December 7, 2024 • 39 mins
SUMMARY
Hi friends! I’m wrapping up the year with a heartfelt reflection on growth, creativity, and intentional living. I share how tools like Bullet Journaling and the Year Compass help me process my year, lessons I’ve learned about overcoming self-doubt, and the joy I’ve found in crafting as therapy. Looking to 2025, I’m excited (and a little nervous!) to start a “no-buy year” to encourage mindful consumption. On the business side, I’ll focus on refining what I’ve built instead of chasing the next big thing. Join me for a mix of vulnerability, inspiration, and practical tips as we reflect and grow together.
FULL SHOW-NOTES WITH TAKEAWAYS + LINKS
BEST QUOTE FROM THE EPISODE
"Crafting helped me rest without guilt—it felt productive but restorative at the same time."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, lovely listener, welcome, or welcome
back to Pattern Shift, thepodcast where we explore the
intersections of needlecraft,slow fashion and running a
business that is as balanced asthe stitches in your favorite
piece.
Okay, that is horrible.
What we basically do here is wetalk about running small
(00:24):
businesses in slow fashion andhow I can support you with that,
because I believe in marketing,branding and selling in an
ethical way and building yourbusiness in a way that really
just respects your boundariesand knows about your values and
(00:44):
what you need.
And, yeah, just running abusiness so that you can still
enjoy actually crafting and therest of your life and all of
that kind of thing.
So that's what we do here.
Welcome, I'm so excited thatyou're here.
I'm actually recording this forthe second time.
I don't know what's been goingon lately, but I think my hard
(01:10):
disk must be too full orsomething and things are going
wrong.
It's fine, though.
I prepared this.
I have some sort of a script infront of me that I can.
What do you call that?
Riff-off-off, riff-off-off,riff-off-off, riff-off-off,
scruff-ruffle, scruff-off-all.
Anyway, I can use the wordsthat are in front of me to
(01:34):
basically tell the whole thingagain, and it's actually
probably good, because then itreally helps me.
The whole thing is aboutreflection anyway, end of the
year reflection, the tools thatI use to do that, how helpful
they are to me and, hopefully,how helpful they can be to you.
(01:55):
So we're reflecting on thereflection that I've done
earlier and it's just basicallylike filtering coffee, which
can't be anything but good,right?
So positive vibes, welcome,welcome, welcome.
It's the end of the year?
Well, not really, but it feelslike it doesn't it?
(02:18):
It just really feels like it'sthe end of the year, like it's
the end of the year, and for meit does, and that brings me into
a certain vibe.
I usually take two to threeweeks to really reflect on
what's been happening, and Ihave a few tools that I use for
that.
I go into this mental state ofbeing all calm and collected and
(02:47):
reflective and journaling anddoing all the things to process
what's been happening to me andwhat I've learned from that and
how I will use that to take withme in the future, and I hope
this helps you too.
So some really cool ideas inthis episode, some free things
(03:09):
to download for you as well,that can be helpful.
So sit tight, get somethingcozy, get your craft of choice,
your warm beverage of choice,and settle in and settle in.
So, first of all, I want tostart by sharing my tools for
reflection on the year.
(03:29):
I cannot tell this storywithout mentioning my bullet
journal, my beloved bulletjournal.
In fact, I'm happy that I'mdoing this for the second time
now, because earlier today, whenI was recording this, I went
(03:49):
into this whole kind of loveletter to bullet journaling,
which might have been fun,interesting or completely weird.
So let's keep it a little bitmore focused now.
I love the bullet journal.
Here I go again.
It is my day-to-day toolthroughout the year that helps
(04:10):
me be mindful and productive andcombine these things into
focusing on what my intentionsand goals are for my life,
myself, my business, everythingand by the end of the year it
becomes this incredible recordof everything that I've done
(04:30):
accomplished big, small, messedup even and I can look back at
my spreads and my notes and Ican see patterns and moments of
growth and even things I'd liketo improve on Bunch of them,
actually.
So I've got my new bulletjournal ready in front of me.
(04:54):
I'm going to just say thisright away If you like 10%
discount on bullet journalproducts.
You can get them with a linkthat I share in the show notes
and on my website,patternshiftfm.
If you have any questions aboutit, you can always email me.
I love to hear from you so thatout of the way, focusing back
(05:18):
on what it actually does for me.
So I'm not going to talk aboutwhat the whole bullet journal
system is.
That's something for anotherepisode.
I really should, really should,do that a full bullet journal
episode and I will.
If you want to learn how to doit, I do workshops.
I'm actually the first officialbullet journal trainer in the
(05:40):
Netherlands and I speak bothDutch and English and also some
other languages, but I'm notsure if I could teach that in
those languages.
So, yeah, you are very welcometo go on my website and learn
more about that.
But today we are going to talkabout how I use the bullet
journal for reflecting on theyear.
(06:01):
So can you hear this?
These are the pages, so I'mgoing to open it up and then the
biggest thing, or not thebiggest thing?
It's part of a whole ritual,but I'll share with you one part
of it that I think will beuseful for you, even if you're
not a bullet journalist, even ifyou don't use it, you can do
(06:25):
this anyway.
So open up a journal in a spreadand if you open it up into
empty pages, that's what theycall a spread an empty page on
the left hand side and one onthe right hand side.
So add the year on top of inthe middle of those two pages
somewhere, and then on theleft-hand side, you divide the
(06:47):
page into two.
The right-hand side page youalso divide into two, leaving
you with four equal parts Topleft-hand side, you write worked
.
Bottom left-hand side, youwrite didn't work.
That talks about the process.
And then on the right-hand page, you are going to focus on the
(07:12):
purpose or your purpose, and youwill write more of on the top
right-hand side and less of onthe right bottom side.
I'm so confused now I hope youare following and then you
basically collect your thoughts,you think about it, you think
(07:36):
about the year, you go throughyour calendar your photos are
actually really helpful forreflection on the year you sit
down with friends, you get intothis stage of really thinking
about the year and then youwrite down what worked for you
and what didn't work for you,what you want more of and what
(07:58):
you want less of.
