(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)
All I Want for Christmas is my two front teeth (check), yoooouuuuuuu (a la Mariah Carey, check), and ….? They are in no particular order, though it’ll be obvious which ones are more important:
- A respite from FOMO - Maybe it’s just me but there continues to be a never-ending stream of new products coming out. Whether it’s new pens, inks, paper, washi tape, rubber stamps, you name it, chances are I want it. And I have to ask myself “do I really LOVE those things or am I getting caught up in FOMO (fear of missing out)?” This is especially difficult for those limited editions that are only sold in stores or in certain countries, etc. Buy now, regret & sell later! Nope, not gonna do it … at least I’m going to try to resist.
- Succumbing to FOMO for the right things - I know, I just said no more FOMO, but we’ve all been there before. We’re trying to be good, on a self-imposed spending ban, already blew the budget and then we’re staring at something that hits all our buttons. Sometimes, you just gotta pull the trigger because you KNOW you’re going to love it and it’ll drive you nuts when you’re unable to get one down the road.
- New products and not just new colors - It’s easy for companies to stick with the tried-and-true and produce new colors of the same product (some of my favorites fall into this bucket (TWSBI Eco/580, Leonardo, Pelikan, etc.), but we want to see new products too. And not just at increasingly higher price points either! The TWSBI Swipe that came out earlier this year is a great example. Ditto the piston-filling Leonardo Momento Magico. Keep them coming!
- More time to swatch my inks - Not gonna lie, swatching inks isn’t my absolute favorite thing to do. It’s not because it’s difficult or anything; I just always want to do something else instead. But having less than 60% of my inks swatched means I might be missing out on using an awesome ink just because I don’t know what color it is or buying something that ends up being way too similar. adding to my “to be swatched” pile. And buying more ink when I don’t have all my inks swatches just makes me feel guilty. More swatching = less guilt AND a growing catalog of ink swatches = win!
- Courage to try something new, like journaling - Of all the bajillion projects that I use fountain pens for, journaling isn’t one of them. I don’t mean bullet journaling, but rather jotting down thoughts, happenings, etc. I’m intimidated by the gorgeous journaling spreads on Instagram and I know they never have to see the light of day, but I’m still afraid that they’ll look “boring”, “ugly” and “lame”. Hoping to find some courage and creativity that’ll push me past that fear to try something new.
- Continued enjoyment of this rabbit hole - I know that there are times when picking up pen and paper is the last thing I want or have time to do, but every time I do, I never regret it. Even “bad” ink/pen pairings or shaky handwriting practice leaves me in a better mood than when I started. And when Brad asked me about writing for TPA, I was worried that having a “pen job” would make me like my pens less and knock on wood, that hasn’t happened yet and I hope it never does.
- Rediscovering currently owned but not currently used items - In a hobby where it’s easy to get caught up with the latest and greatest, it’s equally easy to forget all about the other items you already have. Maybe it’s your first pens (I still use a Metro nearly every day) or some ink samples that you remembered enjoyed using but never bought a bottle of. Or maybe it’s the stack of pocket notebooks that sit there collecting dust when it can be repurposed - they make great notebooks for workouts, gas/mileage logs, even using as scratch paper. The point is that I know I have a lot of stuff that I haven’t used for whatever reasons and I really should because they’re probably pretty awesome.
- Overcoming the anxiety around items that aren’t currently used and giving them a new home - Maybe you’ve “outgrown” an item or maybe it never “sparked joy” from the get-go, but I know there are things in my stash that I have no interest in using but haven’t gotten rid of. One reason it is difficult for me to let things go is that I’m often thinking “but I spent $$ on it, I can’t just give it away or lose lots of money on it.” But having it sit there unused and taking up space doesn’t do me any good either. So whether it’s giving things away or selling them, I’m hoping I can find the determination and discipline to go through my unused items.
- Stick-to-it-iveness for seeing my projects through to the finish - This one is a toughie! I have the attention span of a gnat and it makes it difficult to…..SQUIRREL!….what was I saying? Yeah, it’s super easy for me to come up with new projects and ideas for using my pens and papers but much harder for me to finish said projects. I may still add some new projects in the new year but I will also keep plugging away at the current ones. Wish me luck!
- Being a part of a community - I am so grateful to be a part of the pen community whether it is on Facebook, Instagram, Pen Addict Slack, SF Pen Posse, pen club zooms, pen shows, etc. These communities were a godsend for me during the past 18+ months and many of these folks are more like family than friends. I wish for you all that you have a community, online or otherwise, where you can geek out about pens and no one looks at you funny :-).
- Health and wellness - Now, more than ever, I wish us all good health and wellness, including mental health. Get vaccinated/boostered, mask up, and take care of yourself. Reach out if you’re struggling, get help from friends, family, professionals. Take that hike, pamper yourself, meditate, stretch, hydrate, etc. I’m going to work on my push-ups, running pace/distance, doing a little more yoga/stretching, hydrating more and more healthy eating.
- Gratitude - As someone who naturally finds flaws, bugs, errors, mistakes (my career was in Software Quality Assurance), it’s harder for me to notice things that are going well. I want to work on having a gratitude mindset and finding things to be thankful for. It may be small, like finding out that there’s still hot coffee in the pot when you wake up, or bigger, like getting through a surgery, having a new baby or buying your first house. Whatever it is, I hope we all find things to be grateful for (take a look at this gratitude article if you need ideas).
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and I wish everyone a happy holiday season and wonderful 2022. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay inky!
