Quick Life Update

I've enjoyed the last 5 months off from work immensely. It's allowed me to rest and recuperate from a rather intense and stressful job and just get reacquainted with myself.

One thing I obviously did was stay off blogger. I was pretty much off social media entirely. And it was heavenly. I was able to gain some new perspective, figure out what interests of mine were being used as a coping mechanism for stress, and so forth. I did a lot of growing, just as a result of the layoff circumstances. God has been very gracious.

In other news, I start a new job next Monday! Unlike my previous roles, I'm not going to go into specifics about the company or the position other than to say that it is still with an NGO. I'm excited to start and see where it leads.

I am now a business owner. My earrings boutique is called Butterflies and Bows Boutique and is proving very successful. I make primarily dangle earrings although I did branch out into little post earrings for my last craft fair and they were quite popular so I'll keep with that trend. They're super fun to put together anyway, so I enjoy that. But dangle earrings are still my favorite. Click here to visit my etsy shop if you're at all interested. I only have about 1/8 of my inventory online so I'll be working on that the rest of the month. I've sold roughly about 175 pairs of earrings so far, a lot in person at craft fairs, but several online too so that's been a lot of fun.

Which leads me to the last update, which is, I finally caught covid. Or it caught me. Not sure how that works. Anyhow, I tested positive this week so I'm just keeping a low profile. Thankfully my new job will allow me to work remote whenever needed so I don't need to worry about that. And my brain is working just fine. It's this darn sore throat and sinus pressure that's the most annoying. I did have to bail out on a craft fair this weekend which I'm not happy about, but I do realize life happens so I just let it go. 

I just finished reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express for the first time so there should be a post with my thoughts coming out on that sometime soon for my Agatha Christie Project.

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When the next two months look like a form of CRAZY

It's crazy how so many things seem to happen all at once. Like, if you're banking on one important thing happening, then likely at least one more, and possibly two will happen at roughly the same time.

The last time this happened was when I was going to college full-time, working part-time, and also in a local theatrical production of Pride and Prejudice as Charlotte Lucas. I ended up having a complete break-down at work, my mother being called by my concerned supervisor, and taking three days off in addition to having the weekend. It let me get caught up on sleep (that was a luxury during those few months of that play), and schoolwork, and then I was able to recover and be much more myself.

Thankfully, the crazy isn't that bad this time around, but I am also far more aware of my limitations than I was 10 years ago. When I need to step away from my job for a few hours, I do it. My job thankfully has that type of flexibility to allow me that luxury.

What's going on, you might ask?

Two things.

First, an updated system rollout for my workplace, switching entirely from an older version of software to a newer version. It looks and operates completely differently. Why does this affect me? Because I write the procedures for the processing department. That's my job, and I'm very good at it, and I have a team to support me and who I support when they need it. So that's all awesome. But it's still exhausting and intimidating sometimes when rollout after rollout keeps coming and my brain wants to go into overload. Especially if I'm only given a day to prep for something.

Second, my sister and I are buying a house. We close on August 31st. It's a charming home, all recently remodeled, and just perfectly suited to us. Even the neighborhood feels well-manicured and calm. We're so thankful to be moving out of the apartment lifestyle. BUT, the idea of moving and getting all the paperwork signed and not forgetting anything brings its own set of challenges and stressors.

I would give anything to blink and find that we're at the end of September and everything is finished and life is calm and we're making our first house payment instead of paying rent. But that's not reality. So until then, I'm taking deep breaths, throwing prayers God's way knowing that He'll catch them, and just remember to steal some downtime when I can. And push my sister to do the same. Nobody needs downtime more than her especially since her workplace has returned to the staff wearing facemasks. It's exhausting for her.

If you think of it, say a prayer that the next few months go smoothly. I hope I don't sound like I'm griping because that's really not my intention. Everything that's happening is wonderful, including the software update. It's just that it's all happening at once that is creating that added layer of crazy to our otherwise smooth-sailing lives.

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