So I'll give you some examplesfrom my list here.
So I hope that is helpful foryou and I'll just give a few,
because I can get really lengthywith these things I've noticed
and you might have too.
So what worked for me is to setbetter boundaries.
What worked for me is to visitfestivals as a customer and
(08:22):
talking to people and buildingrelationships with businesses.
That was really helpful for mybusiness.
What also worked for me isorganizing my home room per room
and not necessarily month permonth.
That is in the section didn'twork.
What also worked for me isgoing to bed at 10 o'clock as
(08:45):
consistently as possible,because that is just the
beginning of a circle.
That is the most healthy for me.
Going to bed on time meanswaking up rested, means having
enough energy to have a decentbreakfast, means having enough
(09:11):
energy to work through my phasesof hyperfocus and not getting
totally dehydrated and starvedso that I will overeat by the
evening.
Too much information, I know,but these are the things that
you start to see patterns whenyou use a journal and I've
noticed that just going too badon time is the beginning of the
(09:32):
solution for a lot of things.
So what didn't work for me was Itried the building a second
brain thing with the Paradashboard.
Don't know if that sayssomething to you, doesn't really
matter.
It didn't really work for me.
It was fun in the moment, butafter that it just kind of yeah,
(09:57):
didn't really.
I might go back to it one day.
What didn't work for me is oh,this is an interesting one
Sending consistent newsletters.
This is something that themarketing people always say
consistent, consistent,consistent and it's just just
(10:17):
not working for me, and I wishit was.
No, I actually don't.
This is something I learned.
It's not working for me.
And remember, marketing is justtrying different things out and
see what works for you and yourcustomer.
I think it will work for mycustomer to have consistent
newsletters, but I feel likeI've really there's some moments
(10:39):
where I'm really into it andsome moments when I'm not.
So what I need, completelyturning this into a learning
moment is to use those momentswhen I'm really wanting to write
and in that vibe, to write acouple of them and just plan
(11:01):
them out and not wait, andthat's what I already know that
works.
That's also what I often sharewith people that doing a lot of
things at the same time.
It's kind of also it has alsoto do with figuring out where
your energy peaks are, and thosethings are all connected.
(11:23):
So that's kind of a journeywhere you some things work and
some things don't, and figuringout why doesn't it work.
Are you writing your emails toolong, and is that why you kind
of are looking, you're dreadingto write it because it's just
too much work at that moment?
(11:44):
Can you change it into adifferent format?
So that's what I'll be thinkingabout in the next couple of
months and how to make that workbetter for me and you, of
course.
So what do I want more of?
I want to see more movies inthe theater and not only at home
(12:04):
.
I want more of not buying newthings.
I will get to that in a minute.
I also want more of yeah, morefestival visits and shop visits
and connecting with shop ownersand small businesses like yours.
(12:28):
And I want less of everythingLess gluten, just less, just
making things smaller, just nothopping onto everything.
That tickles my fancy in themoment, which is going to be
hard, because I might haveshared this with you.
I got the official ADHDdiagnosis this year and now
(12:50):
everything makes sense, so it'shard for me to stay focused on
one thing for a long time, or itis super easy, depending on
what it is and so I want less ofeverything, everything, and
less of worrying, and also lessof YouTube, because I seem to
(13:11):
have replaced Instagram withYouTube there.
So there you go.
I will dip in and out ofInstagram, by the way, every now
and then, just to see ifsomebody's sending me an
important or a nice message, andthen I will click a heart here
and there and then I'll quietlyleave again or share that I have
a new episode, but that'sbasically all I am doing on
(13:33):
Instagram.
I don't feel the need to scrollas much or not as much at all,
but now YouTube has taken thatrole, so there's another thing
to battle in 2025.
Right, moving on swiftly.
Moving on swiftly this was oneof the things that the bullet
journal helps me with to gothrough my whole journal and
(13:58):
look at the bullets.
There's a way that you can scanyour journal and really quickly
can see what you felt like in acertain month, what you
accomplished, what things werehard for you.
The way it's set up is youreally really can scan and find
(14:22):
the story of your year quitequickly, even though it's not
going to be an hour.
I mean, the process ofreflecting is just a longer
process.
You also kind of have to walkaround with the ideas and let it
sink in and then think about it, and all of that.
So bullet journal one Nextthing is long form journaling,
like the morning pages thatJulia Cameron writes about in
(14:45):
the artist's way.
That was also super helpful forme and I kept them as a
practice, not necessarily everyday, but every time I need to
really go deep and figuresomething out, to find out what
it is that I actually think.
And sometimes I do that bywriting, and sometimes it
(15:07):
doesn't work writing and then Isimply speak into my phone using
the app ottercom not sponsoredand that can be really helpful
because that is a tool thatrecords meetings and gives you a
summary of your meeting andyour task list, and it's also
(15:29):
really helpful to kind oforganize your thoughts, and I
need that sometimes.
So that's what I use as well.
And the last thing I want totalk about is my.
One of the things that I lookforward to at the end of the
year is the year compass.
A group of people have builtthis tool that is amazing and I
(15:50):
keep sharing with people everyyear.
I've done it with a group offriends before and it is
transformational.
It is a little booklet that youcan print out it's free, by the
way, totally free and half ofthe booklet focuses on the past
(16:10):
year and the other half focuseson what's to come.
It asks you questions, it hasyou go through your calendar and
write things down and it'ssimilarly to the bullet journal
gives you a full view, panoramicview, of your year.
You have to sit down to do it,you have to take some time, it
(16:35):
takes some effort, but it'sreally really helpful, and so
these are my favorite tools thatI use, and if you want to know
what they are, go to, perhaps,and shiftfm for information in
the show notes.
So in the end, there's threemain questions that I focus on
(16:58):
at the end of the year withthese tools and with this moment
of reflection, and that is one,what went well this year?
Two, what didn't go as plannedand what did I learn from it.
And three, what do I want tocarry forward into the next year
.
So these tools helped meuncover something really
(17:19):
personal this year.
