Embrace the Slow: A December Challenge for Self-Care and Quality Time with Cowgirl Artists of America

Hi, welcome to Cowgirl Artists of America's podcast, a podcast dedicated to cowgirl artists. I'm your host and the founder of Cowgirl Artists of America, Megan Wimberley. I'm really excited about the topic that we have today. And in hindsight, I wish I would have posted this sooner. But it's something we've talked about in our group in our Member space. And then I realized that there's such a need for this outside of our member space, too, of course. And so I really wanted to share what we're doing. And that is about taking a Slow December. And we'll talk through how to do that and what that looks like and what that means and some tips and tricks and strategies. It is a little late. So I realized that some of you may listen to this and be like, well, it's already almost December, how am I going to prepare, but we're going to give you some tips for that. And I think either way, there's going to be some great things that you can take advantage of and some ways to shift our perspective so that we can really spend time with our loved ones and spend some time with self-care in our hobbies in December and slow down. Because, man, we know artists work so hard, and they wear so many hats. And we really do need rest, we can't do our best work without rest. Rest is not a luxury. It's not laziness. It is part of the way we are built that we need rest. And it's important to us.

Now before we get started, I do want to remind you that December is open enrollment for Cowgirl Artists of America. So if you've been wanting to become an official member, you've been wanting to join, make sure you check that out. We're open through December. And this enrollment is always a really exciting time. And December is a great time to join for so many reasons. Sometimes you might be able to get somebody to buy you a membership for Christmas gift, which is always a great way to get your membership. But the other thing is that we start in January with some really good planning for the year and some good exercises. And I share my personal strategy that has been very important impactful to me. And so when you join in December, you will be able to have access to that. The other cool thing is that with our basic training, which has so many valuable resources, working with galleries, professionalism, increasing your chances of getting into art shows and things like that. There's a whole basic training at self-paced in our Member space. And that is going to be available at the self-paced training for the first time coming in December and so you'll have immediate access to that. So always you can email us at info at cowgirl artists of America for more information, follow us on Instagram at Cowgirl Artists of America, and a lot of information will be coming out about that. We also have a lot of facts and info on our website cowgirl artists of america.org.

So let's get started. First, I want to talk about self-care. You know, it's so easy for us to feel like self-care is some sort of luxury or like it's like a hippie-dippie modern thing, you know, we don't have time for that, that's self-care is silly. You know, whatever. I'm living my passion every day is self-care, all these things that we think about with self-care. And I would suggest that self-care is something that is crucial to embrace because our fast-paced society has taught us how to just go, go, go all the time, give, give, give all the time, drink all the caffeine, be fast and furious all the time. And that is not how our bodies were made, our bodies have limits to them. And rest is good, rest is so important for us. And it's so interesting to read the research on sleep and how our brains process through problems with sleep. And sleep deprivation causes so many problems. And so just at our very core, the way we are made, we do need rest. And we need to be able to rest without feeling guilty. And if you're like me, that is a challenge. But you know, I've discovered that I cannot do my best work without rest. And so rest is a valuable contribution to my productivity. And so I try really hard to embrace what my body's telling me when I need rest. And if you're like me, if you have any chronic health conditions like I have RA if I push myself too hard, I it will cause my RA to flare. And so I have to be more conscious about it than maybe some people do. But things like that can happen. You know, even if you don't have RA or health condition, when you push yourself too hard. Eventually your body's gonna say nope, no more. I can't keep going. That's one of the reasons you know, when you're on an airplane, they tell you put your mask on first before you put the mask on your child because if you're not getting oxygen, you can't take care of your child you have to do that first and then you put the mask on your child to ensure that you are able to consciously do that. And we need we really do I just really encourage you to embrace rest, embrace self-care, and that can mean different things to different people.

Okay, rest and self-care are an assessment but it can look different for each person. So as we're talking through this, I want you to kind of think about a couple of things, we're going to be thinking about our priorities, the necessity, the things that are necessary for us to do. And we're also going to be thinking about what are the things that fill my cup? What is self-care? To me? What are some things that I don't get to do, but I want to do, and who are the important people in my life that I want to spend quality time with? And what does quality time look like? Now, if you'd like to think through those now, you can pause this and go back and listen through those because I think they're all really good questions. But we're gonna walk through step by step how to kind of prep for a Slow December. And so again, I know we're a little late in the game with doing this podcast for this Slow December. I'm recording this on November 22. And hope to get it posted today. But there are things that you can still do to prep for December. So already December can be such a whirlwind with the holidays and everything that's going on. And it does require a little bit of prep and a little bit of introspection, and looking back in looking back in our schedule and the things that that can or can't be taken out. So let's dive right in.

First, we've got things that reoccur monthly or weekly that we do. For example, maybe you send out a monthly newsletter. Now newsletters are such an easy thing to schedule, you can this week or next week, and you can sit down and prep out write out your newsletter, get it already, many of you are probably using some sort of newsletter, app or platform where you can actually schedule that. So maybe you always send your newsletter on the 15th of the month, you can do that you can write your newsletter out to date, and then you can schedule it for the 15th. Now, if yours doesn't allow you to schedule No biggie, go ahead and write it out, you've already got the hardest part done. And then you can go back in on the 15th. And all you have to do is press send. So think about how many hours it takes you to prep your newsletter and you have just regained that amount of time for December. And then what can you fill that with because that's the thing is we can fill that time with other things. And it can be a nap if you want it to embrace the nap for sure. It might be that you take your kids out writing or you go see a movie or you meet up with one of your friends for coffee. So just be mindful that we always humans have a tendency to always shrink or expand to what they have. That's it's often the same with money with our house with our car, whatever we shrink and expand to the space that we have. So remember, you're going to be creating space. And you don't want to fill it up mindlessly, you want to be conscious about what you're going to do with that extra space that you've carved out for yourself or your family.

