Whereas Wit & Delight has been quieter for a yr now, I’ve been writing greater than ever. As I’ve slowed down my publishing cadence, my curiosity about the best way we stay—and why—has ripened. I’m fascinated by what sits beneath the veneer of aesthetics—how we adorn our areas, who we let in, and who we hold out. Most significantly, I’ve reconnected with what it means to thrill in our personal way of life.
The act of writing about these experiences has been deeply transformative for me. It’s introduced up conversations with readers I’d have by no means had in short-form, visual-based content material. That is what I like most about Substack.
Whereas I proceed to share way of life content material and the occasional private essay right here on Wit & Delight, I additionally publish weekly on Home Name, a Substack publication during which I discover why our houses—and the lives we lead inside their partitions—matter a lot. For brand new or longtime readers who haven’t discovered their strategy to Home Name fairly but, I encourage you to peruse this physique of labor.
Beneath is an unique excerpt from a latest Home Name essay, “In Favor of a Quiet House Life.” Choosing a quieter life within the face of an more and more noisy world felt like profession dying for my way of life model—however one I desperately wanted for myself. I wrote about making room for vacancy, having fun with easy pleasures, and delighting in quiet moments at residence. I hope you benefit from the essay and be a part of me over on Substack.
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Home Name Excerpt: In Favor of a Quiet House Life
Amid the repetitive rhythm of every day life, one among my favourite indulgences is the act of daydreaming. Ever since I used to be a toddler, I’ve discovered myself wandering freely by means of the realms of creativeness. What began with a unconscious want to appease myself, at its finest, has confirmed fertile floor for a wealthy inside life. The mundane turns into magical, and the bizarre is reworked into the extraordinary. My daydreaming has given strategy to lucid dreaming and typically these photos are so vivid, actuality pales compared.
Once I gained the nickname “Spacey Katie” for wandering in my thoughts throughout educational classes, dance lessons, and softball video games, I discovered my tendency to take away myself from the right here and now wasn’t precisely serving to me navigate social settings. Like most introverts, I noticed my pure state as “much less” than—one thing to “repair” to excel on this world.
However these days, I’ve discovered myself making extra room for introversion. This winter was deafeningly quiet in all areas of my life, a form of magic darkish that felt intentional. Like area had been made to return residence to this a part of myself. I didn’t have my standard escapes: my creativity felt stunted, schedules have been bare-bones, and indulging in alcohol and meals simply made me really feel worse. My instinct was telling me to take the quiet and simply be with the vacancy. I quickly got here to understand this vacancy was life-giving.
How Delight and House Life Intersect
As I progressively opened as much as this name towards introversion, I stored coming again to how delight and a quiet residence life intersect. It was the place I had given myself time to study to be OK with issues as they have been, to rehabilitate my petulance for extra, extra, extra.
These little duties—these neglected, underrated, easy pleasures (heat toast with tea in a sunsoaked chair for instance)—have been doing extra for my temper and sense of well-being at residence than churning away at venture after venture. I began questioning whether it is even doable to get pleasure from our houses if we don’t know the best way to discover pleasure in simply being. All of the paint colours, wallpapers, and patterns can’t be translated into an inside sense of permission to sink into your self by means of the pleasure of merely being residence.
This delight I’ve been chasing since 2009 was by no means going to disclose itself by means of self-improvement or cookie-cutter recommendation from {a magazine} on the best way to adorn my home. The truth is, I don’t suppose there’s a handbook in any respect. When designing a life well-lived, one must be courageous sufficient to let go of the personas, masks, and armor they’ve amassed. Maybe releasing what isn’t ours and letting issues die that weren’t meant for us is the one strategy to design a life that seems like residence. Sadly, this course of isn’t a path lined with candy-colored daisies however one which extra so resembles a stroll by means of Dying Valley.
I began questioning whether it is even doable to get pleasure from our houses if we don’t know the best way to discover pleasure in simply being. All of the paint colours, wallpapers, and patterns can’t be translated into an inside sense of permission to sink into your self by means of the pleasure of merely being residence.
This week on Home Name, I wish to contact on the ability of our houses past the best way they give the impression of being. The inspiration for this put up got here from years of engaged on my residence however not essentially feeling good within the areas I used to be creating. Once I requested myself what makes me really feel most content material and delighted at residence, what revealed itself shocked me.
What a Quiet House Life Represents for Me
Areas that stay fixed.
It’s vital to have locations in my residence I’m now not actively updating—rooms I merely let be. It’s a follow that brings me each consolation and a way of peace. These areas, which embrace my bed room, kitchen, and workplace, have developed to replicate my altering wants and preferences. Whereas I nonetheless make occasional changes, I’ve determined to deliberately chorus from making important modifications to those rooms until there’s a clear want for an replace. . . .
These areas have develop into extra than simply rooms in my residence. They’ve develop into extensions of myself, reflecting my character, values, and aspirations. By permitting them to be, I permit myself to understand the sweetness and luxury of the current second with out the fixed want for change.
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Kate is the founding father of Wit & Delight. She is at the moment studying the best way to play tennis and is eternally testing the boundaries of her inventive muscle. Observe her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.