I'm still in reflection mode.
I haven't finished, and I wastalking to a friend the other
day and because with this on mymind, I started to talk about it
and then I realized somethingthat was really quite profound
and it's kind of hard to shareit, but I think it's important
(17:43):
and I'm feeling kind of like mycheeks are becoming red.
I'm kind of blushing because,yeah, it's, it's it's not easy
to to talk about, but come on,let's go.
So sometimes I really can, canget uh disheartened.
Um, it feels like the.
(18:05):
The vision I have and themission that I'm on uh are too
large.
It's too big.
I won't never be able to findenough business owners to help
them make a change in the world,or aspiring entrepreneurs who
truly see the importance of whatI'm talking about and what I
(18:27):
have to offer.
And when they actually do, Iwonder if they will find it
worth their time and money.
And I end up feeling a littlebit like a fraud, because who am
I to teach about marketing andbranding and selling when I only
have a really small communitymyself?
If the people aren't lining upto work with me, does that mean
(18:51):
that I'm failing?
But then, through my reflection, I realized something and it
was quite amazing.
It's quite powerful.
I've actually been fullypracticing what I preach.
I live and work according to myvalues and boundaries and I
(19:11):
keep my goals in mind, and theresult is that I've created a
super loving and warm communityan actual community, not a
marketing buzzword, where peopleor people where businesses talk
about community and you like,subscribe to our newsletter and
become part of our community.
(19:32):
That's not a community, butI've created a community that is
full of people that genuinelyhelp each other, support each
other, are open to all kinds ofconversations, find each other
in things they have in commonideas that they share, specific
(19:54):
things in their life that aregoing on all that kind of thing
and this year I actually gainednew customers for all of the
products that I offer.
So I was able to serve peopleand be there for them, even when
I was going through a roughtime for a few months, and all
(20:17):
of that is because I've set mybusiness up to function with my
needs and my boundaries in mind.
Exactly what I'm teaching andmoney has never been the main
drive of my business, though Ido stand by the line your
business is not your hobby, andfor me, the amount of profit I
(20:40):
make is not nearly as importantas the amount of support I can
offer, and so I can look back onthis year and really say it's
been a successful year, becauseit does fully align with my
personal definition of success.
And those I'm imagining like aHarry Potter scene here, like
(21:04):
the dark voices that whisper tome it's not enough.
That's not really true.
Those voices are how should Isay that?
They're kind of echoes of asociety and a way of working
that I don't even subscribe to.
So next year, one of my goalsis to quiet those voices and to
(21:30):
really trust that what I'mbuilding is enough, or more than
enough, because it is builtaccording to what I think is
important.
And that was such a deep, deepinsight I got from my reflecting
, and it was more than aninsight, it was kind of it felt
(21:51):
like I was comforting myself, mydark voices, with just doing
the job that I'm doing, like itwas quite meta.
Anyways, let's get a little bitmore practical again, shall we?
So, this year, my personalcrafting projects, and what was
(22:17):
I able to do?
And how do I reflect on a yearof crafting and making my own
wardrobe?
Well, one of the things that Idid in the process is.
I made lists of this year.
One of those lists is a list ofprojects that I finished, and
(22:39):
in the earlier recording that Idid for this episode, I was
going through all of them andthat is perhaps a little bit too
long winded, but, at the sametime, how do I?
How do I?
How would I otherwise do it?
Um, I just made so many things.
(22:59):
I made a lot of things a dress,um, my ski pants, uh, another
pair of pants.
Now I'm gonna I'm gonna listthem all again Lots of things
that I loved making, the thingsthat I needed, and, um, making
the things that I needed andthings that I did for the first
time and learned a lot from.
(23:29):
I used the pattern blocks that Ilearned to make from my own
body measurements and I usedthem to make a dress and a pair
of pants, and my ski pants aswell.
They're all based on my bodymeasurements and not based on
existing patterns, which Ithought was amazing and so
empowering.
And it feels so good to be ableto dress your body instead of
(23:53):
what would it be instead?
Like, feels like it's somethingthe other way around, like, put
your body into something thathas been made.
You see, that's kind of andthen using patterns feels like
the in-between from that and Ifelt like it really felt good to
kind of skip the step of usinga pre-made pattern but kind of
(24:17):
design it yourself.
And I won't say that I canreplicate all of that now,
because that is just really hardon my brain.
I have a teacher.
She's amazing and she takes methrough the steps and I just
have to do it a lot of timesbefore I can do it myself, but I
did it anyway and I have grownmy wardrobe with things that I
(24:41):
love and needed and, yeah, andI've learned how to spin flax
into linen, which was amazing.
As a result of that, I'm goingto grow my own flax in the next
year, which is something I'mlooking forward to, and I'm
really curious about and also alittle bit scared.
(25:02):
I don't know why I'm scared,but you know, never know.
I made weird things, like Icrocheted a dice back for my
eldest daughter.
I have learned to do clay handbuilding is what they call it.
I think.
I've learned how to make aquilt, which is something I
(25:24):
didn't know how to do, and now Ido, and I'm probably not going
to add that to my regularhobbies.
But I do have a set ofwonderful, really pretty William
Morris Christmas quilt cottonthat's the word, I think so at
one point perhaps next year,perhaps another year, I don't
(25:47):
know that is going to be a quiltand I know how to do it now and
that was great, so justbringing that all together.
This year has been a lot aboutcrafting.
As I said before, I wasstruggling with my health and
coming to terms with mydiagnosis and I just had a rough
(26:11):
couple of months and I had noenergy and motivation was really
hard and I felt like nothinginterests me and that is not
like a normal place for me to beat all, although I did have.
I do have moments likedefinitely have had moments over
(26:32):
the years when I felt reallylow, even depressed, and now I
can turn to crafting, which wasso amazing.
And crafting is like meditationand I need both of it, both of
them but it's hard for me toremember to meditate every day.
(26:55):
I need to find a way to putthat into my routine.
I'm not there yet that'sanother thing for 2025.
