January is a different kind of month for us. We call it our sabbath month, as we take it a little slower, making space to recharge after the full holiday season and think creatively about the days to come.
When I don’t intentionally make this space for our team, we can easily get swept up with the constant push that comes with retail — you know the voices > the "buy more!," "sales upon sales," and "you just need this" pitches, etc. As we seek to be a slow fashion brand, this means there are times we close, stop, don’t have new stuff, post less, and just need to be. I want our way of doing business to be sustainable and healthy for all involved. Perhaps, we have shopped enough. Here is to a month of settling in and enjoying what we already own.
For me, giving from a healthy place requires slowing down. I love how Richard Rohr once said it — let your activism come from your joy, not your guilt or your anger. Those things may work to get you started but they certainly cannot sustain in a healthy direction. I can so easily fall into the age-old hustle for worth and need to prove myself by all I accomplish — activism fueled more by my need to add value or silence my own guilt than truly caring for those I want to serve. I want to give from a place of love and in order to do this, I am going to need to slow down sometimes.
Taking one month a little more slowly doesn't guarantee we work from love, but it certainly helps to set the tone. A tone that honors our limits, encourages us to to deal with the parts of us that need healing, and invites us to be more intentional about what we take in. Taking time to slow down is not easy, especially in our culture. It has to be intentional and looks differently for each of us. For me, it means posting a lot less, taking a break on opening the Studio on the weekends, reading more, praying more, actually feeling my feelings (which is always super fun), longer walks, and afternoon lattes while I check in with our artisans and plan the new year.
Thanks to a slower start, we begin the year from a little more centered place instead of frantically trying to catch up and though there are of course, sacrifices, and days I just want to get going, I know taking it a little slower in January helps me live a little more connected to the stories in a healthy way.