Reflect + Review

How I wrote a book (and rested) in 6 weeks

I wrote a book about rest in 6 weeks this year. The irony of this isn’t lost on me. Rest, after all, can’t be rushed. And yet the reality is that we live in a world that encourages us to hurry up and do too much at all costs, leaving no opportunity to reflect on or integrate what has happened.

I managed to find ease in the making of Move, Rest, Recover, even while under an aggressive deadline. I mostly attribute this to a big notebook, and a lot of rest. Yes, rest. It’s possible to relax even as you get on with all the things that need doing.

Now, as 2024 yawns toward closure, I’m sitting at my desk where my first copy of my new book rests atop its bones — the messy notebook that houses the ideas, anecdotes, list, and all manner of brief flashings (

Katie Arnold

readers IYKYK) that went into its creation. This moment is timely — winter’s arrival is an invitation to review and consolidate our learnings, and our note-taking is full of clues about how we’ve traversed the last 12 months.

Each December as a practice of slowing the turn of calendar pages I sit still and review my notebooks of the past few seasons.

Anyone else do this?

Reflect

Reviewing your pages is a potent process of reflection and integration. This helps us to move forward with clarity and purpose. Now’s the time — create some space to reflect. Remind yourself what went down, when, and how it felt. If you haven’t been writing that’s okay too, it’s never too late to anchor your thoughts and see what they reflect back.