I’m still deep in recovery mode over here, after Covid swept through our house. It’s been brutal and I’m still trying to find my feet (and breath, and equilibrium) so this week I thought I’d round up a handful of mostly-sweet, mostly-slow things that I find comforting, in the hopes that you might too.
On comfort-viewing
For me, comfort-viewing - our tendency to watch and re-watch the same movies and series, particularly when we’re feeling sick, stressed or overwhelmed - is less about what I’m actually watching and more about knowing what’s going to happen next. I know what emotions I’ll be called on to feel. I can give myself over to them or shield myself from them because none of them are a surprise.
For example, any time I’m sick or worn out, I find myself wanting to re-watch all four Hunger Games movies (like some kind of psycho). But I’ve realised lately, it’s less about the content itself, and more about the certainty it brings. I will feel sadness and hope and grief and possibility, and I will know it all ahead of time. (Plus, I love Jennifer Lawrence.)
Compare that to watching something completely new, and, when I’m feeling a little fragile, I find the uncertainty anxiety-inducing. Will I be happy? Will I be gut-punched? Revolted? Rolling around laughing? Or, like when Ben and I watched Don’t Look Up a couple of weeks ago (told you I love Jennifer Lawrence) will I experience all of those emotions in the space of 150 minutes and feel punch-drunk afterwards?
While you may see this as further proof that I am no fun at parties (and depending on the day: you may be right) I offer it to you in case you too find yourself happily stuck in the comfort-viewing bubble right now.
For me that’s most recently looked like watching:
Moxie
The Great Pottery Throwdown
Outlander S1
Making It
Hunger Games
Into the Unknown - The Making of Frozen 2
The Imagineering Story
Mean Girls
10 Things I Hate About You
Do you have a comfort-viewing go-to?
On comfort-drinking
Now that the weather is starting to turn properly towards autumn and the air often carries the smell of wood smoke at night, I’ve activated my chilly-nights-comfort-beverage mode.
Every night I make myself a little cup of ‘healthy’ hot chocolate (I hate myself for calling it that but the name stuck when the kids asked why my homemade hot chocolate tastes different to the ones from the coffee shop) and a cup of restful tea. It’s such a nice, comforting, tasty ritual that feels a lot like a sweet, salty, sleepy cuddle.
I buy the restful tea in bulk from The Source, but Kintra Foods does a really nice jar too.
Healthy hot chocolate
(As always with my ‘recipes’, I rarely measure anything so feel free to experiment, taste and adjust as needed.)
2 cups nut milk (I use a nut milk paste and water, but you can use your milk of choice)
1/3 cups natural peanut butter
2 tbsp cacao powder
2 tbsp rice malt syrup (you can substitute for maple syrup if needed, but I find it sweeter, so you might need less)
pinch of salt
Blend, heat gently on the stove and serve. Adjust as needed, and keep the leftovers in a jar in the fridge for a few days (if it lasts that long!)
On the comfort of avoidance
Do you ever find yourself wondering how to strike a balance between pushing and not-pushing? Between flaking out and showing up, despite not wanting to? Between the softly-softly approach of self-care and the resilience-building lens of doing hard things?
I think one of the hallmarks of healthy boundaries is knowing that there are times where both apply. Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to not do the thing. To cancel plans. To say no, or not right now. But other times, we need to remember our commitments, we need to show up, we need to be steadfast.
I grapple with the question of how to strike the right balance all the time. And further find myself wondering - how can we know whether stepping back or pushing forward is the right choice?
This article from Haley Nahman has stuck with me all week, as she digs into the question of when to step back vs when to push forward by asking herself, “Am I being avoidant?”
As a litmus test, “Am I being avoidant?” tends to cut through a lot of ambiguity, leading me to an answer that sometimes is and sometimes isn’t what I want to hear.
On comfort garden-planning
Even though April is prime-gardening-time, I’ve done nothing this week aside from watering the carrot seedlings that are just popping their fragile, fussy little heads up, and making sure the brassica seedling trays don’t dry out. I’ve literally been too weak to do anything more than that. (Truth be told, I couldn’t even carry a full watering can when I did those things. Boo, Covid. You suck.)
I have, however, spent a little bit of time planning the next few weeks of planting, in the hopes that I’ll feel better soon, and you know what? It’s been a genuine comfort. Here’s what’s on the mid-autumn agenda:
sowing more broad beans (I saved seed from last year’s stellar crop and have planted some already. These were a harvest highlight of late-winter-spring last year so I’m planting a lot more this time round and sowing every four-ish weeks to see if I can extend the season)
garlic (with endless love to Bec of Think Big Live Simply and Casey of Gardening with Casey Joy – both garlic-sharing legends who came to my rescue after last week’s post)
beetroot (maybe too late for us up in the highlands, but we’ll see)
peas peas peas, please
greens (I’ve already planted Tokyo bekana and some cool-climate lettuce, plus silverbeet and perpetual spinach. Will add kale, baby spinach to the mix over the next couple of weeks)
radishes (more daikon, more watermelon radish, more French breakfast – according to Hannah at Good Life Permaculture, these are great to sow between rows of garlic, so I might try that too)
brassicas (the first batch of seedlings was destroyed by a combination of dog and cabbage moth caterpillars so these are going in late, but I’ve got brocolli, cauliflower, kale and a couple of ambitious Brussel sprouts to go in over the coming couple of weeks)
flowers (alyssum, more daffodil bulbs going in under the fruit trees)
What are you growing at the moment?
In the meantime, here’s to a few restful moments this weekend, and hopefully some comfort-watching (or drinking, or gardening etc.)
Brooke xx
I’m currently:
Making: another stack of dishcloths after last week’s post got me motivated
Getting: my winter crochet projects organised. Goal #1: Finish the blanket I started for our daughter more than 2 years ago. The good news is I’m more than halfway!
Wanting: to see how this six-month four-hour-work-week trial goes in the UK. Obviously it’s not a one size fits all approach, but I think a more human-centred focus on work as we move into whatever comes in the next stage of the pandemic is a great place to begin.
Looking: forward to watching Shred Kelly’s Live Album Experience this weekend. If we can’t get to Canada, we’ll have a little slice of Canada come to us.
Dreaming: of this Ottolenghi chickpea cacio e pepe that Ben made me for my 40th birthday. You know those meals that are so good they keep coming back to you? That drive you mad with cravings? This is one of them.
Finally:
If you enjoy The Tortoise, please feel free to share it. It’s one way you can support me and my work and I will bestow you with many good wishes and the honorary title of Big-Time Tortoise Pal.
We also love The Repair Shop for comfort viewing, as even new episodes tend to be reliably "feel-good" with maybe a few tears. Lord of the Rings is another mainstay of both comfort-viewing and comfort-reading! I even find the "making of" special features to be soothing - to watch about how something wonderful was made through so many people's care and dedication makes me feel good about humanity. And then sometimes I even have to reach way back to the Little House series of my childhood! I find myself going there on days when I yearn for simplicity.
We love Grand Designs. Kevin is practically part of our family and the music instantly soothes so familiar it is x