Depth Year 2019: Going Deeper, Not Wider

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So I recently stumbled upon this idea that has the power to change my life in the best way possible. Maybe you’ve heard of it, but it’s new to me and it has blown my mind. I’ve spent three weeks binge watching videos on YouTube and reading as many articles as I could find about the idea. Now I want to share my thoughts and my take on it. And of course share with you how I plan to make it happen.  

WARNING: This concept won’t appeal to everyone, but I share it because it really resonates with me and it comes at the right time in my life. You may want to do a WIDTH year instead -- a year where you go wide, learn more, and do more. I’ve had a Width Life, so I’m good on that front for now.

I was watching this video by Jessica Starr The Story Witch. She talks about something called a Depth Year. I was so intrigued that I paused her video a few minutes in and read the article by David Cain where he talks about this fictional idea of a Depth Year, and once I read the article, I was all in!!!

But in true Capricorn fashion, I must make it work for me and really own the idea with a practical approach and do my best not to over think it or over extend the idea into something I would hate by February. I sat with it, journaled about it. Allowed the idea to marinate in my mind before writing this or sharing it with anyone else (even Damon). I need this to be MY DEPTH YEAR and I need to do it MY WAY.

I talk about it here on YouTube.

But before I go there, let me share with you what really resonates with me about this concept:

• The overall philosophy of a Depth Year is to go deeper, not wider.
• A Depth Year is about finding the value in the stuff I already own and the things I’ve already started.
• The idea of spending time improving the skills I already have instead of trying to learn something brand new, sings to my soul. Getting better at the things I am good at instead of stopping those things to start new things.
• Consuming media I have stockpiled instead of acquiring more. Turning to the wealth of options I already have in my possession kinda makes me excited.
• Reading unread books.
• Re-reading favorite books.
• Drilling down for value and enrichment instead of fanning out. I tend to be a fanner, but 2018 has taught me that fanning is exhausting, so the thought of going deeper really appeals to me.
• Learning to live without the little highs I get from starting something new or buying something new!!! -- THIS ONE IS HUGE FOR ME. More on that later in the year.
• By taking a whole year to go deeper instead of wider, I can end up with a rich but carefully curated collection of personal interests (the author wrote these words and I couldn't agree more fully -- especially with the carefully curated part).
• Another thing the author says is --“When we give ourselves fewer places to dig, we go deeper, and what we uncover is more rare and valuable than the usual stuff near the surface.”
• And finally Cain imagines, “Having completed a Depth Year would be a hallmark of maturity, representing the transition between having reached adulthood chronologically and reaching it spiritually. You learn not to be so flippant with your aspirations.”

That was a slap in the face. Have I been flippant with my aspirations? Have I disrespected my gifts, talents, and passions? I had to shamefully answer yes when I asked myself those questions. I spent the entire year of 2018 feeling like a “half-asser” because of all the death in my life and the many times I’ve had to stop everything and reconfigure my plans. So many things fell by the wayside, I’m sure I let many people down and forgot birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and so much more. This makes me sad. It makes me a little disgusted with myself, even though I know most of it was out of my control, I still feel really shitty about it.

So before I share what I’m doing this year to go deeper, let me just say these things:

1. I work best with guidelines, rules, and parameters that give me a foundation, and I reserve the right to break them (since I made them) without fear of death or the earth falling off its axis.
2. These are my parameters. Set your own, or do nothing at all except find ways to go deeper or wider, if that’s what you need.
3. I get to decide what gets shared publicly and what does not.

I have spent a lifetime (46 years) widening my interests. I love so many things -- see my ABC’s list for my Depth Year -- that I really do have enough things to keep me engaged for the next decade. But let’s not get carried away -- I’m talking one year for now.  I see this as a year to go deeper into the things I already know, love, and own, AND to go deeper with the people in my life. Here’s what I’ll be doing to go deeper:

1. I’ll work more deeply with my word, color, symbol, and card of the year. CLICK HERE to read about my 2019 choices.
2. Going deeper into my bookbinding practice. Revisiting my Book-in-a-Day videos on YouTube and the classes I taught that were born out of that journey.
   1. Mastering structures that I love.
   2. Studying structures and spending time with the content I create in the structures.
3. Diving deeper into the esoteric topics I’ve been skirting around and flirting with for two decades, but never really going deep or mastering them.
4. Fountain Pen limitations -- this will be the hardest for me, I’m sure, but it’s time that I cull my collection and be more mindful about the ones I purchase going forward.
   1. Using the inks I’ve been hoarding or just not using for whatever reason.
   2. Buying new pens if they are limited editions or special somehow to me and my journey. Maybe even letting go of an old pen in order to buy a new pen that I really want.  
5. I will NOT buy new books, unless released/written in this year by a friend or mentor OR for Radical Readers (a reading group my husband and I run together).
   1. I can check books out of the library though.
   2. I can also borrow or swap books with friends.
6. Going deeper with my watercolor practice.
   1. I have so many classes I’ve signed up for that I could get a PhD in watercolor.
   2. Making time to practice using them as often as possible.
7. Using all of my current art supplies (includes inks for Fountain Pens, paper, and journaling supplies) and only buying the supplies that I run out of as a replacement when needed.
8. Not purchasing new online classes unless they add to my depth year or directly relate to it.
9. Letting go of many, many, many things:
   1. My Twitter Account
   2. The Freedom Training Ground (moving classes to my other online school)
   3. Freedom Training Ground FB Group
   4. Reducing the number of Facebook groups that do not have direct impact on my depth year or that are in direct opposition to my depth year (all the buy, sell, trade groups).
   5. Giving away purchased journals I won’t use, supplies I’ve barely used, things I decided are not for me, but that I keep around anyway in case I change my mind (fear based thinking!!).
10. Rekindling my relationship with the people in my life. This includes family and friends, but also my online community. Some of you have been following me since the beginning and I want to reconnect to you just as much as I want to reconnect with my family and close friends.
    1. Writing letters
    2. Talking on the phone (oh yeah, they do more than text and facebook, you know!!)
    3. Visiting people in person and hugging them.
    4. Having slow, long meals with people where we talk and reminisce and plan.
    5. Gathering with community so that we can listen and share with one another.
    6. Taking walks with people and experiencing nature with them.
11. Spending time in nature. I’m moving closer to the beach than I’ve been in a long time, so I’m excited to see it more and spend time reconnecting to my love of water and sand.
12. Spending time connecting the dots in my life -- all the things that I love that I have moved away from to go towards new things.

This, I imagine, is just the start of my #depthyear plans. I suspect it will change and morph as I go deeper. I will revise it and share what feels easy to share. In the meantime, I’m curious...have you ever taken a depth year? What do you think of the concept?  

Let’s continue to connect.
With blessings, love, and gratitude…​