2020 will be a year for the history books. It will be one we will never forget in the modern era. Life dramatically changed and the world came to a halt. On the surface this may have seemed liked a bad thing and at first it was a shock to our systems. But it is now almost 6 months later and I am reflecting and finding positives in slowing down.
Time with those that matter
We don’t have children so our pets are our kids! They are both getting up in years and every minute with them is special. Jessica is the cat and she is 16 yrs old. She is my special buddy and keeps me company during the day. She loves to have time outside in the morning as I sit outside and have coffee. It is the best time of the day .
Ebony is the black lab and she is 9. She is starting to show her age. Recently we found out she has a torn ACL. The vet suggested surgery to fix it. It is a 12 week specific rehab program and guess what….I get to be her PT! We have recently changed some things in her routine and she is doing much better. We are wondering if the surgery is something we want to put her through. Right now it has been nice because we can let her off the leash and she stays around. Before we couldn’t trust her to stay. Now we can go outside and take walks and she is with me…this has become very special as well. Slowing down and being able to be home with them has meant the world to me.
No Vending
Due to covid 19 issues all my vending shows got cancelled for the year. That meant no stress of getting ready to pack up and set up. This was to be my biggest year! I had 6 shows lined up. 2 of them were really big shows I had not attended before. The positives of slowing down and worrying about shows gave me the opportunity to work on my online presence. I have had an Etsy store since 2017 but did not have a sale until April of this year. I joined a group to help me with growing my business. I have learned so much! Technology has not been my strong point so this has pushed me out of my comfort zone. It has required so much of my time and if I were getting ready and traveling to shows I would have been stressed out!
Time for me
Big positives of slowing done for me was having more time. I am retired and people think if you are retired you have all kinds of time. The truth is I really didn’t because of the shows. This year I needed a hip replacement. I had scheduled it between the spring and fall shows. I thought that would give me enough time to have it done over the summer and be ready to go. Let me tell you I am so glad to have had the down time! This is my fourth surgery and the first time I really had time to just be and heal. Everyone kept telling me to take my time. So I did. I enjoyed my husband helping me and waiting on me…LOL. It was so nice I didn’t want it to end and go back the way it was before.
I found the more I took my time, the less I wanted to push myself to do more. It has now become a fine balance between doing more and doing too much. I have had different kinds of pain (the actual hip surgery is great) that have really slowed me down. So my task now is creating new routines that are going to make a positive impact on my health & well-being.
Being more Creative
For me positives of slowing down has also having more time to be creative. As a result I have taken time to learn new fiber art techniques. It has taken my weaving to new levels; Macra-weave is a thing? For the first time in MANY years I have taken up macrame. A lot has changed since the 1970’s…LOL New projects I want to try.
Please find positives in your 2020 and stay safe & well.
Thanks for sharing, enjoyed it so much😊 Yes, there are blessings to our new normal….
Thank you!