Now there are other tasks that you probably do monthly. So think about that, like what tasks do I do every month, it might be things like inventory, or updating your portfolio you might be applying for grants or art shows, things like that. Any of those things that you can do now go ahead and do that may or alternatively, maybe it's something maybe you want to apply to an art show and the call you were planning on applying on December 20th. But the call is open until the end of January, just push that task off to January if it's not going to mess you up. Again, with all this you have to think about what really works for me and my schedule. The same thing with commissions, if you've got a commission, and you know that you can work on it just a little bit in December, but you're gonna have plenty of time to finish it in January, you're going to meet your deadlines, you're going to be fine. That's okay, you can slow down on that commission in December, I recommend letting your collectors know you're the person who commissioned you know what's going on, you might just send them an email at the end of November, hey, here's an update on your work, I just want you to know that December is a really important time for me and my family. And we slow down a little bit your work is still on schedule. But I may not be sending you as many updates. You know, it's just about communication. The same thing with our email. So emails are a task that many of us do every day, probably multiple times a day, we don't really need to check our email multiple times a day, for the most part, most of us and so maybe it's a saying that you can check your email once a day only or maybe you're only checking it Monday, Wednesday or Friday, things like that. And, and you might be worried well, oh, like people are gonna get mad if I don't respond right away. Right away. Well, go in there into your vacation reminder and put a little note, like the same sort of note, you know, hey, December is coming up. Or it's December because you can schedule it just for December. So can say December is an important time for me and my family. We slow down we make sure to experience the holiday season together and spend time together and I'm going to be a little slower responding in December than normal. Thank you so much for your patience, but I promise I'll get back to you within three days or I checked My email Monday, Wednesday, Friday, whatever it is for you, people are usually very understanding whenever you have explained yourself. And so when they get that automatic email, then they know okay, like she might not be responding until on Monday. And that's fine. You can also if you're worried about it, you can say if this is an urgent message, you know, you this is how you can contact me. So anything like that, that you can pre-prep or kind of slow down on, because the next thing is thinking about what are actually necessary and priorities, what are things you have to do, and what are things that maybe aren't urgent aren't necessary, or at worst, are just busy work.

And the common one with this, of course, is social media, many of us do not use our social media as a tool, we are kind of the tool of social media because it's made to be addictive. It's made to give us that dopamine hit. So we want to keep checking those notifications. And often we're using social media in a way that is not productive for us and is also a time suck. So think about if you find yourself scrolling through Instagram, or Facebook frequently, how can you set some boundaries around that? Also, social media is another great thing, you can pre-schedule it, you can go in and use, you can do it inside a meadow, or if you use later or whatever it is. And you can pre-schedule many of your posts. So you at least our posts are going out for you. But you're not having to spend so much time sitting there on the app. The other thing is paying attention to how you're using it. If you go in and you're like going in to start a post, but then actually you end up just scrolling through and liking people's pictures or something that may not be the best use of your time. Now it is important, of course for engagement. But a lot of what we do and we're doing it mindlessly is not actual engagement, and And it's not going to have any sort of productive result from it. So be thinking about that, how can I make sure I'm not just doing busy work that feels like work but doesn't push my goals forward?

If you notice there's something like that, create some boundaries around that. For example, maybe you're only allowed to use Instagram during certain times of the day. I recommend using ad blockers, such as the one I've used called App Blocker. It's great because you can schedule it to not allow certain apps to give you notifications, or you can't click on them at certain times. It can make it really hard to get around, helping you disrupt that habit. I don't use it much anymore because it helped me break my habit. But occasionally, I go back in and turn it back on. Habits are powerful, and that's one of the great things about taking this slow December challenge—it's going to help us come back in January with fresh eyes and think about what truly pushes our goals forward.

Some things, like social media, are addictive, and habits are powerful. Be mindful of this as you're deciding what to cut out. Create a plan for how to disrupt those habits, as you may find yourself wanting to go back to them.

Now, there are tasks that are priorities—deadlines and such. Make sure you account for those when doing your schedule. I recommend getting your calendar and scheduling these things out. Write on the calendar when a goal is due or when a commission needs to be finished. Don't forget to prioritize self-care and quality time with your loved ones. Put those on your calendar too. It's easy to have good intentions and not follow through, so having these commitments on your calendar adds a level of accountability.

Consider delegating tasks to free up your time. Some people have assistants, and sometimes teenage kids are great with social media. They might take pictures of your art or studio and even come up with ideas for captions. It's a great way to involve them.

A note of caution: Be ethical and conscious about using AI tools. They can be useful for organizing your thoughts and editing your writing. Write a rough social media post in your words and then use AI to improve it. However, don't let it do the work for you. Edit and personalize the content to ensure it doesn't sound generic.

Now that you've developed a plan, remember you're not bound to it rigidly. If something isn't working, analyze, and make adjustments. Let go of the notion of perfectionism and focus on progress, not perfection. This challenge is about creating space for yourself, your art, and your loved ones. Slow down, be intentional, and savor the joy of the season. It's about rest, joy, and rejuvenation. You deserve rest, so don't feel guilty about taking time for yourself. Enjoy that time with your loved ones.

We'd love to hear if you're joining us in this challenge and how it goes for you. Leave us a comment on Instagram or create a post and tag us at cowgirl artists of America. We always love to see who's joining us and the benefits you're getting. Wishing you a very happy holiday season with all your loved ones, and we hope you come back in December rested and refreshed. Don't forget you can join Cowgirl Artists of America as an official member through December. If you have any questions, email us at info@cowgirlartistsofamerica.org.