Solitude Sunday

Keeping It (Mostly) Silent + Solo

As a self-employed creative and only child, I spend most of my time alone. By choice and by birthright, solitude is familiar territory and helps keep my creative well full.

Over the years, by fits and starts, I’ve built a life that alternates between extraversion and introversion. As a natural ambivert, I’m happiest somewhere in the middle—close enough to people to feel connected, but far enough away to breathe.

Some days I’m energized by conversation and community; other days I’m recharged by silence and solitude. It’s a dance I’m still learning, but it keeps me grooving and moving.

Most days, I stay plugged in to a motley mix of chosen family, friends, and work colleagues. We text, Zoom, talk on the phone, and occasionally meet up in real life. Technology helps keep the campfire talks going—and my new AirPods are making that easier than ever.

AIRPODS PRO 3

This Sunday, I’m using my AirPods differently. No calls, no meetings, no background chatter. Just me, my headphones, and the comforting hush of my own space. I might cue up a lo-fi playlist, audiobook, meditation track, or just turn on noise cancellation and let the silence settle in.

For me, “Solitude Sunday” isn’t about isolation. It’s about intention. It’s about giving myself permission to step away from the noise and tend to the parts of my life and business that often get drowned out by too much conversation and collaboration.

I’ve learned that if I don’t make time for solitude, my attitude pays the price. When I go too long without quiet, I get short-tempered, distracted, and creatively drained. Solitude is how I reset, recharge, and remember who I am when no one’s asking for anything from me.

Sometimes that means writing just for myself, with no need to post or perform. Sometimes it means tending to the unglamorous admin tasks that future-me will appreciate. And sometimes it means doing nothing at all without agenda or guilt. What I really, really want is room to breathe. And time to nap.

Silence can feel uncomfortable at first, especially in a world that rewards constant updates and “engagement.” But there’s a special kind of magic that happens when the world gets quiet enough for you to hear your own thoughts again.

So today, I’m keeping it (mostly) silent and solo. Headphones on, world off. I will be recharging, reflecting, and remembering that solitude isn’t absence. It’s space. The kind of space where creativity, clarity, and peace can finally catch up to me.

Keep calm and solitude on!
Clint 🌈✌️

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ICYMI = IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• SUNDAY = Till Death Do Us Part?

• MONDAY = It Takes A Village

• TUESDAY = It’s Raining...Rain

• WEDNESDAY = Life Goes On

• THURSDAY = On ‘Becoming A Man’

• FRIDAY = Doodling + Noodling

• FRIDAY = Give You My Heart

• FRIDAY = Look But Don’t Touch (NSFW)

• SATURDAY = The “Other Studio” Saturday

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ON THIS DAY = OCTOBER 19

BIRTHDAYS

• 1862 = Auguste Lumière = French filmmaker

• 1920 = LaWanda Page = American actor

• 1921 = George Nader = American actor 🌈

• 1923 = Ruth Carter Stevenson = American art collector

• 1928 = Lou Scheimer = American animator, voice actor, and Filmation co-founder

• 1931 = John le Carré = English intelligence officer and author

• 1932 = Robert Reed = American actor 🌈

• 1937 = Peter Max = German-American artist

• 1940 = Michael Gambon = Irish-British actor

• 1944 = Peter Tosh = Jamaican singer-songwriter

• 1945 = Divine = American drag queen and actor 🌈

• 1945 = Gloria Jones = American singer-songwriter

• 1945 = John Lithgow = American actor

• 1960 = Jennifer Holliday = American actor and singer

• 1962 = Evander Holyfield = American boxer and actor

• 1964 = Ty Pennington = American model, carpenter, and tv host

• 1966 = Jon Favreau = American actor and filmmaker

• 1969 = Trey Parker = American actor, animator, producer, and screenwriter

• 1971 = Vivienne Ming = American neuroscientist and AI expert 🌈

• 1977 = Jason Reitman = Canadian-American filmmaker

EVENTS

• 1847 = The novel Jane Eyre is published in London.

• 1953 = Ray Bradbury‘s Fahrenheit 451 is published.

• 1955 = The General Assembly of the European Broadcasting Union approves the staging of the first Eurovision Song Contest.

• 1994 = Clerks is released theaters.

• 1998 = Cher releases “Believe” as a single.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

• Ace Week (October 19-25)

• LGBT Center Awareness Day

• LGBTQ History Month (October 1-31) 🌈🧐📚

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PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY

DIVINE = GLENN MILSTEAD

“I think the least of people’s worries is a man In a dress.”
Divine