On ending things

Announcing a new beginning for the Extraordinary Routines newsletter.

“What we call the beginning is often the end,” wrote T S Eliot. “And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

There may be a new beginning in every ending, but that doesn’t mean the start will always reveal itself right away.

It was over a year ago that I reached a particular ending. I submitted my manuscript, and I knew in that moment it was also a conclusion for Extraordinary Routines, the labour of love that has held my attention for over half a decade.

It felt like a natural and neat ending—the insights, the lessons, the turning points in my own curiosity had all been poured into the pages of my book, I Didn’t Do The Thing Today.

And yet, I hesitated to properly acknowledge the end. To the keen observer it was obvious: I hadn’t sent a newsletter in months. I hadn’t planned a new season of the podcast. I hadn’t conducted a new interview for years. The writing was on the wall, but I didn’t want to read it aloud. Yet in letting things languish, I felt I had…