A Good Year.

Three days into the new year, and I’m seeing the holiday season coming to a close. No more holiday lights on our fence. No more long weekends and short work weeks. No more stretches of time for puzzles and Scrabble. It’s time to return to the regular work schedule and all that comes with that. Going to bed early. Meetings throughout the day. Deadlines. As is often the case this time of year, I’m trying to figure out how to carry the calm of this season into regular life.

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No More “Out There.”

Last I wrote, I was reveling in the “in here” and carefully navigating the “out there.” I have since abandoned the “out there” altogether. The animosity, the lies, and the dogged displays of vitriol are more than this girl can handle, so begone world. I am circling the wagons. I’ll see you again when we return to normalcy or when we start holding people accountable for the accuracy of the information they circulate – whichever comes first.

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This Small Space.

Dishes. Laundry. Vacuuming. Yard work. Coffees. Walks. These are the things that have filled my days in ways that bring me joy. These rituals – the cleaning and folding, the emptying and putting away, the slow catching up – they help keep me focused on what I can manage. There is so much in the world right now that I cannot manage. So I am searching for what is simple and true.

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Staycation 2020.

Last week was a good one. We hiked Enchanted Rock. We rode the Violet Crown Trail. We explored McKinney Falls. Between the outdoor activity, we had coffees with my dad, I had lunch with my niece, and I managed some workouts on my training program. Then on the weekend, we did a three-day virtual event on the benefits of a whole foods plant-based diet. It was not a week in Colorado (which had been the original plan), but we had a great week.

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Knitting to Relax.

I’ve taken up knitting. In our community, we did a Small Business Saturday event that took me to a cute little yarn store. The colors amazed me. They were so beautiful. My eyes went right to a brown, orange and blue bundle of yarn that I thought would make a beautiful anything. So I bought some yarn and knitting needles and signed up for a beginning class. No, I don’t have a lot of free time, but I do have a lot of stress, and knitting seemed like a nice antidote to that. Continue reading

The Start of the Chase.

I went from a hundred to zero in a matter of seconds. Or that’s how it feels. I was working and scrambling and barely keeping up. Then everything stopped. And I stopped. And I haven’t been able to really get going again. I’m at work, but my mind is elsewhere. I’m getting things done, but nowhere near the volume I was producing over the last few months. It’s weird to still be sitting at my desk but suddenly be so disengaged. Continue reading