Living a Life of Playful Rebellion
flying across the country for less than 24 hours is so worth it
Happy Saturday, my friends! I am so happy to be in your inbox today. Today’s newsletter is all about my current travel antics, living a life of playful rebellion and a few recommended reads to add elements of making, pondering and fun to your life!
It’s another travel weekend! My “concert yes friend” L and I planned this adventure back in April when September seemed a lifetime away, and it’s FINALLY HERE! We are flying across the country this morning (Saturday!!), attending a concert tonight, will be in that city for only about 20 hours including airport time, and flying back Sunday morning. We have a 2.5 hour drive on each end of the trip, and have to simply have faith that all will go well and we’ll actually make it back for work on Monday. I’m too superstitious to talk about the specifics of the adventure because it’s hard to believe it’s actually going to happen as planned1 ~ stay tuned for details!
Would you like even more chatty musings on midlife, even more book recommendations, and exclusive downloads and book collections delivered right to your inbox each week? These are all benefits of a paid subscription to this newsletter ~ please do consider becoming a supporter!
Playful Rebellion: aka My Skull Era
Speaking of adventures with friends, I read a piece on Substack from
last month that had a profound effect on me.“By “rebellion,” I’m not talking about breaking the law; I’m talking about doing something that “breaks the rules” of responsible adulthood, even just a little bit. This rule-breaking could be as simple as consciously deciding to unplug and not be available for a few hours, or sneaking out to a matinee on a workday, or taking a different route home from work.
But it’s even more effective if you go a step further and figure out a way to create a special, shared experience with other people that doesn’t align with your normal daily routine or fit with your usual adult life.”
~ read the full pieceThis piece led me to listening to her entire book (see below!) one late summer weekend while sewing and realizing that THIS IS IT. This is my playful rebellion era! And also, according to my sister-in-law, my skull era.
While doing my fun audit while listening to Price’s book, I realized how much damn FUN I have while practicing playful rebellion. Getting that skull tattoo? Best time ever. Stopping to get pastries with my new work BFF instead of going right back to work after a meeting? Delicious in all the ways. Flying across the country for one night with an amazing friend? WHY THE HELL NOT? My last two concert adventures with L are on my all-time fun experiences list!
I was thrifting last weekend and when I walked into the store, I had one goal in mind: find the weirdest, coolest, one-of-a-kind items possible to try on2. I have spent most of my entire life, starting with agonizing over picking out school clothes in kindergarten, trying to fit in and be accepted and look and act like everyone else - and just in the past few years have I realized that I NO LONGER CARE.
I am certainly not the first woman in her 40’s to stop caring, but oh my goodness does it feel GOOD. I mean really, the choice at this age seems to become invisible or stand out glaringly and truly, I want to stand out. I want to make my own kind of weird clothes and buy the funky sweaters at thrift stores and wear my sneakers with skirts and just not follow all the stupid rules I set for myself as a tween and for some reason followed through my 30’s.
I’m that lady wearing an octopus tank top with obvious seam issues to work. Wearing the red Birks and wild patterned vintage fleeces and giant checkered cardigans. I was already a Cotopaxi surprise colors fangirl, but now it’s my AESTHETIC. The only thing I regret about my new watch is that it’s not one of the neon ones.
Price’s concept of playful rebellion isn’t really about the aesthetic, but I’m pushing it there to go along with the actions. And her definition of true fun is one I truly value and aspire to spend a lot more time thinking about ~ if nothing else, it makes me appreciate the actual experiences that qualify as true fun so much more because of their relative rarity. It makes me realize that these experiences are worth saving for and spending on, while things that feel obligatory or are not with people I truly enjoy can be skipped.
I desperately want to (per Price) microdose fun on a daily basis ~ I want to laugh more, I want to be a little bit subversive at work *while* laughing, I want my kids and students to roll their eyes at me even more than they already do, I want to plan adventures and dance in the kitchen with my daughters and talk to my dogs on our walks. I want to surprise myself and others and maybe, once in a while, on a stretch, try being spontaneous.
But most of all? I want to be known as someone who’s up for almost, kind of, within reason anything many things.3
Reads for Making, Pondering and Playing
Today I’m sharing three nonfiction reads that truly encapsulate my current mindset. I am spending so much of my discretionary time making, spending a little time each morning pondering, and of course, aspiring to playful rebellion and true fun.
and ~ I requested that my library purchase this book for their collection, so I was the very first to receive it …. and now never want to give it back. Alas, I must, so I plan to purchase my very own copy for my crafting forever shelf. I love the simplicity, the focus on utilizing items from around the house and found objects, and the hours and hours of perusing and creative dreaming that this book inspires. While the tutorials are sometimes not quite enough for me to grasp for some of the more complicated things (I usually need written instructions plus a video), they have inspired me to research elsewhere to expand on the skills. Just seeing this book on my table / shelf inspires me to want to MAKE THINGS. Related: Read this piece by that inspired me to get my hands on the book. You really must subscribe to Boyle’s newsletter as well.The Pivot Year by Brianna Wiest ~ I was inspired to purchase this book by one of the many, many newsletters I subscribe to (was it you?? please remind me!!) and I’m so grateful! I have appreciated Wiest’s thoughtful work for years now and I am just loving this book of daily short meditations to help with mindset and perspective. I received my copy of the book at the beginning of August, but didn’t start it until my first official day of work for this school year ~ I am writing the date in for each day and highlighting the heck out of it, and hope to make it an annual read.
The Power of Fun by Catherine Price ~ I’m late to this party because I typically avoid this type of book ~ I really just don’t want anyone else telling me how to fix or live my life. However, the newsletter piece I mentioned above spurred me to seek out the book and I was ALL IN4. It helped that I listened while totally in flow while sewing and thinking to myself that I was truly living my best life at the time. What I love most about the book is that Price specifically tells readers NOT to try to instantly plan how to have more fun, but to instead really focus on what has been fun in the past, and be thoughtful about crafting future experiences. Who doesn’t want to feel more alive??
That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading!
I love to hear from readers, so please do reach out to me with questions or feedback at mindfullibrarian@substack.com . You can always just reply to this email if you are reading in your inbox, or hit the comment button if reading on the web or the app! If we aren’t already connected on Goodreads, I would love to see you there as well.
If you’ll recall the last trip …….. I don’t have time to scrap the flight and just drive for this one!
I left the store with an amazing rainbow striped sweater, an acid-washed faded black denim jacket, and a giant multicolored plaid scarf / shawl thingy
I mean, anything that fits in my schedule and doesn’t interfere too much with my sleep on school nights or cost much money or include me doing much driving in the dark or hanging out with people I don’t feel comfortable with or missing a nap or going to 95% of comedy shows or ingesting alcohol or drugs. Seriously now, I’m not an entirely different human yet!
Authors, THIS is how you can promote your book via your newsletter without hard selling all the time. This is a years-old book by an author I knew about because of a different book, and it took this newsletter piece to finally make me care about this particular title. How can you write about your book without truly just writing about your book???
Here’s to FUN! love everything about this post and especially touched/glad/honored to see Making Things included! Cheers from a fellow 40!
I love this post! Could you have heard about The Pivot Year from Renee at ItsBookTalk? I know I've seen her mention it a few times 😊