Welcome Substack friends! My weekly ‘Sunday Reset’ email will include:
Reset rambly voicenote
Reset reflection: a personal essay
Reset readings: recommendations for you <3
It’s great to have you here.
Reset reflections: I Never Thought I’d Relate to Kombucha Bacteria - But Here We Are
“Katie, it’s disgusting.”
“You put a lump of it in a jar, and it grows.”
It’s Saturday afternoon, and I’m on the phone with a good friend, discussing the kombucha she’s been brewing.
Meanwhile, I’m supposed to be getting ready to go “out-out” tonight at a pub-slash-rave in Clapton. But instead, I’m lying on my bed in a post-sauna haze, talking about harvesting bacteria.
Something tells me tonight’s plans aren’t happening.
We laugh about our wild weekends and the silly fabric hat covering the jar.
I wouldn’t normally compare myself to kombucha fermenting in a jar, but… I kind of relate. The idea of being tucked away in a warm, dark place and left to grow - yeah, that feels about right.
And just like that, I fall down a rabbit hole, learning everything there is to know about brewing kombucha. My new addiction? Asking ChatGPT the most random things. I would feel incredibly exposed if someone went through my ChatGPT search history, but that’s one for another time…
So, back to the point of this. Apparently, during the winter months, fermentation takes longer because the lower temperatures slow down yeast and bacteria activity. Yummy.
And if we’re leaning into this whole Katie-as-Kombucha thing, that explains why I’ve been retreating a little.
In Katherine May’s beautiful book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, she writes:
"We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again."
This winter, my leaves haven’t just fallen - they’ve been stripped away, suddenly and unexpectedly, by a deep and painful grief.
And yet, instead of feeling exposed or empty, I’ve felt incredibly full. Comforted. Whole in a way I never expected.
I haven’t been out dancing in ages. But I’ve still felt joy.
Many of the things that once validated me have been taken away, yet I’ve never felt more seen - by my small, unshakable circle of ride-or-dies, and by the creative community I’m slowly building here. (You guys are the best!).
I’ve discovered a new kind of fun.
Winter walks, reading, and writing have quietly replaced Instagram, drinks, and raving. The spicy mezcal margeritas swapped for mint tea. The sunsets and beaches found in far away destinations I’d normally run to in January swapped for soft linen bedding and my Dad’s old jumpers so baggy on me they’re like the little nighties I wore as a kid. Dopamine hits from apps replaced by long-reads and slow strolls through bookshops.
And in these newfound pockets of stillness, ideas have been pouring in - filling the empty spaces.
Pouring onto these pages. Pouring over books. Pouring thoughts onto this platform.
Like the rain pouring outside. As I lie here in bed, my room blank and bare from the grey skies outside. But it all feels so stimulating to be.
So here’s to wintering, retreating, brewing, being a bit boring.
I’m sure I’ll be back. But for now, who needs #HotGirlSummer when you can have #KombuchaBacteriaWinter?
Life, in draft mode.
Some random ideas, thoughts and pieces of inspiration I’ve collected this week:
Challenge yourself to pay attention to the mundane today and find some beauty in it.
What things in your life do you need to leave to brew, grow, marinade? How can you exercise a bit of patience to give something the space to develop?
Quoted in ‘The Vast Extent - On seeing and not seeing further’ by Lavinia Greenlaw.
Reset reading list.
I find that the biggest block to living a creative life is having the courage to take action and just write/create. It’s easy to tell yourself stories about not having a point of view, not being good enough, not being ‘creative.’ When really all humans are innately creative and once you access that part of you, it’s incredible what starts happening.
There are three books I really recommend for helping you tap into what is already intrinsically in you.
The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron
Linchpin by Seth Godin
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
These have been transformational for me and I always recommend them to people on this journey, and revisit them myself.
Read these and thank me later!
Which books have helped you access your creativity?
Let’s reset together.
Comment below with your reason for starting your Substack. I’m so interested in everyone’s journeys and the experiences the lead people to decide to create.
And please share this with a friend if you think they’d find it valuable.
Thanks so much for being here, it means the world,
Katie x
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