But the crafting has helped meto take time for myself and rest
and I can do that while I'mcrafting because I feel like I'm
.
There's a lot of fireworks.
(27:16):
I don't know if you can hearthem.
Yeah, I think you'll be able tohear them.
I'm just going to go on andtalk.
This is the second recordingand I think that's enough for a
day.
So the crafting really helped meto relax and to take time to
(27:37):
rest because I feel like I'mdoing something.
I feel like I'm like it's.
It's like they had something inthe in the Catholic Church that
I learned about in school Aflat brief, yes, they call it in
Dutch, which is you pay thechurch so that you don't have to
(27:59):
feel the guilt for something.
So I am almost feeling likeworking on craft is like I'm
working, so I don't have to feelguilty for sitting on the couch
and watching a movie, becauseI'm also producing something
which is really helpful.
I mean, it's probably not fully, fully healthy, I don't care.
It was helpful.
(28:20):
So, yeah, that's about mycrafting this year and loved it.
Visited a couple of festivals,couple of places.
It was amazing.
So Berlin wool weekend, thewedding wool weekend, and helped
Lisette of Schapendraak withtwo festivals that she was on
(28:45):
and I was helping in the standin the booth, and that was
extremely tiring if you're notused to it anymore, but also
very, very fun if you're notused to it anymore, but also
very, very fun.
So, looking ahead, I am going todo a thing that I've done
before, and if I'm going to sayit out loud, I'm going to have
to do it.
So I'm well aware of that, butI think I'm ready.
(29:10):
Actually, it's not about beingready, it's definitely.
It's a choice.
I've done it before and it feltreally great and I want to do
it again.
I want to do another year of notbuying anything, and that means
not buying anything for mepersonally doesn't include my
family and everything the stuffthat we need for our family and
(29:33):
my kids.
It doesn't include personalhygiene items and other things,
but it does include the thingsthat I have been buying in the
last couple of years, and it'snot been a huge amount.
But what I've been noticing isthat I have been buying
(29:57):
different kinds of shoes viaVinted and I think, honestly,
I'm very disappointed, but Ithink about 80% didn't fit,
wasn't comfortable, wasn't whatI expected, all of that.
So I don't want to do thatanymore.
(30:19):
In one way, I feel that I buythings that are already there.
I don't want to buy new thingsfrom the shop, but I do want to
be able to wear them and nothaving to send them over across
Europe again.
I mean, yeah, that's somethingI really need to think a little
bit about.
(30:40):
I have enough shoes for thecoming year.
I don't need anything else.
So I'm good there.
I have enough yarn.
I have enough fiber.
What's the word?
Textiles no, cloth, no, no, uh.
(31:08):
Cloth, no, uh.
Geez, what is it?
Wool no, the stuff you use forsewing.
It's too late if it's past fouro'clock I'm done and it's 4 23.
Fabrics Thank you very much.
Got enough fabrics for makingthings.
I've got enough books to read.
And the things that I have beenbuying is when I get into these
(31:29):
rabbit holes, into these thingsthat I temporarily focus on.
They usually come back inanother year or part of the year
and it's usually the same kindsof things.
So it's skincare, makeup,fountain pens and obviously,
everything needle craft.
Those are my focus areas andrabbit hole issues, and
(31:54):
sometimes I tend to buy thingsthat I don't need from those um
yeah, from those topics areas.
So, a year of not buyinganything, and I uh already know
that how.
I hope that it will have thesame effect as it did four years
(32:15):
ago.
I did it then because I movedhouse and I felt so spoiled with
the house I was living in andhow we were able to make it look
great and cozy and beautiful,and feeling that spoiled.
I wanted to kind of stretchthat feeling and so I enjoyed
(32:38):
what I had for a year withoutadding anything to it, and it
was just very, very mindful.
It was very easy on the brainbecause you don't get all of
those choices that you have tomake or the research that you
(32:59):
have to do that I tend to do.
I tend to do a lot of researchbefore I buy anything and then I
leave a website again and thenI do another session of research
and it just takes a lot of timeand effort and it's just really
easy to just not buy anything.
So, yeah, that is going to beinteresting, that's going to
(33:20):
happen for next year and it'salso going to.
That kind of mindset is alsogoing to hopefully help me
reframe how I approach mybusiness.
So I tend to constantly want totry new things, because that is
(33:43):
what I did.
The cortisol is just.
It's just this, not cortisol,it's a dopamine type hunt where
I'm like, ooh, I love this newidea.
I love the way people do this.
Can I do this?
Can I use this kind of app?
Can I use this website?
But I already built a bunch ofamazing things a course and a
(34:06):
membership and a community andeverything.
This year, I want to use what Ihave and work on the quality,
not the quantity, of things, andit's going to be hard.
It's going to be so hard for mebecause I'm going to have to
find that rush somewhere elseand I'm not sure what that'll be
(34:30):
, so bear with me there.
I'd love to hear your thoughtson this.
By the way, have you ever trieda no-buy year?
Are you considering somethinglike that?
Just drop me a message, let meknow what you think and we'll
talk about it in the communityas well.
(34:50):
So, yeah, I really want to knowwhat are your experiences with
things like this.
So, before we wrap up, I wantto say thank you.
If this has been your firstepisode you ever listened to or
you're a returning listener,perhaps you've been here ever
since it was called A SmallerLife and I just want to say that
(35:15):
your listening, your support,means so much to me.
I don't ask for it a lot.
This podcast is really a laborof love and it helps me to know
if it helps you.
So please let me know if it'shelpful for you, or even just
diverting fun to listen to theseepisodes.
(35:39):
You can do that by sending mean email.
Honestly, that is the bestthing, but it's also easy to
just give it a few stars andjust write a little review.
I am always on the lookout forwhat people think of the podcast
, so if you could do that andcould be my little Christmas
present, that would be soamazing.
(36:01):
Thank you so much.
Reflect on your own journey.
If you want to learn how tobullet journal, just go to my
website, patternshiftfm.
You'll find all the informationthere.
