EP 2: Resting in a Western Culture [PART 2]

Welcome to the conversation, Clem! A book, film, and musical enthusiast, sharing her experience as a mother living in a Western society...

(TAROT CARD PULL 40:14 )

3:09 Clem shares a bit about her professional life, working full time in a medical environment where she has been supporting cancer patients along their radiation journey for the last 11 years

3:45 How Clem & I met online in a virtual community [focused on slowing down and living seasonally]; we had both come to the realization that we were experiencing burnout and needing to learn a new way of living

5:39 When the world went into Covid19 Lockdown; the shock to the system; feeling postpartum, trapped at home with everyone but also missing community; collective grief; loss of community; grief from death; the many shades of grief; isolation; needing other women to connect with and have deeper conversations with, needing other mothers for support

9:20 Clem sharing about going back to work fulltime during the pandemic and the frightening unknown, staying available and working fulltime while the rest of the world is sheltering and hiding; staying vulnerable and open but also trying to stay safe and secure

11:09 Circling with other women; "How are you really?" having space held for you and holding space in return; creating sisterhood and community online; feeling held; spaciousness and safety to be seen and heard

12:01 To notice what is no longer working and sustainable in our neighborhoods and communities and workspaces; having the opportunity to be faced with what is, and to have to sit with it [in lockdown], and to imagine a new way; things are crumbling down to be rebuilt, how can I rebuild differently?

"How can I be more natural and animalistic, and more seasonal in my rhythms?"

13:53 How are you living seasonally? The ways that we change in the Winter, and how can we embrace the darkness and slowness of winter? What does it look like to "live seasonally" and to embrace "slow living?"

15:35 Life after becoming a Mother, trying to "keep up the pace" even though our world is completely different post-baby; the pressure, the burnout and trying to do it all and be it all; the way that embracing seasonal living and our natural rhythms can bring ease and joy back to our lives

19:42 What was your relationship with REST as a child?

20:08 Clem sharing about her busy household growing up, the hustle she witnessed her mother in around the house with all four children; being an oldest child and the responsibility that comes with that; internalized frenzy; experiencing burnout as a child; letting our children be bored; overstimulation

"It is okay to REST."

22:10 Feeling guilty when not moving forward/achieving or being productive; feeling guilty sitting in the garden VS working in the garden; growing up in a Goal Driven society, having to have an outcome VS the process and the joy of it; "what are you even producing?" Always working for the next thing, the next academic achievement, the next certificate

GOAL DRIVEN VS PLEASURE DRIVEN

24:19 Clem's reaction to my sharing that my mother had six children over a twenty year span :,D

25:08 Kat D remembering the rush of anxiety that she woke up to as a child, feeling afraid like she was going to "miss out" on something if she did not rise and shine and hop out of bed promptly; the anxiety of laying in bed VS waking up and rushing to start the day

26:36 the magick of waking up before the children/the rest of the household

27:17 "I'm still learning how to rest! Maybe I shouldn't start a podcast about resting."

"It's a practice"

28:50 When we realize that it's not supposed to be this hard, it's not supposed to be like this, we're not supposed to be this isolated from our communities and neighbors

29:35 We are animals! All the ways our society has tried to turn us into robots as we forget our roots; trying to do motherhood the colonial, patriarchal way and finally realizing there is a better, intuitive way