Dear Friends,
Woah this is not the world I left when I published my last blog post, which by the way I checked and was exactly 3 months and one day ago today. Since then, a lot has changed the biggest shift coming in the form of a worldwide pandemic and stay-at-home order. Can you believe what’s happening? Can you believe this is how 2020 is turning out? Can you believe that we’ve been sheltering in place for almost 2 months? It’s wild.
I missed you guys and I missed expressing my inner most thoughts to my little corner of the internet. Why has it been so long since my last post? Good question. I honestly don’t know. I think I got to a point around the time of my last published work where I was extremely overwhelmed. Everything I had going on from family, to work, to travel, working on my blog, maintaining a social life, keeping my space clean, cooking, laundry, more work, it was a lot and the thought of taking my “free time” (I use that phrase loosely because it essentially didn’t exist) to write seemed less like an enjoyable pastime and more like a chore. At the beginning of this year, I honestly think I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was always go go go and never any time to really stop.
And then the virus hit. It has been total devastation and something I don’t think any of us ever expected. Thank god for the frontline workers and first responders who put their own lives at risk every day in an effort to keep us safer. I grieve deeply for the families who’ve lost loved ones. I actually thought at the beginning of 2020 that this was going to be “my year”…yeah that didn’t age well.
In the ever so slight silver lining of the scenario, it’s given the world, and me, some time to take a breather. Some time at home. Some time to spend with family. Some time to reevaluate what’s important and how we’ve been living our lives. Some extra time to get back to doing the things we once found enjoyable. Being forced to work from home has literally given me 3+ hours back into my day with the lack of a commute. It’s allowed me to exercise, to cook, to clean, to organize. I know a pandemic is not a productivity contest, but when I feel like it, I can actually get shit done. The Earth is literally healing around us. Maybe in some sort of twisted fate, this was God’s (or whatever higher power you believe in) way of telling us to slow the eff down.
That may be an unpopular opinion, some may disagree, I mean troves of people across the U.S. are protesting beach re-openings. Those people are idiots, but I completely understand that others have not had my experience and that some people are really suffering right now. If you are one of those individuals and there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.
It’s been a while since we’ve communicated. How are you? What’s been going on? I seriously would love to know. As an extrovert, I’m sort of craving human interaction right now. Conversation and a sit down at a nice restaurant are my personality’s reinforcements.
For me? I haven’t been up to much lately. My mom tore her rotator cuff so she had to have surgery a few weeks ago and I’m now chauffeuring her to physical therapy three days a week. I’m still working from home full-time, I’m so thankful for my job and the seamless integration of being fully operational while remote. I’m quarantined with my mom at our house but still am able to visit my boyfriend often. I’ve been trying to get through Three by Ted Dekker (the book) which I started over a year and a half ago…I’m a horrible reader. I’ve been trying to take advantage of the now vast array of free online courses when I can, possibly thinking of signing up for Masterclass to take Anna Wintour’s and Annie Leibovitz’s sessions. We’ve been supporting local as much as possible whenever we don’t feel like cooking. I joined TikTok because why not and it’s so fun! Besides that, not much else has been going on.
I’ve been taking a lot of time to think about content and what this next phase of my blog will bring. I have some fun ideas I can’t wait to post, and I hope you love these new posts as much as I do. If you have any ideas for me or I can be a resource to you in any way during or post-COVID, please do not hesitate to reach out. Share with friends and family that I’m back baby! I’m thoroughly looking forward to this next chapter with you guys!
Sincerely,
