January 2022 - Los Cuadernos de Julia

The Benefits of Planning

This year I have an undated notebook for long-term planning and taking notes and a dated planner for everyday life.

I have lived by planning for over a decade. There was a time when I only had to remember which lessons I had on which days, but that ended after I graduated from the University of Manchester. When I worked at APPCO in 2010, I wrote detailed daily plans in a simple notebook. Then I came to Moscow, and planners entered my life and stayed there for good.

Admittedly, I was never a fan of dated planners. I much preferred writing the dates myself… which on occasion meant that I would skip planning, especially at weekends.

For the past two years I had my daily and weekly planners and a notepad all in the same notebook, which was undated. It was alright, but I felt I needed to bring more organisation and, erm, planning in my life. So this year I have an undated notebook for long-term planning and taking notes and a dated planner for everyday life.

I’m only past January, but the benefits are already there:

I did a lot of translation;
I did a lot of copyrighting for different clients;
I started a book for those who are studying the English language;
I am in the process of collecting my own art essays to publish them as a book this year;
and I am in the process of doing something very creative that I have rarely done before. It will be in Russian for the first time, but if it goes well, I’ll probably add an English version to it.

I can also see what I have little time left for and think about alternate routes.

Better yet, I am writing my personal diary again, and this time I pay more attention to my everyday life. It’s heartening to contemplate how decades later scholars may really use it to reconstruct my “womanly” part of life.

So, if you have been thinking whether or not to use planners and diaries, I hope this has inspired you enough.

More about my Experiences.

Epiphany 2022

January 19th is a fixed date in the Russian Orthodox calendar. On this day we celebrate Epiphany – the moment when Jesus came to be baptised by St John in the waters of the Jordan River.

You have likely seen the reports of people bathing in the cold water on Epiphany. Bearing in mind Russia’s climate and severe wintery frosts this bathing ritual is more of a popular tradition rather than a requirement endorsed by the Church. In other words, if one doesn’t bathe on Epiphany, there will be no negative implications for their soul.

I have never gone to a designated bathing place but I did take a shower at home at midnight on January 19th. Yet this year I chose to skip doing so, and turned out so did President Putin!

What I did do as usual was to go to my local church for the so-called holy water. This is your regular water that was blessed by the priest. There are usually crowds of people standing in long queues, so I tend to go there late in the evening.

This is what my parish church of St Nicholas looked like on the evening of Epiphany. I’ve just caught myself on a thought that, while I was studying the Tudor period, I was quite fascinated by the terms “parish” and “parishioners”. Even though I was quite irreligious in those days I evidently loved the idea of a community where a church was a perfect gathering place, where people sang hymns and attended sermons. And see, two decades later I’m a parishioner myself…

Winter Holidays End

And I don’t know if I had enough rest, but I have a feeling it was good enough. And this is the most important thing.

As of 2021, Russian winter holidays now officially last from December 31st until after January 7th. And although this does not seem like too long a period, it seems I managed to take some rest. If you follow the link to 2021 Xmas category at the end of the post, you will read about what I did. I wanted to visit GUM and to walk in the forest and maybe have a ski walk, but I didn’t. I have some time for a walk, and I might still visit GUM, and hopefully I’ll give a brush to my skis, but in the meantime these are mere plans.

GUM Christmas Trees.

This is what I did:

sat in solitude and silence with a garland and a cup of tasty coffee;
read a lot;
framed my diplomas;
walked a lot;
ate 3 big cakes;
translated a lot into English, including a Bowie-inspired Space O;
blogged here practically every day;
slept to my heart’s desire.

And I don’t know if I had enough rest, but I have a feeling it was good enough. And this is the most important thing.

winter-holidays — My winter holidays were something like that, cuddled with lots of soft cushions. Courtesy of Tartanscot

Julia Shuvalova – Space O

Space O by Julia Shuvalova is a fictional account of David Bowie composing one of his most famous songs, Space Oddity. #bowie75

Space-O-Julia-Shuvalova

I wrote the story “Space O” in Russian in late February 2021, upon learning about a literary contest dedicated to the 60^th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight to space. The contest was organized by Litres.Samizdat, a Russian platform for self-published authors, and Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency. It was shortlisted for the final and was eventually published in a separate collection of novellas by other contestants. Apparently, this collection has recently been delivered to the ISS, too.

As I was thinking about the subject for my story, I went through some notebooks but I did not find anything that caught my attention. It had to be a short story or a novella. I began to think “outside the box”. I did not want to delve into too many technical aspects of space flights, nor did I want to populate the story with extraterrestrial characters. I wanted something creative, daring, and utterly humane. Suddenly Space Oddity came to mind…, and I wrote this story overnight.

This is obviously a fictional account of David Bowie’s composing one of his most famous songs, but I did some research for the fictional part. All aspects of the first three chapters fell together almost by themselves, I only had to write it all down. Along the way I realized that I walked the same streets in Soho, I lived in Bromley, accessed from Victoria Station, for 2 weeks in 2004, so I was a regular at Victoria Station, too. The pub I depicted was a beer hole I visited once, but it was probably in Greater Manchester where I lived between 2003 and 2010. And I saw many loaders, like “Major Tom”, in my 7 years in England. After I submitted the story for the contest I decided to check when the first British person went to space. Turned out it was a woman, and her mission was mutually financed by the UK and the USSR, and it took place… on May 19^th, 1991. 30 years after the first flight. “Majors” had to wait for a long time.

