the quiet list #8: a library of lists to help you pause and think
for my list lovers, winter edition: comforting lists to get you through the last leg of winter (with a few new additions)
hello quiet readers,
welcome to another instalment of the quiet list, a library of lists to help you pause and think, winter edition.
is the darkness getting to you a little too much? does the weight of those moody grey clouds feel like they’re pressing right on your shoulders? do you need something to bring you back to the present and help you find the beauty in winter again? i think this will help.
stroll through this library of lists slowly, preferably on a laptop or tablet, and get in a comfy seat (or bed) with a hot drink and a pen and paper (you’ll need it). these rooms invite you to give yourself some much-needed time to simply be present in the moment and help you get through this last leg of darkness. there’s a lot to get through so take your time, come back to some rooms later, go at your own pace.
in the library, you’ll find the bookshelves, the hobby table, the writing room, the chair by the window and the research room. but if you feel like staying home, you’ll find a comfort list, a sensory list, permission slips and postcards from my home to yours.
also, the quiet list will now have a new companion, a handmade zine! if you’d like one, click here. if you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll receive a separate email with a code to get yours 100% off. wait for it to arrive in the post, feel the pages turn in your hands, leave it on your desk (or altar) as a reminder to be a little kinder to yourself this season. i hope you like it.
the quiet list is a series for paid subscribers, but i’m leaving this issue free for a short period of time to allow you to see behind the curtain a little. consider upgrading your subscription to receive a free zine every season and more posts on how to find quiet all year round <3
okay, let’s get into the lists.
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the bookshelves
what i’m reading, what’s on the tbr shelf, new words i’ve learned, notes from my commonplace book.
currently reading: the safekeep by yael van der wouden. this is a great book, one of the books i wish i owned instead of borrowing from the library. i am so intrigued by isabel’s character; i’m interested in the idea of reservation and in her extremely austere nature. i don’t want to spoil it but i am loving watching everything unravel. the prose is a breath of fresh air, but sometimes it is too fresh, like taking in a quick breath on an extra frosty day. there are a lot of sentences that get cut off, and this isn’t just reserved for dialogue. it can feel a little disjointed at times. i like the technique, but personally i feel like it’s a little overused. definitely looking like a 4+ star read however.
vicissitude: an unpleasant change in circumstances
diaphanous: allowing light to pass through, transparent
“loving someone, if you think about it, is dangerous. i mean, how well can we know anyone? how well can we know even ourselves?” – the third love by hiromi kawakami
pleonastic: using more words than necessary
also rereading: welcome to the hyunam-dong bookshop for an essay i’m working on on why we feel guilty about liking a simple life. minjun, the character i’m most interested in, asks himself one day, “can i really live like this?” after he experiences a few good days taking a break from work and just going to yoga classes, eating well and watching movies in the evening. i’m finding myself more passionate about the idea of work and my changing perspectives on it.
“hobbies give you chances to manage and know yourself. which is another way of saying that they give you freedom.” – do we need hobbies? by joshua rothman for the new yorker
on the tbr shelf: (lots of books i’ve started and need to finish, really) white teeth by zadie smith, little women by louisa may alcott, all about love by bell hooks, novelist as a vocation by haruki murakmai
best books to cosy up with this season: japanese translation about cats, including she and her cat by makoto shinkai and naruki nagakawa (one of my all-time faves), we’ll prescribe you a cat by syou ishida, the full moon coffee shop by mai mochizuki, the travelling cat chronicles by hiro arikawa. for more like this, click here.
