08/16/2026
Gem City Catfé news 😺😻😸
Hello everyone,
As we are launching new events and looking to rebuild our programs post-COVID, we've been thinking about how to go about this in a meaningful way.
Our shop, and the world around us, are not in the same position we were in during 2019. I mean, who is? The sense of lost connections and the weight of financial stress we see and feel around us has caused us to think carefully about what we create now and why.
The first new event to kick things off has been our Nonprofit Night which started first with the Artemis Center last night! More info coming soon about future nights and nonprofits!
The next event is something we are mulling over and have created a form to gauge interest and identify the best times to host it, if there is enough interest. For now, we're calling it the Opt Out Club.
The goal is to create a time and space for discussion about what we want to opt-out of participating in and how this can free up the energy to opt-in to other more important things in our lives. While there is a lot we do not have control over, we are looking at the areas we can control in our lives. Among those, what keeps sneaking back in and taking up more time, energy, or money than we intend or desire? And at what cost? Who do we want to see more and spend more time with? What do we want to do for fun? What skills do we want to build or practice?
This idea started in my personal life as I began to get sick of many things and was constantly asking myself the above questions. For example, I’d find myself picking up my phone without realizing it or answering a text when I meant to check my two factor auth code. Or I’d check out books at the library that I really wanted to read, but they’d be due before I could get to them. The more I chatted with friends, the more I saw our patterns emerging. It's different for each individual of course, but the themes seemed to be consistent for all of us and the difference between what we wanted or hoped to be doing, versus what we found ourselves doing.
A group of us began meeting to talk about this and share our challenges, and our successes. We swapped tips, tricks, ideas and recommendations. Other times, we’ve just listened and empathized. As I've seen and felt the benefits of the changes I’ve made, and of having a supportive group providing connection & encouragement, I've wondered "who else would enjoy this?"
So we are officially sharing this interest form to see if anyone would like to participate in this sort of thing through the Catfe. Link below. This might look like a one-time meetup for folks to plan their own groups. Or, it might be a group that we host consistently.
For an ongoing group, this would look like:
- Getting together once a month in the cat lounge to discuss everyone's opt-out ideas and what they are working on.
This will vary by person, and that's ok! It's also okay to have a tough month and just come for conversation & connection. Ideally, we'd keep the same group over the duration so that people have time to get to know each other & share more comfortably.
- Checking in with everyone on the status of the goals they set previously
- Discussing ideas and suggestions
Here's a few ideas, as examples, that we’ve seen folks practicing (over time):
- Reducing phone/screen time: mute notifications, leave in another room, turn phone to grayscale, set app-timers for certain apps or sites, deactivating or deleting social media accounts
- Supporting local economies: spending cash, prioritizing local shops, borrowing items, mending items.
- Being present: doing one task at a time, putting away phones during activities with people, watching one screen at a time.
*A caveat – our shop requires sales to stay in business, so we must charge for these events. But if you are interested in this concept and want to do it for free, please do! It's a wonderful thing to host with friends & neighbors.
That being said, if you're interested in not doing all the coordinating yourself and you want to enjoy the company of a dozen cats & people, we'd love to have you! Circling back to how this whole post started, we want to make sure what we are offering is worth your hard earned dollars. Whether that’s getting a drink, spending time with the cats in the lounge, or joining an upcoming event, it’s important to us that your time and money are well spent.
If this interests you, please fill out our interest form online so we can see how to best set this up - link in comments.
(Wow, I could have led with that link huh?) I could not because I love writing long stuff. I actually wrote this ON PAPER then transcribed it into the computer because I am truly just so sick of staring at screens right now and I love a good pen. And now you can have a greater understanding of how all of this came about and what you might be getting yourself into.
