Welcome to The Tortoise in 2024

(yes, it is February but I’m going to wish you a happy new year anyway)

(This voiceover is an audio version of the newsletter below. As always, it’s unedited. If you like/need to listen to these posts I hope you enjoy it!)

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Mates, hello and Happy New Year!

I know I’ve posted a couple of times over January, but those letters were written and scheduled way back in December, so this feels like the first time I can truly welcome you to The Tortoise for 2024.

I hope you were able to find some down-time over the holidays, that there were good days spent with good people, and that this year brings you many pockets of joy.

First things first, I really want to thank everyone who visited over the holidays, and the many new subscribers who have joined since December. I’m thrilled to have you all here and can’t wait to introduce you to what I consider to be the kindest, slowest, bestest corner of the internet. Because of you and the way you’ve embraced my slightly quirky, term-based approach to newsletter writing, I was able to step back from work for six weeks. Six weeks! And not only do you allow me to do that, in many cases you actively encourage me to. At the end of the break, I feel restored and excited and more peaceful than I have in years and that’s because of you, this community. So thank you all for what you’ve given me.

Second things second, I want to apologise for a slight stuff-up over the break. The Values Workshop I wanted to share freely decided to slip back behind a paywall while I was away. I promise it wasn’t some kind of ploy to get you to sign up, I think it was a glitch in the back end. I’ve now fixed it, and to thank you all for your understanding, it will remain freely available to everyone until the end of February. You can check it out here. (It’s a really powerful, intentional way to start the year off and ties in beautifully with our 1% group experiment too!)

As for my break? It was delightful and ordinary and fast and slow.

• I ate the most perfect strawberry picked straight from the garden.

• I struggled to step away from my inbox for the first couple of weeks and am incredibly grateful to Ben who nudged me to try harder. It was worth the temporary discomfort, plus: No-one died! The world didn’t end!

• We discovered a big, beautiful blue-tongued lizard who lives under our deck.

• There were beach days, but not as many as we expected.

• We spent so much time with our kids, now both teenagers, and were amazed and delighted by them. (Truly. Teenagers are wonderful and challenging and I mostly love this stage of parenting).

• We ate a lot of this salad, and this one too.

• I got tossed a bit of a curve-ball health-wise. (More on this in Sunday’s post.)

• We started watching Parks and Rec together and it’s still great.

• The veggie garden has produced very few actual veggies but kilos and kilos of fruit. Blackberries and blueberries and strawberries, so many apples nearly ready to pick, plums and figs and even a few pears.

• I worked on my novel. In fact, I printed out Draft #3 (250 pages!) and worked my way through it, discovering scenes I’d completely forgotten and massive story holes and a sense of pride that surprised me a bit.

• I spent a lot of my 1% in the kitchen (more on Sunday too).

• I started taking photos again, with both my camera and new phone (the old one finally gave up the ghost) and I had forgotten how much I loved it.

• I completed 70% of my jigsaw puzzle (as is tradition).

And now that the slower days of January are behind us, my attention turns to the year ahead. I can already tell you it won’t unfold how I expected it to, but then again, when does it ever? And I mean that in both a personal sense, and a collective, global sense.

I ended last year with an intention to bring more joy to my life. And that remains. I’m excited and challenged by it. But I enter this year knowing there will be uncertainty and pain and discomfort amidst the joy. And I worry that too much of the former might rob me of my ability to practise the latter.

So instead of any big takeaway or lesson learnt from my lovely break, I’m beginning this year with an intention.

In 2024…

I will not abandon rest.
I will not abandon joy.
I will not abandon myself.

It feels counter-productive and selfish to say this. To rest when the world races. To laugh when there is so much pain. But if we want to change this world for the better — in even the tiniest of ways — we must.

Being exhausted, burnt-out, disconnected from ourselves is not a sustainable way forward. We need to turn inwards, find the kernel of who we are, love it and hold it and accept it for its beauty and its flaw. Then, armed with a nervous system that knows rest, a heart that understands the power of joy, we can turn slowly outwards. And piece by tiny piece, recalibrate our relationship with the world. Always returning home, to ourselves, to rest, to care, as needed.

What this looks like in a practical sense is what I hope to explore here this year. And I’m so glad to have you along for the ride.

What to expect from The Tortoise in 2024?

I’ve made a couple of changes over the break, which I hope will make The Tortoise an even nicer place to hang out.

I removed the paywall from more than 40 posts. Previously, free posts would go behind a paywall after three months, meaning only paying members could access them. That never sat well with me, so I’ve removed that setting. All free posts will remain free for everyone, for ever.

The 1% experiment starts on Sunday and you’re all invited. I wrote about the experiment here, and if you’re keen to play around with the power of tiny changes, check it out. The first 1% post of every quarter will be freely available to everyone and one will land in your inbox this Sunday. After which, paying members will receive a monthly update and have access to our accountability chat thread. I’m really excited to get more practical with the 1% this year and hope you’ll join us!

Aside from that, most things remain the same:

• I will still write to school terms, with every term themed to a different slow-living-related topic. (This means I take a two week break every ten weeks plus a longer break over the summer.)

• Everyone will receive a slow-living letter each Thursday, as well as a monthly episode of The Tortoise podcast.

• Paying supporters will also receive at least two additional Sunday letters every month. These vary from the more personal through to the highly practical.

• I will continue to try and work out what it means to live slowly in a world that seems hellbent on speed above all things.

• And this will continue to be a soft, slow place to land.

And this term’s theme? Joyful living. I know there will be surprises and delights and obstacles along the way, but I really can’t wait to dive in.

But for now, it’s the last day of the kids’ school holidays, the sun just came out, and the beach is calling.

Take good care and I’ll see you Sunday.
Brooke xx