well, part of the issue for me is that, at that precise moment, I knew how much time I had to work on goals, and other aspects of my life, through the end of the year. What does that mean? Well, the easy answer, put it on a list to deal with later. But, at least for me, once I start my lists, I want to also start considering them.

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Part of the reason is because I have implemented a pretty strict system of dealing with all of the mental clutter with my master to-do list notebook and the brain dump journal. However, knowing that I don’t have time to be working on these new ideas and projects also means I don’t want to waste time right now thinking about them.

What keeps pressing on my brain?

The very short answer is being a maker. Being a creative. Seems silly, right? Why would being a maker cause you to start thinking ahead so much? Aren’t creatives typically a little more in the moment? Unfortunately, that is not me. I try to live in the moment as much as possible, but I am also always looking to the next thing as well.

This year, my word of the year is simplify, and that has actually been a great word for me this year. I didn’t know how much I needed to simplify my systems and all of the things in my home until about May when I got shingles for the second time. But, it solidified my desire to slow down more.

Once I started to slow down, I started to think more about what is down the line. Again, I understand how much time I have left in 2024 to work on the goals that I set at the beginning of the year. Just because I have ideas for 2025 doesn’t mean that I am going to drop them in favor of new. Now, if you also have ideas, but want to start on them now, nothing is stopping you. In fact, if you are looking for permission, I give it to you fully. But, for myself, I know that I need to continue to focus on simplify through the end of the year, so that in 2025 I can focus more on my creative spirit.

The Create Rhythm

If you have been following along with my goals this year, you will know that one of my goals is to create a rhythm of renewal. What I have been using as a guide for that particular goal is the book Rhythms of Renewal by Rebecca Lyons. The fourth section of this book is all about creating a “Create” rhythm. That, mixed with some of my random thoughts over the past few months, is the main reason I have been considering my maker status, and being a creative.

I have been feeling the pull for many months now to get back to creating. Yes, I am still creating content for YouTube, but my creative energy used to be much more diverse. I had a daily writing habit (which the 1500+ blog posts here demonstrate), I was knitting or sewing all the time, I was doodling and journaling. But, at some point I stopped.

What changed?

Honestly, it was so much change, that I fell out of my routines. Instead of the normal rhythms and routines that I had created and implemented throughout my life when we lived in our old house, there was a need for all new rhythms and routines. But, my kids were older, I was at a completely different life stage, my house was different, and there was chaos in the world. I didn’t know where to start.

I can look at 2020 and see that was a changing year for me, it was for everyone I’m sure! And over the past several years I have been working on my systems, on my rhythms, on making my house a home, and figuring out how to parent teenagers. There was a life shift, and I hadn’t really considered that.

Where does that leave us?

Well, the main purpose of this post is for me to process some of my feelings, some of what I have been thinking about, and thinking ahead just a bit. While I have been simplifying my life this year, simplifying my systems, I have also felt the pull to less busy. That makes sense, right? Busyness and simplify do not go together. I have started to take some steps in that direction. I am scheduling more white space in my day. With that white space comes a bit of guilt. So, I am working on NOT feeling guilt about taking time for myself.

One of the big takeaways I have had this year is that I thrive on productivity. I love to be productive. Projects make me happy. However, not everything I do has to be productive. That is a lesson I am still working on.

So, going forward, my hope is to create more. To lean into the Create Rhythm. To focus on that these last few months. Will I succeed? Yes, I believe I will. Sitting down to write this post helped. It gave me a sense of accomplishment. Why? Because I took the time to create first thing in the morning.

31 Days

I do enjoy writing. A lot. I enjoy writing a lot. And because of that, I want to be back in this space more. I started writing publicly in 2001 on my first blog. There was a second blog started in 2006. Finally, I settled in at Townsend House in 2011. The old days of blogging were fun. I never felt the need to worry about SEO, or keywords, or sharing all across a million different social media platforms. Instead, I wrote for community, and to share my creative voice. I want to get back to that.

My plan, at the moment, is to get back to writing with the write 31 days project. This is a project that I participated in every year from 2012-2019. I tried to get back to it in 2022 and only made it halfway through the month. Will I be able to write every day in the month of October on one particular topic? I’m not sure. But, my hope is to at least come here and write every day. If I can do that, then it will be a success.

This isn’t about blogging as a business, this is about blogging as a creative outlet and for community.

I am really excited! It seems a bit silly, I know, to be excited about writing every day on a yet-to-be-decided-on topic. But! But, it is kind of exciting to think about how my creative energy flowed back in the day.

Have you had thoughts about next year? Do you feel like something is missing from your life right now? What is stopping you from going after that thing again?