SHIPLEY

(HE/HIM) Senior Editor

matt@capilanocourier.com

I’m a bit of a writer in flux — filling time and space between two novels, pushing through finals season with as much matcha as a human can realistically consume, and escaping into the mountains whenever I’m given the chance. Basically, just becoming what I like to pretend I already am.

Q: Describe your role in the Courier in 3 words or less.

A: Check your junk

Q: What song would you add to the staff playlist?

A: Dayseeker - Dark Sun

Q: New years resolution

A: Get outside for over an hour every weekend.

Q: Coffee, Tea, or other warm beverage?

A: Chai latte with a dash of nutmeg, consumed frantically on the way to my sixth final

Q: A memory from 2022

A: 10-day cliff jumping road trip across BC

Q: Number one tip for finals?

A: Do it now. Don’t procrastinate until the last minute. Finals week will feel way less busy if you just get as much studying as you can out of the way right now.

It’s okay to be the Grinch sometimes

What a relief it is to be writing this from the warm, dry comfort of my home back in Kelowna. My World Music Winter CD is playing softly in the background, I’m sitting next to a crackling fireplace with a mug full of nutmeg-spiced eggnog, and I’ve got five Courier issues in front of me, all in various stages of dismemberment as I cut out my favorite articles and art pieces to hang on my bedroom wall. It’s absolutely perfect.

Well, except for a few things. I just had major jaw surgery, so eggnog is really the only tolerable thing I’ve had to drink in a week. I’m on a strictly liquid diet, so I’ve been energy-deficient enough to severely impact my brain function. Nerve damage in my bottom jaw means I can’t feel my bottom lip, so my pink sweater is drinking half as much eggnog as I am. The swelling still makes me look like the Michelin Man if he put on seventy pounds.

There is said to be a clear dichotomy between a glass-half-full mood and a glass-half-empty one. We either show our perfect, pretty Instagram versions of ourselves, or we activate goblin mode and wreak havoc on our friends and family. We’re either holiday people, or we’re Scrooges.

The truth is, though, it’s okay to feel both ways. It’s okay to take the good with the bad, and vice versa. It’s perfectly valid to have an off-day, or an off-week, or an off-month. As we head home to our families or friends, it can be hard to take it all in. My house goes a mile a minute from dawn till dusk, and I do get overwhelmed sometimes — from the activity, and from the pressure to participate, to smile, to listen to the same Ullr-forsaken Starbucks Christmas CD for twelve hours straight. It can be exhausting, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

But, here’s the thing: you are more important than everything else in your life combined. Regardless of the pressure, regardless of the aunts and uncles and grandparents pestering you with Big Life Questions every five minutes, it is always okay to shut yourself in your room and recharge. It is always okay to make up an outing with friends. It is always okay to be a bit of a Grinch sometimes, because we all have a bit of that energy within us.

So go forth! Be a Scrooge. Be a Grinch. Walk out of that long-dreaded family Hallmark marathon. Steal a baking sheet full of cookies on your way upstairs. Your brain and your social battery will adore you for it.

Bonus points if you bring up an issue of the Courier as well. We’re always here to keep you buoyed.

Much love, Matt