OMG. I already wrote this month’s issue below but then I realized something. This thing here has been going for 5 years. I remember starting it Febraury 2016 while I was living in Berlin. It just dawned on me because I wanted to start changing the titles and subject line of these monthly letters to better indicate where we are in time and what they contain. So, how many of these have I sent? 60! Agh. I feel this whole anniversary thing deserves it’s own post. Maybe next month, but for now, enjoy February below!
February 2021
At some point recently I felt a shift from pandemic living to living. Obviously careful not to jinx myself, but I have begun to recognize what I have in front of me and not what I am no longer able to do.
Don't get me wrong, I long for home and trips to Switzerland, but at the same time I have found a relative rhythm this past month where the desire for those things is no longer creating tension for me like it had earlier.
One other caveat in this feeling, has been that while living in Sweden, outside of travel and working from home for a full year now, to a degree one has been able to maintain a few more "normal" rituals and habits during this time. For example, I posted on social media about a trip to the book store which triggered messages from friends reminiscing nostalgically for the last time they had been to such a shop.
The first half of the pandemic for me was defined by intense and rewarding work, while knocking off items from my professional bucket list. The second half was defined by chronic fatigue syndrome (burnout) and my own experience contract COVID19 and being off work, recovering from that almost 3 months.
So, around a full year later from when things began to change, and perhaps being a little bit helped by starting at work again this past week, I have noticed a shift for myself.
Writing this however, I do need to acknowledge that the second half of January and early February were extremely challenging. So just coming through those tough weeks, I already feel like a winner.
Jumping here a bit, but my original intention for this month was to write to you about how putting a chair in my kitchen has changed my life. LOL.
And it has, but there's more to it. The grand declaration I should be making is "a new placement of a chair has helped me realize all the other things that are adding value to my life."
So, with that, I wanted to share a few things from the bigger picture that have helped me shift a little bit these past months.
Yoga
"I don't see myself ever doing yoga online." was something I have said out loud before. My yoga practice peaked in 2015 in the year following my yoga teacher certification course. There was a time I remember a few years after I left Toronto, that it was maybe worth moving back just for Monday night class with Kathryn at Yogaspace on Ossington! Mega shout out to as she’s a reader here too. as she's a reader here. The 90 minutes that she guided us through each and every Monday were simply transformative. I miss that and the community around that space.
Fast forward, and a variety of changes, injuries and life things, I am nowhere near where I was then in terms of my practice. Recognizing that, acknowledging it, and not defining today through that lens of performance and feeling has been a process. It has taken time to change my tune (towards online yoga) and to get back on my mat in a somewhat regular fashion. Thanks today is to to YouTube practitioner, Yoga with Kassandra. Her 10 minute beginner classes have allowed me to participate and get back into it. I have not had to compare my current ability and where I am now, to the 90 minute intermediate/advanced, yoga 6 days a week Jamie of 5 years ago. That's been a humbling exercise that has taken a long time to get to.
Homewares
As someone historically defined by experiences (travel & relocation) and not things (homewares), there has also been a shift in this space. Investing in artifacts that shape my apartment or spaces within it with a different quality. I had to grab this collaboration from my favourite architecture firm and a Danish furniture maker, and also some classic and iconic Finnish candle holders from iittala and all of the sudden I am enjoying my apartment even more now.
Germanic World, Cask Ales and Newspapers
There have been some days where I didn't want to go but I think now for maybe 6 weeks, every Saturday afternoon, I have gone downtown to pick up the Financial Times Weekend edition and go to one of two places. An English pub that has Cask Ale (usually from York, UK) or to a new German restaurant in Stockholm featuring German cuisine, Austrian wine and Swiss cheeses - some of my favourite things. Food and drink can always be a portal to other places, memories, friends and so on. I think it's become even more of that for me this year.
En français s'il vous plaît!
"You speak French don't you?"
"Yes....but…."
It's the usual when in conversation it comes up whether I speak French or not. And I say yes, but give all the reasons why I am not fluent and how blah blah but give me time in a context and it's decent (which it is). But a couple weeks back while at dinner at a friend's, the above came up. I grabbed a taxi home and the driver didn't speak English, and I didn't speak Swedish. Oh no! But wait, we found the middle ground with French. He was from Tunisia, and me growing up 45 minutes from Quebec, we managed to communicate and get me home ok. That said, I should say "I managed" because he was fluent and my goodness was my French was soooo bad. I just haven't used it in a long time. So, now like many, I have found some watching the hit French series on Netflix "Call My Agent" and "Lupin" in hopes of improving my capabilities in this realm but also to connect to something different and well, it's fun to think of Paris sometimes too.
Oh, and the chair!
Imagine I sent this without explaining the chair. So after almost a year in my current flat, and like for all us, a year where we have been at home more than ever, how can we mix up routines? Anyway, I put a chair in a small space in my kitchen next to the window that I previously thought too small for such a thing. And well, it works and I have just been hanging out there, morning coffee, reading, a glass of wine in the evening, podcasting, sitting, whatever! Sounds all so basic, but it's been a game changer, especially in an apartment where there's a bed, couch, table and that's it.
Just such a lovely difference maker it has been, along with the other things too of course.
Some pictures below to bring some of the above to life.
Keep well.
Jamie
Connect with me on Linkedin; My Other Newsletter; Old Blog Posts (stay tuned - I’ll be updating website soon); Twitter; IG (personal) or (place x architecture) and as for the latter, it’s mainly just a curated feed of stories featuring houses in the alps covered in snow.