Continuous Project Altered Quarterly | December 2025
Energy is
moving
Struggle is a prominent theme in my line of work. Many clients look to Continuous Project as a resource when they’re struggling. And as an independent business owner, I confront my own minor and not so minor struggles daily.
In my mind’s eye, the word “struggle” is a form composed of multiple interlocking knots. There is movement in this form but also it’s not moving; it’s somehow static despite, or maybe because of, its intense energetic feedback loop. Somatically, it’s uncomfortable; it’s simultaneously keyed up and burned out. Struggle makes me strong enough to break free from something oppressive while also making me want to go to sleep for a week, and neither gets accomplished.
I noticed the other day how often the theme of struggle and the word itself arises in my conversations and writings. When I noticed it, I paused and asked myself if struggle is what’s truly going on right now (for my clients, for me, for our field) or if my conditioned mind assumes struggle as a default.
While acknowledging the very real and painfully ongoing collective struggles we face locally, nationally, and globally, what I’m focusing on here are the struggles associated with and accompanying the creative lives of my clients. Yes, it remains true that a creative life can involve struggle. It’s true that we all face oppositional forces in our lives and work, yes. And yes, people come to Continuous Project when they are facing various struggles.
And also: No. Struggle is not actually the predominant theme at Continuous Project right now.
If struggle is a tangle of knots that can’t break free, a giant teeming ball of static energy, what is its undoing? Maybe it’s something like hope. Maybe belief. Maybe faith?
It’s probably not just one thing, but what is alive as a more predominant theme than struggle right now here at Continuous Project is conviction. Tying for first place is emergence. I’m also noticing a nontrivial amount of cautious relief, and even a few glimmers of liberation.
My clients have been firmly grounded in the present while also being doggedly yet calmly future-oriented in the fourth quarter of 2025. Our conversations are low key buzzing with transitions: energy that is moving, not static. Folks are finding solutions, plans are taking shape, relationships are being tended, opportunities are on the calendar, actions are being taken. Energy is moving.
Struggles will always arise. Amid them, it can be hard to remember that they also do subside.
May our gradual turn back toward the light on this winter solstice illuminate our collective conviction, and may the turn of the year next week spark the hope that helps us through our inevitable struggles.
~~~Wishing you peace in 2026~~~
Continuous Project
Updates
+ Private Consulting is the core service at Continuous Project, engaging nearly 350 clients over the past seven years. Together, CP clients and I are quietly transforming how society perceives, acknowledges, values, and compensates cultural labor by developing our parallel practices in alignment with our goals and our values. Book a discovery call if you’re interested in working together. Established clients are welcome to book online any time.
+ The 2026 Growth Planning Workshop is the inaugural yearlong version of one of the key offerings at Continuous Project. We’ll meet every other week as a group, and you’ll meet with me privately once each quarter. There is already such a cool group of planners registered, and there is still room for YOU. Learn more and register here.
+ I have a second yearlong cohort in formation for 2026, the Parallel Practice Forum. This leadership community will meet monthly to discuss wins and challenges; share operational approaches and resources; and connect via a shared interest in the active evolution of the parallel practice. I’m really excited for this new forum! Learn more and register here.
+ Guggenheim applicants can find guidance, accountability, and support in community with the Guggenheim Application Cohort I co-steward with The Artist’s Office and Ears Open. Registration for the next cohort will open in March. Learn more and join the registration waitlist here.
+ I’m doing an IN PERSON collaboration with the amazing Yucca Valley Material Lab on April 11. In this afternoon workshop, we’ll discuss how to MAKE IT HAPPEN: find, make, choose, accept, (and even—when necessary—decline!) opportunities. Our conversation will emphasize personal and professional specificity, authenticity, sustainability, and values-alignment to empower artists in their life’s work. Register here :)
