Hi Friends-

I’ve been talking about gestation, frustration, and unnaturally long cycles of trying to understand the path forward for many months now.

The cycle looks something like this:

Phase I: I don’t know what I’m doing (gestation, faith, patience)

Phase II: Okay, I think I know what I’m doing (mild clarity, beginning to plan & take action)

Phase III: Wait a minute, do I know what I’m doing?? (pause, reflect & gestate still more)

Phase IV: I know what I’m doing! (renewed clarity, confident action)

I thought I was going to be done with Phase IV but — alas, alack — I was not. The universe appears to be serving me the extended director’s cut of GESTATION: The Great Unfolding.

So now I’m in:

Phase V: Um, maybe that thing I thought I should be doing is not what I should be doing? (pause again, pause deeper, reconsider)

Yeesh.

This whole situation reminds me of a joke my brother and I have about transformation, which I talked about in this vintage Hurry Slowly episode.

Do you remember Transformers? We were talking about a silver one that transforms from a car into a robot and how — when it’s in the midst of transitioning into a car — it only has two wheels on one side so all it can do is drive around in a circle on its side, yelling: “Still transforming! Still transforming!”

That’s a bit what I feel like right now. With each these newsletters, I keep crying out: “Still transforming!” As if someone is knocking on the door to my dressing room and it’ll just be a moment before I emerge, resplendent in my new outfit.

But the truth is: I’m not sure when I’ll be emerging from this little chrysalis — or what I’ll be wearing.

As one of my teachers said to me when I was describing my impatience: “You are accustomed to long, bright, open seasons of creativity.”

And it’s true. I am. What a gift and a blessing that has been.

But, at the moment, I am being called to cultivate a deeper familiarity with fallowness.

My soil is demanding rest.

So I am going to — at last — surrender.

Rather than continuing to yell, “Still transforming!” at you every few weeks, I am going to take a break from writing, speaking, and sharing.

I will pause sending this newsletter, as well as publishing podcast episodes, for the remainder of the summer, and I have decided to cancel the summer session of my creative incubator, KILN.

I hope to return in the Fall refreshed — ready to re-engage and launch the fall session of KILN.

That said, I am no longer pretending to have any idea what schedule this mysterious process is on. I will re-emerge when the time is right.

The only reason why I am writing about gestation (again) is to normalize these extended periods of fallowness and not knowing.

If you are there, too, know that we are in it together.

In the meantime, I hope you have a beautiful summer.

I will see you after a little rest & fallowness.

Scroll on for links. ✨

Much love,
Jocelyn

Link About It

​Your mind is being fracked — Ezra Klein and D. Graham Burnett on what’s at stake in the extractive attention economy.

​What it takes to heal — an essential conversation with Prentis Hemphill and adrienne maree brown on transforming ourselves to transform the world.

​How playwright Annie Baker made the movie of the summer — a gorgeous exploration of the innerworkings of writing and creativity with the Pulitzer Prize winner.

​The importance of grief-letting — a warm, beautiful, poignant interview with grief doula Gina Breedlove.

​“Stone Love” by Louise Erdich — a poem about stone time vs human time.

​Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) impersonates the Moon — I loved her new HBO comedy special, “Everything Must Go.”
​

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Hi, I'm Jocelyn, the human behind this newsletter. I host the Hurry Slowly podcast, teach online courses, and practice energy work. You can learn more about me at jkg.co. If you have a question, you can always feel free to hit reply. 🤓

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Website: jkg.co​
​Twitter/X: @jkglei​

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