Space O is a story about dreams – and what breaks them. It is about love and poverty – the topics that Robert Burns was very much aware about. It is about inspiration and thirst for life. And it is about the Earth and space – for “the whole space is about Earth.” And on occasion of David Bowie’s 75th birthday I translated the story into English and share it now on this blog.

Russian Orthodox Christmas 2022

The Russian turn-of-the-year holidays are drawing to a close. Today we celebrated the Russian Orthodox Christmas. I didn’t go to the Mass this year, but I sent the cards to my friends and relatives.

I had a walk in the day, and in the evening I enjoyed watching magnificent snowfall. The temperature is falling slowly, it is -12 at the moment, and I am going to have a cup of hot tea before retreating to bed.

Christmas is always about silence and solemn solitude, especially if you celebrate it as a religious festival. But even if it is a secular, family festival for you, it is a good moment to stop and reflect on the values of union, family, childhood, and faith. We live in the time when it is important to have a solid foundation, and Christmas is the moment to think about it.

Three Pleasures a Day

Three Pleasures a Day is a nice psychological habit to keep yourself in a good mood each day.

Last year I joined a community of female entrepreneurs. The topic of female business is flourishing in Russia, and there are two kinds of ladies in the game. One is male-like, dominating by force of money and “connections”. This type is all about goal-setting and overachievement.

Another type acknowledges the importance of hard graft but prefers to dwell on a more feminine side. Rather than delaying gratification, this type enjoys the ride, knows what it wants, and takes it easy. It avoids spreading itself thin for the sake of achievement… and surprisingly, often achieves more than the first type, if only because it doesn’t burn out.

One way to avoid the burnouts is to allocate time to 3 pleasures a day. Mine have been:

Tasty coffee.
Silence.
Garlands.

Yes, they are very simple but they please me a lot. The idea is to find something that will generate “good vibrations” every day. We don’t need to go out of our way to find these simple pleasures. Watching the snowfall is good, just as dancing to your favourite tune.

And, as we all agree, 3 simple pleasures a day at this time make a lot of difference. Positive feelings and emotions bring health, but they are not sold in pharmacies. We make them happen.

By the way, I put my 3 pleasures in my daily planner, and I am very glad when I tick them off!

Do you practise this habit?

Tartans and Furs

As much as I like the concept of minimalism, I prefer to surround myself with things I love. I like Welsh and Scottish music and language, and throwing tartans around myself feels like travelling in time and space.

Tartans and furs make my heart beat faster. Once in a while I look at minimalist interiors and think just how nice it is to have so little stuff around! I once browsed a book by a diehard minimalist. So devoted he was, in fact, that he moved into a studio with no decor and furniture whatsoever.

I like it when there’s little stuff but I can’t bring myself to live in a nun’s cell. I mean, when I decide to live like a nun I’ll join a nunnery. But while I lead this profane secular life I strive for comfort.

And in this photo you can see some of the things I love and eagerly have in my life. Tartans and lush cushions – oh, they are my staples! This year I bought myself 3 throws as a Christmas present. I sleep under a single-coloured one, and I use a tartan one to cover my shoulders or legs in the day. Another tartan throw, in green and red, is waiting for its turn. The cushions I made for my knitted throw 13 years ago I now use to support my back.

So, as much as I like the concept of minimalism, I prefer to surround myself with things I love. I like Welsh and Scottish music and language, and throwing tartans and furs around myself feels like travelling in time and space.

What are your favourite household articles that create the atmosphere?

New Moon in January 2022

New Moon on January 2nd, 2022 is the time to draw your first wishlist for the year. Read about the difference btw “I must” and “I want” and try going a more pleasant way.

The story goes that even the world leaders start some of their actions on a new moon. This year’s first new moon in January 2022 will occur today, January 2nd, at 21:33 Moscow time.

I’ve always made plans and resolutions. But it took a tremendous effort to get some of them off the ground, let alone to finish. Then last year I went through some lists and plans, and I was rather unpleasantly surprised at the amount of “I must” and “I have to” at the beginning of my vows.

I have never believed men and women were too different. But in the past few years I had to admit that one fundamental difference shines through the modals we use. “Must” and “have to” are typically male; these modal verbs invoke strength and power.

Women are strong and powerful, too – in their femininity. So our expression is “I want”, which is not a modal verb, strictly speaking. However, by merely knowing what I want I can get it quicker than if I went by on “must” and “have to”. It doesn’t mean that I don’t work towards my dreams. It simply means that I love what I want, and this makes it easier to attain.

So, if you have been stumbling in the last couple of years, perhaps you could try writing down what you really want to do in this first new moon of 2022?

new moon in january 2022 — A New Year tree meets New Moon in January 2022

First Day of 2022

First Day of 2022. I wrote a 2,5K words article on Russian Orthodox Christmas gifts.

On the first day of 2022 I wrote 16 thousand characters without spaces on the subject of Russian Orthodox Christmas gifts. Now I could find a present with my eyes closed, literally. While writing the article, I thought of a life-hack: couldn’t we just put down in a notepad what presents we gave to people? It would help to save so much time and money, trying to figure out what gift may suit whom!

Apparently, January 1 and 2 are perfect to draw plans for 2022 and conclusions for 2021. Which is precisely what I am doing now. Even though I no longer write NY resolutions, I do make plans.

What about you? How was your New Year night and January 1st? I keep marveling at just how excellent the calendar is. First, December 25th and 25th fell on the weekend, and now January 1st and 2nd also fall on the weekend.

Is this what you call “serendipity“?

PS – In the photo is the New Year tree in my Moscow flat. In the past several years we decorated the balcony, hanging the garlands and baubles, and we also set a New Year tree there. It is just two years younger than me.