And yeah, come hang out in thecommunity with us and talk about
all these kinds of things andhang out with people that have
nothing but love and support togive, and I can't wait to see
(36:24):
what the new year will hold forall of us.
And I might drop in an extraepisode, but this also might be
the last one of the year.
It kind of depends on what'shappening in the next couple of
weeks.
I don't wanna be super, superrigid about things anymore, at
least not this time of year.
(36:45):
So thank you again and have alovely 2025.
5.
Hello, lovely listener, welcome, or welcome
back to Pattern Shift, thepodcast where we explore the
intersections of needlecraft,slow fashion and running a
business that is as balanced asthe stitches in your favorite
piece.
Okay, that is horrible.
What we basically do here is wetalk about running small
(00:24):
businesses in slow fashion andhow I can support you with that,
because I believe in marketing,branding and selling in an
ethical way and building yourbusiness in a way that really
just respects your boundariesand knows about your values and
(00:44):
what you need.
And, yeah, just running abusiness so that you can still
enjoy actually crafting and therest of your life and all of
that kind of thing.
So that's what we do here.
Welcome, I'm so excited thatyou're here.
I'm actually recording this forthe second time.
I don't know what's been goingon lately, but I think my hard
(01:10):
disk must be too full orsomething and things are going
wrong.
It's fine, though.
I prepared this.
I have some sort of a script infront of me that I can.
What do you call that?
Riff-off-off, riff-off-off,riff-off-off, riff-off-off,
scruff-ruffle, scruff-off-all.
Anyway, I can use the wordsthat are in front of me to
(01:34):
basically tell the whole thingagain, and it's actually
probably good, because then itreally helps me.
The whole thing is aboutreflection anyway, end of the
year reflection, the tools thatI use to do that, how helpful
they are to me and, hopefully,how helpful they can be to you.
(01:55):
So we're reflecting on thereflection that I've done
earlier and it's just basicallylike filtering coffee, which
can't be anything but good,right?
So positive vibes, welcome,welcome, welcome.
It's the end of the year?
Well, not really, but it feelslike it doesn't it?
(02:18):
It just really feels like it'sthe end of the year, like it's
the end of the year, and for meit does, and that brings me into
a certain vibe.
I usually take two to threeweeks to really reflect on
what's been happening, and Ihave a few tools that I use for
that.
I go into this mental state ofbeing all calm and collected and
(02:47):
reflective and journaling anddoing all the things to process
what's been happening to me andwhat I've learned from that and
how I will use that to take withme in the future, and I hope
this helps you too.
So some really cool ideas inthis episode, some free things
(03:09):
to download for you as well,that can be helpful.
So sit tight, get somethingcozy, get your craft of choice,
your warm beverage of choice,and settle in and settle in.
So, first of all, I want tostart by sharing my tools for
reflection on the year.
(03:29):
I cannot tell this storywithout mentioning my bullet
journal, my beloved bulletjournal.
In fact, I'm happy that I'mdoing this for the second time
now, because earlier today, whenI was recording this, I went
(03:49):
into this whole kind of loveletter to bullet journaling,
which might have been fun,interesting or completely weird.
So let's keep it a little bitmore focused now.
I love the bullet journal.
Here I go again.
It is my day-to-day toolthroughout the year that helps
(04:10):
me be mindful and productive andcombine these things into
focusing on what my intentionsand goals are for my life,
myself, my business, everythingand by the end of the year it
becomes this incredible recordof everything that I've done
(04:30):
accomplished big, small, messedup even and I can look back at
my spreads and my notes and Ican see patterns and moments of
growth and even things I'd liketo improve on Bunch of them,
actually.
So I've got my new bulletjournal ready in front of me.
(04:54):
I'm going to just say thisright away If you like 10%
discount on bullet journalproducts.
You can get them with a linkthat I share in the show notes
and on my website,patternshiftfm.
If you have any questions aboutit, you can always email me.
I love to hear from you so thatout of the way, focusing back
(05:18):
on what it actually does for me.
So I'm not going to talk aboutwhat the whole bullet journal
system is.
That's something for anotherepisode.
I really should, really should,do that a full bullet journal
episode and I will.
If you want to learn how to doit, I do workshops.
I'm actually the first officialbullet journal trainer in the
(05:40):
Netherlands and I speak bothDutch and English and also some
other languages, but I'm notsure if I could teach that in
those languages.
So, yeah, you are very welcometo go on my website and learn
more about that.
But today we are going to talkabout how I use the bullet
journal for reflecting on theyear.
(06:01):
So can you hear this?
These are the pages, so I'mgoing to open it up and then the
biggest thing, or not thebiggest thing?
It's part of a whole ritual,but I'll share with you one part
of it that I think will beuseful for you, even if you're
not a bullet journalist, even ifyou don't use it, you can do
(06:25):
this anyway.
So open up a journal in a spreadand if you open it up into
empty pages, that's what theycall a spread an empty page on
the left hand side and one onthe right hand side.
So add the year on top of inthe middle of those two pages
somewhere, and then on theleft-hand side, you divide the
(06:47):
page into two.
The right-hand side page youalso divide into two, leaving
you with four equal parts Topleft-hand side, you write worked
.
Bottom left-hand side, youwrite didn't work.
That talks about the process.
And then on the right-hand page, you are going to focus on the
(07:12):
purpose or your purpose, and youwill write more of on the top
right-hand side and less of onthe right bottom side.
I'm so confused now I hope youare following and then you
basically collect your thoughts,you think about it, you think
(07:36):
about the year, you go throughyour calendar your photos are
actually really helpful forreflection on the year you sit
down with friends, you get intothis stage of really thinking
about the year and then youwrite down what worked for you
and what didn't work for you,what you want more of and what
(07:58):
you want less of.
So I'll give you some examplesfrom my list here.
So I hope that is helpful foryou and I'll just give a few,
because I can get really lengthywith these things I've noticed
and you might have too.
So what worked for me is to setbetter boundaries.
What worked for me is to visitfestivals as a customer and
(08:22):
talking to people and buildingrelationships with businesses.
That was really helpful for mybusiness.
