"To convert something everyday and taken for granted into something we might, yes, savor" -Rob Walker

the end-of-the-month post

Hi m’dears,

I was sick for a big chunk of the end of September and beginning of October and it was a real drag. So when I felt well enough to start getting back out there into the world it was pretty thrilling. I hung out with three different dear old work friends (spend decades of your life at the same job and you’ll find that some of your closest friends are your old work friends), saw two people who I’ve known for a long time but both of whom I only started really hanging out with after I went freelance (there are actually a lot of people in my life like that, a fact I kind of adore), and spent a glorious sunny weekend afternoon with a gang of my very oldest and closest friends of all. I realize this makes it sound as if I’m saying I’m very social and popular, neither of which feels like an accurate statement at all. But, as I’ve mentioned often before, my desire for and enjoyment of others has increased exponentially in the past two years since I became self-employed. A fact I continue to find very interesting and mysterious. I used to classify myself as an absolute misanthrope, albeit a friendly one. Now I guess I’m in the process of becoming something else, but I find I don’t know what yet.

I also got vaccinated, went to a protest, saw a bunch of art, volunteered, swam, went to a movie with my husband, helped my kid with her Halloween costume, bought books at the bookstore, and you know, did my actual job. Again, I suppose this could read as “oh look at me, aren’t I cute and busy and special and important” but I know you won’t read it that way. I trust you. I trust you to understand the feeling you get when you’ve been sick for more than three weeks and you finally feel better enough to poke your head out and rejoin the land of the living and start enjoying the pleasures of everyday life, when each thing you do is a little bit hard, but also a joy. Oh look! Lily King has a new novel! Oh look, the green-and-black wig of some unknown-to-you-but-well-known-to-the-teenager anime character! Oh look, Kaiser is actually giving out covid vaccines as normal and not listening to those nuts in the government! Oh look, the beauty of waiting for a pal facing the great big windows at Greens restaurant! Everywhere I turned I felt lucky. Of course, I also felt exhausted. That brief recuperatory period has its own special magic — everything feels special and you also wipe out very quickly — so each experience sits in its own little bubble: a gem, a prize in the cereal box.

It could be argued that all of the big questions — What kind of person are you in the process of becoming? What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? — could best be investigated in the two-to-three week period after you get over a bout of something nasty requiring antibiotics. But of course, you don’t have the energy for all that, just then. You’re just about able to see your friends and get back to work and your exercise routines and catch up on the tasks, both necessary and pleasurable, you’ve been missing out on. The rest will have to wait for another day, another season.

I Just Keep Talking

I’m on the podcast Electric Ideas talking with host Whitney Baker about busyness, overwhelm, time-management, and some of the other ideas from my book How Time is On Your Side. You can find it on whatever pod-catcher you usually use.

I also made a guest appearance over on Lisa Anderson Shaffer’s Substack MUSE. I was excited to take part in her These Three Things feature where she asks all sorts of interesting folks to share “3 lessons that have shaped their creative lives.” The things I shared are not only deeply important to me, I happen to think they’re fun to read.

These Three Things with Bridget Watson Payne

Link Pack

And here are a few more goodies:

• Speaking of podcasts, I’ve gotten into a new-to-me one lately, What Went Wrong, which tells the behind-the-scenes stories of disastrous movie productions—both successes and flops. I don’t listen to a ton of podcasts, but the majority of ones I do listen to are movie podcasts of one kind or another. And this one is totally compelling.

• Savor of the Month. One of the things Rob Walker does in his newsletter The Art of Noticing is a monthly feature where he provides his readers with “one specific thing to look out for, pay attention to, appreciate” that month. Obviously this is right up my alley. Better yet, October’s theme was “Outliers…defined as you wish: from a flower growing where it shouldn’t, to something that quietly stands out because it’s in the ‘wrong’ place” which, those of you who’ve been reading for a while will know, is so up my alley as to be almost laughable. The post also includes a list of previous month’s themes that could be useful for prompting all kinds of creative or observational projects.

• I’ve been taking a ton of fashion inspiration lately from Dee Dee Lozano of the Instagram account Textile Mixologist. This woman’s ability to combine and layer colors and patterns knocks my socks off and has helped me come up with all kinds of new ways to combine existing garments in my closet (two years later, I feel like I’m still figuring out how the non-office-worker version of myself dresses, and these photos are helping).

  

  Dee Dee Lozano, Textile Mixologist

Mix Tape

I’d recommend this one for a ride in the car (preferably a fun weekend drive, though it could work for your commute too). But honestly whatever you’re doing just crank it up and rock out. It’s that good.

xo

b