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the hobby table
some things i’ve been doing to pass the time, some inspiration for you.
i’ve actually noticed that i haven’t been hobbying as hard as usual recently. in order to make january feel less like the longest and most depressing month of the year, i’ve gone headfirst into my creative work. i recently finished a short story which i’m so proud of, i’ve been brainstorming ideas for this newsletter (including the fun new bits you’ll see at the end), i’ve been making zines! but i’ve still made a little time for hobbies, including:
playing tamagotchi connection: corner shop on my nintendo 2ds xl - i don’t have much of the nostalgia other people have playing this game (or any non-switch game) but it’s still a fun, inner-child healing experience regardless. it’s nice to turn off my brain (for the most part, some customers are asking for too much in my cake shop quite frankly)
almost blasphemous for me to say but the new animal crossing 3.0 update is out and i… still haven’t played it. i think i’m just so overwhelmed by the amount of new stuff you can do, and my island is just way too big. i think all my creativity has been spent on writing my short story or something. but you should still play it!
some cosy game recommendations for you: everafter falls (started this couch co-op farming sim with my partner recently, we love it), dream garden (build your own zen garden), babbling brook (play with sand and water to create little streams for little ducks), carefully stamped (create your own postcards to sell), cosmic coop (rebuild a farm alongside quirky inhabitants)
baking an apple and blueberry crumble and banana bread which turned out so well, even with the wrong amount of bananas, i’m ready to call myself a baker already. i’m kidding, kinda. encouraging you to bake something sweet for yourself instead of buying something overly sugary and chemically at the supermarket. pour your love into it, indulge in the aroma of something sweet in the oven, enjoy the lingering scent for the rest of the day, look forward to a little sweet treat made just for you for the rest of the week.
personalising my belongings. i filmed a video on my channel of me decorating my cd player. it was just so plain, it was begging to be covered in stickers. that video may only be about 13 minutes long, but finding the right sticker placement was actually a two-day affair. highly recommend finding something to throw some stickers on. turn on some (non ai) lo-fi music like this and pour all your attention into one activity. no multi-tasking allowed.
i’ve been watching old tv shows, specifically, desperate housewives. i love the 00s of it all. i recently finally finished gilmore girls as well (which took a couple of years), and the story went a bit haywire but still, cosy vibes all round. get something a little old and a little grainy on your tv or laptop screen. take a trip to the library or the charity shop and buy some dvds that remind you of times where life felt a little simpler.
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the chair by the window
a space to contemplate and think. what’s been on your mind recently? what’s piqued your interest lately? stay here a while with a notebook.
like i mentioned above, i want to look more into the idea of work and fulfilment. i’ve always been of the mind that work can never equate to joy, the word in itself sounds colourless. right now this looks like paying attention to how i feel when i am at work (writing and creating for you on substack, marketing on pinterest, writing and editing my short story collection) and how i feel when i’m not at work. like monday, i took a rest day and gave myself permission to do absolutely nothing, but i felt terrible by the end of the day. what does this mean about my relationship with work now? how did i find work that fulfilled me in this way? (and since when did i become one of those people who feel a little off when they’re not working?)
what do you think about work? what is one job (or maybe you have a couple) that you think you would feel this way about? that would make you feel almost energised at the end of the day instead of lethargic and exhausted?
but there also comes the reality of it all. i’m currently not “employed” and living off savings, which means i have all the time in the world to focus on what really matters to me. but what happens when i have no choice but to go back to a “conventional” job?
also thinking about january and february as rehearsal. this note seemed to resonate with a lot of people. i don’t think i’ll ever try to become a whole new person on 1st january again. spring is the marker of a new beginning. it only makes sense.
what’s been on your mind recently? what sort of thoughts does winter conjure up for you? what do you tend to think about more when it’s a little gloomy outside? winter is good time to ruminate, make lists, look into things, pick up books read a couple of pages and put them down again.
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the writing room
keep your notebook open and take a moment for reflection. see how far you’ve come, where you want to go next.
what do i secretly like about winter? (these can become your anchors as the season progresses, like little lanterns along a dark path)
what am i most grateful for this season?
what am i most proud of myself for this season?
how am i acknowledging the season this year?
what do i find more challenging or stop doing entirely during winter? do some of these need to occur in winter or can i take time off and resume in the spring? what are some ways i can encourage myself to do more of these things slowly and at a more gentle pace?
what expectations can i let go of for the rest of the season (e.g. keeping up with some sort of fitness challenge or strict diet plan)
which unhelpful habits am i ready to let go of this season?
what do i want my life to look like come the spring?
