I’ve noticed lately a lot of us (my friends, folks on social, family members etc) are getting into what they describe as a rut, or a general unsettling feeling or even a feeling of constant frustration or general moodiness. Like something is off and we know but we don’t know what it is.
It’s an underlying feeling that isn’t quite apparent but we know it’s there. It may feel like something is missing or you may just feel drained. Every now and then it sticks it’s ugly head out as our frustrations, sadness or even loneliness and we find ourselves angry, hurt, or releasing it all on our loved ones.
After talking to a good friend who was describing exactly the things I’ve felt as well, she let out at the end of it that maybe it was all because she wasn’t paying attention to herself. She wasn’t doing the things she knew worked to make her feel balanced, happy and full of life.
She was paying attention to all the things and other people around her but not paying any attention to herself. And the frustrations and sadness were a cry from her inner self to look back inwards. Self care is super important and it looks different on everybody but I’ve found there are qualities and characteristics that we need to cultivate.
I’ve done a lot of work on my own self care routines and discovered in the process there was a lot I needed to change in my mindset and in my perspective. As I went through the tough work of changing mindsets and working to understand my relationship with myself and with the world, I found there are things we can do and habits we can instill, to further our own self care with mindset shifts.
After working through renewing my mindsets and incorporating new good habits, I found it was easy still to slip back into old mindsets where I wasn’t cultivating the new habits, mindsets and just generally not taking care of myself.
It takes self discipline but I had to turn back on the self care and attention to myself and do it diligently and with discipline. Because sometimes, self care isn’t as easy as we think. Which led me to want to create a project where others can work through renewing their minds and creating self care habits.
So I created the Cultivate Project
The Cultivate Project
I have hand lettered and illustrated 12 self care practices for the year of 2022 and I have a list of more ideas for the years after. I’ve incorporated these into not only a monthly calendar that I send out to my collectors as a free printable, but also decided to create a special bundle each month that includes a handprinted art piece, the calendar, and notebooks.
For me it is an artistic outlet that incorporates reminders to cultivate the mindsets I’ve worked so hard to change.
Each month, I focus on cultivating one new mindset. And each month I’ll share with you that mindset along with the release of the new mindset art and calendar, my thoughts about it and any books or resources I’ve come across to explore this it even further.
I began with practice but I changed the terminology to cultivate because it isn’t just a habitual creation, instead it’s a total transformation in thinking. One that takes time and isn’t just a practiced habit but a changed mindset of believing and if continually cultivated, changed living.
The cultivate project is an exploration of mindsets that we can engage in in order to further our own self care. I wanted to explore these things even after I’ve practiced them, I’ve found it takes more exploration, questioning and discovering how to use those mindset shifts in my world to get the best effect.
This is not a resolution to all our problems nor will we all resonate with the same techniques, processes and ideas. But this is a start and if you find even one of these themes to resonate with you then that makes me happy. It’s why I’m doing this.
This also is not something that replaces counseling or therapy or other methods that work. Instead this is an exploration into somewhere we can start. Things that may help us realize we need more help, or we need more attention to ourselves in a certain area, or that we may need to shift priorities. This is also an exploration of art and the integration of how art can affect a shift in our minds.
I decided to share this with others because I want to be a part of the conversation that explores mindset and self care. With the idea that self care then leads to the ability to care for others with abundance.
This first collection in this series is actually not a mindset focus but instead, a reflection on the idea that self care is important. So important, that often we aren’t able to serve others without first serving ourselves. It comes with a piece of art that says Self Care Shouldn’t Be Rare and a full 2022 calendar.
The release of this art print, calendar and bundle will only be for a 2 week window starting this Friday November 5th, and I don’t want you to miss it!
