The Sunday Post #4

it's late, but it's here ☁️

Sunday 20th October | Issue #4

Naturally, when I make a slight mistake my entire instinct is to throw the towel in, set fire to the towel and make sure no one ever mentions towels again. It’s a form of perfectionism. Not that kind of perfectionism where I get everything right. More of a - I feel a real heavy sense of guilt when I don’t get things right, so much so that I’d rather never do that thing again.

I had some pieces to finish off for Substack this week, but naturally, things fall by the wayside as soon as life gets busy. Instead of ridding myself of towels, instead, I’m attempting to be a little more calm about life, life-ing.

So, here I am coming at you much later on a Sunday than usual. But that’s okay, right? The world doesn’t end when we make a small mistake, miss a deadline or put our foot in it. Life indeed, still goes on.

This week has been somewhat testing, recently I’ve felt a shift in my awareness of how I deal with other’s perceptions of me. Despite it being quite a hard thing to work through, it has opened me up to considering my boundaries a lot more and protecting my own peace. I’m nowhere near done working through some of these new revelations, but I have found joy in putting in some practices to leading a more gentle life:

Less phone screen, more reading time. Putting in reminders to get up, stretch and breathe every so often. Pottering around the garden when feeling anxious. Annotating my books to allow me to get lost in them a little deeper. Baking without worrying about perfection. Letting things be, rather than trying to problem solve constantly.

It’s a journey, which will inevitably follow the natural course of a rollercoaster. But, if like me you struggle with perfectionism getting slightly in the way of living - you’re not alone. Time to keep the towel out and push forward.

the week in photos

This week in links

• Michelle wrote the post I needed this week, books that will haunt you. This weather has me really wanting to lean into that late October feeling.

• Carrying on that autumnal feeling, I made this Pumpkin Ginger Cake this morning. Tracking down pumpkin puree was a task, but it was worth it.

• I saw that Woodland Trust sell native plants and trees that add value to your garden and the UK nature also. Very wholesome. I’m tempted to add a blackthorn so I can have my own sloes!

• Never have a wanted a new butter dish more, it’s available on &klevering now, but I think it’ll be available via the creator Hal Haines in the UK soon.

Entertaining things

Watch: People tend to fall into the Marvel camp or not (I’m firmly in the camp) but I do believe Agatha All Along bridges that gap. As a stand alone series, it’s a lot of fun. Kathryn Hahn is bringing all the witchy joy to Thursdays currently.

Read: This week I finished Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors*, it’s an excellent read, exploring a group of sisters dynamics in the wake of loss. It has highs, lows, and a hell of a lot of beautiful writing.

Listen: Very niche, but this week has been full on for me - I opted for listening to a playlist geared towards calmness and randomly came across this serene days in stardew valley playlist on Spotify. Whether you’ve played Stardew (you should!) or not, this is a joyful little playlist for those stressful days.

One last thing

I keep seeing the Burberry videos with celebrities talking about how they take their tea. So many scathing comments on putting milk in before the water. I fully disagree, I used to be that person who thought it was wrong, but actually, it just stops that odd skin you get on top of the drink.

Also, I brew for five minutes, use clipper everyday tea bags and oat milk (just in case you were wondering). That is all, milk first.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this post, if you did it would mean the world if you could share or restack it. Thank you!

Have a lovely Sunday, Allie ☁️

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