What also worked for me isorganizing my home room per room
and not necessarily month permonth.
That is in the section didn'twork.
What also worked for me isgoing to bed at 10 o'clock as
(08:45):
consistently as possible,because that is just the
beginning of a circle.
That is the most healthy for me.
Going to bed on time meanswaking up rested, means having
enough energy to have a decentbreakfast, means having enough
(09:11):
energy to work through my phasesof hyperfocus and not getting
totally dehydrated and starvedso that I will overeat by the
evening.
Too much information, I know,but these are the things that
you start to see patterns whenyou use a journal and I've
noticed that just going too badon time is the beginning of the
(09:32):
solution for a lot of things.
So what didn't work for me was Itried the building a second
brain thing with the Paradashboard.
Don't know if that sayssomething to you, doesn't really
matter.
It didn't really work for me.
It was fun in the moment, butafter that it just kind of yeah,
(09:57):
didn't really.
I might go back to it one day.
What didn't work for me is oh,this is an interesting one
Sending consistent newsletters.
This is something that themarketing people always say
consistent, consistent,consistent and it's just just
(10:17):
not working for me, and I wishit was.
No, I actually don't.
This is something I learned.
It's not working for me.
And remember, marketing is justtrying different things out and
see what works for you and yourcustomer.
I think it will work for mycustomer to have consistent
newsletters, but I feel likeI've really there's some moments
(10:39):
where I'm really into it andsome moments when I'm not.
So what I need, completelyturning this into a learning
moment is to use those momentswhen I'm really wanting to write
and in that vibe, to write acouple of them and just plan
(11:01):
them out and not wait, andthat's what I already know that
works.
That's also what I often sharewith people that doing a lot of
things at the same time.
It's kind of also it has alsoto do with figuring out where
your energy peaks are, and thosethings are all connected.
(11:23):
So that's kind of a journeywhere you some things work and
some things don't, and figuringout why doesn't it work.
Are you writing your emails toolong, and is that why you kind
of are looking, you're dreadingto write it because it's just
too much work at that moment?
(11:44):
Can you change it into adifferent format?
So that's what I'll be thinkingabout in the next couple of
months and how to make that workbetter for me and you, of
course.
So what do I want more of?
I want to see more movies inthe theater and not only at home
(12:04):
.
I want more of not buying newthings.
I will get to that in a minute.
I also want more of yeah, morefestival visits and shop visits
and connecting with shop ownersand small businesses like yours.
(12:28):
And I want less of everythingLess gluten, just less, just
making things smaller, just nothopping onto everything.
That tickles my fancy in themoment, which is going to be
hard, because I might haveshared this with you.
I got the official ADHDdiagnosis this year and now
(12:50):
everything makes sense, so it'shard for me to stay focused on
one thing for a long time, or itis super easy, depending on
what it is and so I want less ofeverything, everything, and
less of worrying, and also lessof YouTube, because I seem to
(13:11):
have replaced Instagram withYouTube there.
So there you go.
I will dip in and out ofInstagram, by the way, every now
and then, just to see ifsomebody's sending me an
important or a nice message, andthen I will click a heart here
and there and then I'll quietlyleave again or share that I have
a new episode, but that'sbasically all I am doing on
(13:33):
Instagram.
I don't feel the need to scrollas much or not as much at all,
but now YouTube has taken thatrole, so there's another thing
to battle in 2025.
Right, moving on swiftly.
Moving on swiftly this was oneof the things that the bullet
journal helps me with to gothrough my whole journal and
(13:58):
look at the bullets.
There's a way that you can scanyour journal and really quickly
can see what you felt like in acertain month, what you
accomplished, what things werehard for you.
The way it's set up is youreally really can scan and find
(14:22):
the story of your year quitequickly, even though it's not
going to be an hour.
I mean, the process ofreflecting is just a longer
process.
You also kind of have to walkaround with the ideas and let it
sink in and then think about it, and all of that.
So bullet journal one Nextthing is long form journaling,
like the morning pages thatJulia Cameron writes about in
(14:45):
the artist's way.
That was also super helpful forme and I kept them as a
practice, not necessarily everyday, but every time I need to
really go deep and figuresomething out, to find out what
it is that I actually think.
And sometimes I do that bywriting, and sometimes it
(15:07):
doesn't work writing and then Isimply speak into my phone using
the app ottercom not sponsoredand that can be really helpful
because that is a tool thatrecords meetings and gives you a
summary of your meeting andyour task list, and it's also
(15:29):
really helpful to kind oforganize your thoughts, and I
need that sometimes.
So that's what I use as well.
And the last thing I want totalk about is my.
One of the things that I lookforward to at the end of the
year is the year compass.
A group of people have builtthis tool that is amazing and I
(15:50):
keep sharing with people everyyear.
I've done it with a group offriends before and it is
transformational.
It is a little booklet that youcan print out it's free, by the
way, totally free and half ofthe booklet focuses on the past
(16:10):
year and the other half focuseson what's to come.
It asks you questions, it hasyou go through your calendar and
write things down and it'ssimilarly to the bullet journal
gives you a full view, panoramicview, of your year.
You have to sit down to do it,you have to take some time, it
(16:35):
takes some effort, but it'sreally really helpful, and so
these are my favorite tools thatI use, and if you want to know
what they are, go to, perhaps,and shiftfm for information in
the show notes.
So in the end, there's threemain questions that I focus on
(16:58):
at the end of the year withthese tools and with this moment
of reflection, and that is one,what went well this year?
Two, what didn't go as plannedand what did I learn from it.
And three, what do I want tocarry forward into the next year
.
So these tools helped meuncover something really
(17:19):
personal this year.
I'm still in reflection mode.
I haven't finished, and I wastalking to a friend the other
day and because with this on mymind, I started to talk about it
and then I realized somethingthat was really quite profound
and it's kind of hard to shareit, but I think it's important
(17:43):
and I'm feeling kind of like mycheeks are becoming red.
I'm kind of blushing because,yeah, it's, it's it's not easy
to to talk about, but come on,let's go.
