- Wishful Working
- Posts
- You are a sponge
You are a sponge
When to absorb versus when to squeeze
Kara Detwiller
October 03, 2024
Today’s edition of Wishful Working is a 3 minute read.
When I think about rhythms and seasons of life, my brain often comes back to the image of a sponge. A dry sponge soaks up liquid, becoming saturated. Once it’s squeezed and wrung out, it once again has room to absorb more liquid.
Duh. We all know how a sponge works.
But did you know you are a sponge?
As a creative person, you need periods of absorption to gather inspiration, rest, and prepare for the squeeze. During the squeeze, the information and inspiration you absorbed comes pouring out into a creative product or project. Then, you’re metaphorically wrung out and ready for another round of absorption.
I first heard this “absorb and squeeze” idea in a podcast interview featuring Madeleine Dore, author of I Didn't Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt. In the interview, Madeleine talks about the “absorb” and “squeeze” seasons in her life. For example, she had a long “squeeze” season while writing her book, and she followed it with an “absorb” season spent resting, eating gelato, and getting inspired in Italy.
Unfortunately, carving out time for a sabbatical is challenging at best and impossible for most. Without dedicated absorption times, we tend to squeeze and squeeze until we’re wrung out and burned out. This is how I felt at my previous FT jobs, and taking a week of PTO here and there never felt like enough.
Now that I’m a freelancer, I’m learning to embrace the natural ebbs and flows of my schedule and take advantage of the built-in time for creative absorption. When my client work slows down, like it did this summer, I spend time resting, puttering around the internet, going down research rabbit holes, and working on my own business ideas.
Absorbing and squeezing happens on a smaller scale, too. When I start a new project for a client, for example, I always spend time reading outlines, studying brand guides, and soaking up other resources (absorbing) before diving into the actual writing process (squeezing).
I’ll end with one word of caution: It’s actually possible to become oversaturated. In the interview linked above, Madeleine Dore uses the word “soggy.”
Ew.
In many ways, absorbing is more fun. It’s chill. It’s curation. It’s scrolling Pinterest and watching tutorials and making lists. But if we absorb too long, that inspiration starts to leak out and go to waste (okay, maybe I’m taking the sponge metaphor too far).
Moving into the squeeze phase is intimidating, especially for those of us who tend toward perfectionism and disdain the “shitty first draft.” Yes, rest is important for its own sake, but without the squeeze, absorption starts to lack meaning and direction. And without the squeeze, we don’t get to enjoy the supreme satisfaction of creating something new and wonderful.
As with most editions of Wishful Working, I am writing this mostly for myself. After a summer of absorption, I feel I’m on the cusp of a squeeze phase, and I’m dragging my feet. Becoming soggy, almost. But also super excited about the idea of creating something new.
See you next week, sponges. 🧽
Kara
Wishful Working is inspired by my desire to see more people enjoy a life not centered around work. For some, the path to freedom and flexibility is through self-employment, but we also need to challenge cultural norms and champion healthier working conditions and work/life balance for all types of workers.