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the research room
expand your mind, read something different, learn something new.
the self-appointed artist residency, explained by amy stewart on substack
(one of my favourites this season) you can be the unofficial artist in residence of anything!
the chronically online will become a new underclass a youtube video by magic
(really love this too) deep diving into the creator’s digital pollution theory: an examination of the harmful functions of social media, paralleled to environmental racism and extractive capitalism, revealing a looming future where access to a healthy, fulfilling offline life is reserved for the privileged.
the curious notoriety of “performative reading” an article from the new yorker
is the term a new way of calling people pretentious, or does it reflect a deprioritisation of the written word?
i think i hate my friends by raiessa lin on substack
when distance, self-preservation and soft isolation start to feel easier than showing up.
stretching reduces tumor growth… why? by emilina lomas on substack
the study that shows stretching does more than you think.
get a free humanities education on youtube by jo shaw on substack
a compilation of 40+ courses & resources.
a realistic reading week | starting my january tbr by sera danielle on youtube
this is a cosy, honest reading vlog about reading slumps, annotating again and letting go of reading pressure.
the decline of deviance by adam mastroianni on substack
where has all the weirdness gone?
you don’t need an “aesthetic,” you need a value system by eri on substack
did gloria steinem ever have a tomato girl summer?
library crawl vlog | visiting multiple libraries and cozy reading by rosalie kenzie on youtube
bookish library crawl visiting multiple local libraries, browsing the shelves.
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and if you feel like staying home…
a comfort list
ways to soften the season. try some of these to make winter feel less icy and a little more warm and welcoming.
reread a familiar book, one that gives you the comfort of knowing exactly what happens next, where you know exactly how you’re going to feel
go to bed earlier for no reason. it’s too dark for all this.
eat a meal by candlelight.
add minimal decor around your house, think seasonal tea towels, oven mitts, warm coloured candles, throws, artificial flowers to reuse every year, tablecloths.
stay in without a good reason why. sometimes you just want to and that’s okay.
always have a blanket nearby.
light apple, cedarwood, vanilla, pine, cinnamon scented candles.
declutter your space for a sense of calm. emulate the stillness and clarity of the frosty air outside your window.
embrace fairy lights and lamps.
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a sensory list
it may be dark, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing for our senses to enjoy. take a look at the season, up close.
the sound of a kettle boiling first thing in the morning, the only sound amongst the silence of everyone else still asleep.
the weight of your favourite winter coat, the feeling of winter jumpers against your skin, slipping your feet into heavy boots, knowing the cold won’t get in.
the fleeting yet instant relief of pulling warm sleeves over cold hands.
biting into a warm, flaky homemade pastry, feeling it melt in your mouth, tasting every ingredient that was once just a concoction in a mixing bowl.
the satisfying muted crunch of snow under your boots, seeing your footprints immortalise behind you.
a warm mug held in both hands, rolling it between each palm, letting the heat touch every fingertip, every part of your hand, maybe even the veins on your wrists.
seeing the orange glow emanating from your neighbours’ windows at night, wondering what they’re up to in there, seeing the glow float in a puddle across the street.
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permission slips
just in case you were struggling to give yourself what you really want. take however many you like.
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postcards from my home to yours
some cosy reminders with pictures i’ve taken at home
thank you so much for reading this entire post! i hope it has helped you to settle into the season a little more and served as a reminder of what winter is all about—time for rest, reflection and preparation for the real beginning that is spring.
don’t forget to upgrade your subscription if you’d like the spring instalment of the quiet list, a free zine every season and much more. you can also buy me a coffee here to support this newsletter <3
have a wonderful sunday, i’ll see you next week <3
love the post cards those are so cute!