So sometimes I really can, canget uh disheartened.
Um, it feels like the.
(18:05):
The vision I have and themission that I'm on uh are too
large.
It's too big.
I won't never be able to findenough business owners to help
them make a change in the world,or aspiring entrepreneurs who
truly see the importance of whatI'm talking about and what I
(18:27):
have to offer.
And when they actually do, Iwonder if they will find it
worth their time and money.
And I end up feeling a littlebit like a fraud, because who am
I to teach about marketing andbranding and selling when I only
have a really small communitymyself?
If the people aren't lining upto work with me, does that mean
(18:51):
that I'm failing?
But then, through my reflection, I realized something and it
was quite amazing.
It's quite powerful.
I've actually been fullypracticing what I preach.
I live and work according to myvalues and boundaries and I
(19:11):
keep my goals in mind, and theresult is that I've created a
super loving and warm communityan actual community, not a
marketing buzzword, where peopleor people where businesses talk
about community and you like,subscribe to our newsletter and
become part of our community.
(19:32):
That's not a community, butI've created a community that is
full of people that genuinelyhelp each other, support each
other, are open to all kinds ofconversations, find each other
in things they have in commonideas that they share, specific
(19:54):
things in their life that aregoing on all that kind of thing
and this year I actually gainednew customers for all of the
products that I offer.
So I was able to serve peopleand be there for them, even when
I was going through a roughtime for a few months, and all
(20:17):
of that is because I've set mybusiness up to function with my
needs and my boundaries in mind.
Exactly what I'm teaching andmoney has never been the main
drive of my business, though Ido stand by the line your
business is not your hobby, andfor me, the amount of profit I
(20:40):
make is not nearly as importantas the amount of support I can
offer, and so I can look back onthis year and really say it's
been a successful year, becauseit does fully align with my
personal definition of success.
And those I'm imagining like aHarry Potter scene here, like
(21:04):
the dark voices that whisper tome it's not enough.
That's not really true.
Those voices are how should Isay that?
They're kind of echoes of asociety and a way of working
that I don't even subscribe to.
So next year, one of my goalsis to quiet those voices and to
(21:30):
really trust that what I'mbuilding is enough, or more than
enough, because it is builtaccording to what I think is
important.
And that was such a deep, deepinsight I got from my reflecting
, and it was more than aninsight, it was kind of it felt
(21:51):
like I was comforting myself, mydark voices, with just doing
the job that I'm doing, like itwas quite meta.
Anyways, let's get a little bitmore practical again, shall we?
So, this year, my personalcrafting projects, and what was
(22:17):
I able to do?
And how do I reflect on a yearof crafting and making my own
wardrobe?
Well, one of the things that Idid in the process is.
I made lists of this year.
One of those lists is a list ofprojects that I finished, and
(22:39):
in the earlier recording that Idid for this episode, I was
going through all of them andthat is perhaps a little bit too
long winded, but, at the sametime, how do I?
How do I?
How would I otherwise do it?
Um, I just made so many things.
(22:59):
I made a lot of things a dress,um, my ski pants, uh, another
pair of pants.
Now I'm gonna I'm gonna listthem all again Lots of things
that I loved making, the thingsthat I needed, and, um, making
the things that I needed andthings that I did for the first
time and learned a lot from.
(23:29):
I used the pattern blocks that Ilearned to make from my own
body measurements and I usedthem to make a dress and a pair
of pants, and my ski pants aswell.
They're all based on my bodymeasurements and not based on
existing patterns, which Ithought was amazing and so
empowering.
And it feels so good to be ableto dress your body instead of
(23:53):
what would it be instead?
Like, feels like it's somethingthe other way around, like, put
your body into something thathas been made.
You see, that's kind of andthen using patterns feels like
the in-between from that and Ifelt like it really felt good to
kind of skip the step of usinga pre-made pattern but kind of
(24:17):
design it yourself.
And I won't say that I canreplicate all of that now,
because that is just really hardon my brain.
I have a teacher.
She's amazing and she takes methrough the steps and I just
have to do it a lot of timesbefore I can do it myself, but I
did it anyway and I have grownmy wardrobe with things that I
(24:41):
love and needed and, yeah, andI've learned how to spin flax
into linen, which was amazing.
As a result of that, I'm goingto grow my own flax in the next
year, which is something I'mlooking forward to, and I'm
really curious about and also alittle bit scared.
(25:02):
I don't know why I'm scared,but you know, never know.
I made weird things, like Icrocheted a dice back for my
eldest daughter.
I have learned to do clay handbuilding is what they call it.
I think.
I've learned how to make aquilt, which is something I
(25:24):
didn't know how to do, and now Ido, and I'm probably not going
to add that to my regularhobbies.
But I do have a set ofwonderful, really pretty William
Morris Christmas quilt cottonthat's the word, I think so at
one point perhaps next year,perhaps another year, I don't
(25:47):
know that is going to be a quiltand I know how to do it now and
that was great, so justbringing that all together.
This year has been a lot aboutcrafting.
As I said before, I wasstruggling with my health and
coming to terms with mydiagnosis and I just had a rough
(26:11):
couple of months and I had noenergy and motivation was really
hard and I felt like nothinginterests me and that is not
like a normal place for me to beat all, although I did have.
I do have moments likedefinitely have had moments over
(26:32):
the years when I felt reallylow, even depressed, and now I
can turn to crafting, which wasso amazing.
And crafting is like meditationand I need both of it, both of
them but it's hard for me toremember to meditate every day.
(26:55):
I need to find a way to putthat into my routine.
I'm not there yet that'sanother thing for 2025.
But the crafting has helped meto take time for myself and rest
and I can do that while I'mcrafting because I feel like I'm
.
There's a lot of fireworks.
(27:16):
I don't know if you can hearthem.
Yeah, I think you'll be able tohear them.
I'm just going to go on andtalk.
This is the second recordingand I think that's enough for a
day.
So the crafting really helped meto relax and to take time to
(27:37):
rest because I feel like I'mdoing something.
