A New Year reflection
Every January, the question arrives:
What are you going to do this year?
For me, it historically turns into the same impulse: create more, build more, refine more. In Karl’s world, that means create more Karl, share more Karl, expand Karl. And there is a true and real joy in that.
But lately, I’ve noticed something quieter underneath.
There’s a difference between creating Karl and living Karl.
Creating Karl looks like progress the world recognizes: writing, illustrating, posting, planning, building.
It’s visible. Measurable. Shareable.
Living Karl is different.
It’s internal.
It’s how I move through my days.
How I listen.
How I respond.
How I treat myself when no one is watching.
Creating Karl is task-progress.
Living Karl is growth-progress.
It’s entirely possible to be very productive and still bypass the deeper work. Sometimes staying busy feels safer than staying still. Output feels safer than listening.
But growth doesn’t always look like momentum.
Sometimes it looks like a pause.
Karl and his marsupium have evolved into more than just a single story.
Karl is a lifestyle and a practice. Living Karl asks me to slow down before overriding myself. To listen to my body as much as my plans. To rest without earning it. To trust that quiet times still count.
In Karl’s world, nothing grows because it’s pushed.
Things grow because they’re held.
So this year, I’m asking a different question.
Not just: What do I want to create?
But: How can I live Karl?
Because creating and living do need each other. But this year, I’m letting living lead. Counting progress that maybe doesn’t show up as followers, likes, sales, or dashboard click-throughs.
Because creating Karl matters.
But living Karl is where the real growth happens.
Karl is not just content.
He is an organism — and organisms aren’t meant to be rushed.
“My pouch isn’t for carrying more.
It’s for making space.”
— Karl
Keep on bouncing,
Sarah
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