Is for letting go and moving on…
You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles. — C. JoyBell C.
For a good bit of last month, I spent time reminding myself about all I learned in my Year of Release. It was a good thing to revisit… and I thought I’d share a bit of Ankle Weight Free Kat.
Way back in January, I began the 100 Day stitching project and somewhere around day 45 I hit a wall and rather than giving myself grace to move on. I began adding Guilt Reminder’s to my weekly calendar. Those guilt reminders to catch up X number of pages did not spur creativity to catch up… rather they were an ugly reminder of how easy it is to bully oneself. And yet, I continued to write a reminder in my planner until mid-April… in the midst of revisiting all I learned with Release.
Forrest… Trees… my name is Kat.
I need to tweak the cover page and make an “end page” but I plan on finishing this abridged book this week. But I feel very good about moving ahead and wish I would have given myself the grace to do that from the beginning. Lesson learned… hopefully!
I also, very briefly, contemplated stepping back from my daily stitching. I did not take it with me when we headed to Erie last week… and I missed it. But the break was a good thing… it reinvigorated me in many ways – even for stitching! I have caught up the end of April days while doing the current May days and that worked out really nicely!
The other things that I have stepped away from are Goodreads and Audible. Now, I was never a regular Audible subscriber… but I was really good at dipping in and out (especially if there was a “come back” deal!) But Goodreads was like a religion for me… so stepping away from Goodreads was a bit of a challenge. I started in January… half-heartedly. I did not set a “reading goal” again this year and I was surprised how frequently the app reminded me that I did not do that. It was so irritating that it actually helped me leave faster than I intended. And last week, I removed all traces of Goodreads from this space. I am happy to say… this was a very good thing!
But!! That does not mean I am without any sort of way to track the books I have read… I do! I write notes about the books I am reading in a journal and I also keep track in TheStoryGraph. I mentioned TheStoryGraph here before, but I wanted to update you all on things I have discovered in using it regularly! Of course, there is an app for the phone (both iPhone and Android) and there is an app for my Mac mini as well (yay for having a desktop version!) One of the things I really like is how I can look back at the books I read for the month. There is a monthly review that is dynamic and would suit many needs. It can be simple (like just page covers) to more data intensive… and it is so simple to use. It also does book reviews better, imo, than Goodreads did. It has a better rating system and it offers you options with quick review categories that you can check. The only draw back is that it is a bit trickier to link to link to your review, so if you are leaving reviews with Netgalley, for instance, it is a few more clicks to get to the link.
And for audio listening outside of my library, I have moved to a Libro.fm subscription. It is roughly the same price as Audible but I can select a local bookstore to support with a portion of my subscription fee. So each month, City Books gets a portion of that fee. It makes me feel good about spending money on audiobooks! I have been using the app about 3 months now and I don’t notice any significant differences between any other audiobook player. I can make a list of “favorites” I can adjust the playback speed (I like 1.3x) I can save passages all like I could on Audible. It just feels better not to be adding more dollars to a billionaire’s pocket and Libro.fm is an employee owned company.
I will be back on Wednesday!
This is all very interesting to me! You are the boss of your (knitting, stitching, reading, etc.) and I’m glad you decided you don’t have to stitch for 100 days or other goals that may just be dragging you down. Personally, as soon as I say, “I have to do this thing” it ceases being enjoyable. I explored Storygraph before, and I think i even imported some of my goodreads data, but I fear I’m too entrenched in goodreads to leave. I use it mostly as a place to keep track of what I’ve read (without a goal) and not much else. I’m not sure I have a good reason to transfer to storygraph (besides breaking up with Amazon). But I will definitely look into libro.fm. There is the breaking up with Amazon, and the lecture that I got from the Audible cust. service rep the last time I tried to return a book really pissed me off. I always check Libby and hoopla first, but I still find that I need to fill in with purchasing books. Enjoy your freedom from ankle weights!
I’m glad you did some good thinking about your stitching. For me, making something I enjoy into something I “have” to do takes the fun out of it, so I’m all for stitching when and if you feel like it. I’m also on StoryGraph, though I’m still on Goodreads, too, and I find it hard to leave completely because I read so much on my Kindle app and it connects to Goodreads. But I do like all the graphs and charts and stats I get on SG!
It is SO hard, but it also feels SO good to let things go! Am I right? Stitching, reading, knitting – all are things intended to bring joy and happiness. Once we “insist” on things, they lose their purpose (at least that’s what I think). I’ve been keeping track of what I read in a journal book for years. I don’t “do” Goodreads. I do have an Audible account which I am attempting to end (first I need to use up my credits!). It’s a journey for sure. I sure like the idea of being ankle weight free!! Go You!
I think it’s really important to know when it’s time to let go of something. I’m contemplating a HUGE letting go right now and, while I don’t have to officially decide until early net year, it feels right to think about it seriously now. I tried StoryGraph and didn’t like it but I recently discovered the Reading Journey app and that I do love. I’m a data geek and I like that I can use it to track how much I read each day, it gives me a calendar with book covers that I can look back at, it syncs with GoodReads, and it has a rating system that allows for whole stars and fractions of stars, too.
since I’ve been unwell (but I’m feeling much better!) I have let a lot of things go because of extreme fatigue. Now that I’m on the upward climb I’m trying my best to decide what to let back in and what stays out of my life.
Forest… trees… you made me laugh with that one! And YAY for you!!
Some things work brilliantly for ages then they don’t. Well done on letting them go .. they served their purpose and now “Away” they go.