I feel like I'm like it's.
It's like they had something inthe in the Catholic Church that
I learned about in school Aflat brief, yes, they call it in
Dutch, which is you pay thechurch so that you don't have to
(27:59):
feel the guilt for something.
So I am almost feeling likeworking on craft is like I'm
working, so I don't have to feelguilty for sitting on the couch
and watching a movie, becauseI'm also producing something
which is really helpful.
I mean, it's probably not fully, fully healthy, I don't care.
It was helpful.
(28:20):
So, yeah, that's about mycrafting this year and loved it.
Visited a couple of festivals,couple of places.
It was amazing.
So Berlin wool weekend, thewedding wool weekend, and helped
Lisette of Schapendraak withtwo festivals that she was on
(28:45):
and I was helping in the standin the booth, and that was
extremely tiring if you're notused to it anymore, but also
very, very fun if you're notused to it anymore, but also
very, very fun.
So, looking ahead, I am going todo a thing that I've done
before, and if I'm going to sayit out loud, I'm going to have
to do it.
So I'm well aware of that, butI think I'm ready.
(29:10):
Actually, it's not about beingready, it's definitely.
It's a choice.
I've done it before and it feltreally great and I want to do
it again.
I want to do another year of notbuying anything, and that means
not buying anything for mepersonally doesn't include my
family and everything the stuffthat we need for our family and
(29:33):
my kids.
It doesn't include personalhygiene items and other things,
but it does include the thingsthat I have been buying in the
last couple of years, and it'snot been a huge amount.
But what I've been noticing isthat I have been buying
(29:57):
different kinds of shoes viaVinted and I think, honestly,
I'm very disappointed, but Ithink about 80% didn't fit,
wasn't comfortable, wasn't whatI expected, all of that.
So I don't want to do thatanymore.
(30:19):
In one way, I feel that I buythings that are already there.
I don't want to buy new thingsfrom the shop, but I do want to
be able to wear them and nothaving to send them over across
Europe again.
I mean, yeah, that's somethingI really need to think a little
bit about.
(30:40):
I have enough shoes for thecoming year.
I don't need anything else.
So I'm good there.
I have enough yarn.
I have enough fiber.
What's the word?
Textiles no, cloth, no, no, uh.
(31:08):
Cloth, no, uh.
Geez, what is it?
Wool no, the stuff you use forsewing.
It's too late if it's past fouro'clock I'm done and it's 4 23.
Fabrics Thank you very much.
Got enough fabrics for makingthings.
I've got enough books to read.
And the things that I have beenbuying is when I get into these
(31:29):
rabbit holes, into these thingsthat I temporarily focus on.
They usually come back inanother year or part of the year
and it's usually the same kindsof things.
So it's skincare, makeup,fountain pens and obviously,
everything needle craft.
Those are my focus areas andrabbit hole issues, and
(31:54):
sometimes I tend to buy thingsthat I don't need from those um
yeah, from those topics areas.
So, a year of not buyinganything, and I uh already know
that how.
I hope that it will have thesame effect as it did four years
(32:15):
ago.
I did it then because I movedhouse and I felt so spoiled with
the house I was living in andhow we were able to make it look
great and cozy and beautiful,and feeling that spoiled.
I wanted to kind of stretchthat feeling and so I enjoyed
(32:38):
what I had for a year withoutadding anything to it, and it
was just very, very mindful.
It was very easy on the brainbecause you don't get all of
those choices that you have tomake or the research that you
(32:59):
have to do that I tend to do.
I tend to do a lot of researchbefore I buy anything and then I
leave a website again and thenI do another session of research
and it just takes a lot of timeand effort and it's just really
easy to just not buy anything.
So, yeah, that is going to beinteresting, that's going to
(33:20):
happen for next year and it'salso going to.
That kind of mindset is alsogoing to hopefully help me
reframe how I approach mybusiness.
So I tend to constantly want totry new things, because that is
(33:43):
what I did.
The cortisol is just.
It's just this, not cortisol,it's a dopamine type hunt where
I'm like, ooh, I love this newidea.
I love the way people do this.
Can I do this?
Can I use this kind of app?
Can I use this website?
But I already built a bunch ofamazing things a course and a
(34:06):
membership and a community andeverything.
This year, I want to use what Ihave and work on the quality,
not the quantity, of things, andit's going to be hard.
It's going to be so hard for mebecause I'm going to have to
find that rush somewhere elseand I'm not sure what that'll be
(34:30):
, so bear with me there.
I'd love to hear your thoughtson this.
By the way, have you ever trieda no-buy year?
Are you considering somethinglike that?
Just drop me a message, let meknow what you think and we'll
talk about it in the communityas well.
(34:50):
So, yeah, I really want to knowwhat are your experiences with
things like this.
So, before we wrap up, I wantto say thank you.
If this has been your firstepisode you ever listened to or
you're a returning listener,perhaps you've been here ever
since it was called A SmallerLife and I just want to say that
(35:15):
your listening, your support,means so much to me.
I don't ask for it a lot.
This podcast is really a laborof love and it helps me to know
if it helps you.
So please let me know if it'shelpful for you, or even just
diverting fun to listen to theseepisodes.
(35:39):
You can do that by sending mean email.
Honestly, that is the bestthing, but it's also easy to
just give it a few stars andjust write a little review.
I am always on the lookout forwhat people think of the podcast
, so if you could do that andcould be my little Christmas
present, that would be soamazing.
(36:01):
Thank you so much.
Reflect on your own journey.
If you want to learn how tobullet journal, just go to my
website, patternshiftfm.
You'll find all the informationthere.
And yeah, come hang out in thecommunity with us and talk about
all these kinds of things andhang out with people that have
nothing but love and support togive, and I can't wait to see
(36:24):
what the new year will hold forall of us.
And I might drop in an extraepisode, but this also might be
the last one of the year.
It kind of depends on what'shappening in the next couple of
weeks.
I don't wanna be super, superrigid about things anymore, at
least not this time of year.
(36:45):
So thank you again and have alovely 2025.
5.
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