Tag Archives: joyful wanderer

Gratitude…

Posted on July 18, 2020 | 1 comment

Okay, okay, so it’s pretty hokey. I know that, in November, people do the whole… thirty days of thankfulness… gratitude… whatever… I know that ‘science shows’ that if you focus on the positive you end up being more positive.

Once upon a time, I TOTALLY didn’t need any more Mary Sunshine smoke blown up my… posterior. Then my whole world changed. And I lost myself (to a great extent). I’m trying to find that part again that has gone missing.

I started out, in March (I want to vent… I REALLY want to vent. I’ve had it up to right about here with bullshit the last couple days) determinedly writing down three good thing every day. Some days it’s been that I have dogs and coffee. Some days it’s hard to even come up with those. But I keep trying.

June, I started to step up my game. I started to try to come up with 5 good things. Not even, necessarily, gratitude… just five good things. Some days coffee and dogs are still on the list. But I realized something today that I have got to put at the top of my list.

I have started to totally not be able to handle stores. Between people being incredibly rude and people deciding that social distancing and the mask ‘order’ are totally not going to stop them from doing as they please for whatever contrived reason they seem to be able to find I just can’t mentally do it. And now with Ohio’s numbers over double what they were a month ago I can’t do it physically any more either. It’s too much of a risk.

Today, I have decided that cubside pickup, now that I can get a date and time for groceries that isn’t over a week out, is incredibly high on my gratitude list.

Sometimes I have to get creative to get all of the $35 worth of food you have to buy in order to do curbside… but thankfully it is also watermelon season and tomato season and fat free cottage cheese is 0 points and I have tomatoes starting to be on my vines. Today, it would have been nice to have gotten to pick up the order this evening… but it’s all good. We can wait until tomorrow morning for the order. No contact shopping is a God send. That and produce delivery (Misfits Market and Perfectly Imperfect on alternating weeks)… I can cope this way for as long as I have to.

I will still go walking in the early morning when no one is around and at lunch time during my daily touch point conference call (and yes, I will even bleat like the little sheep I am and wear a mask when I walk because I don’t want to take any changes. I don’t want to take changes with Bear’s health. I don’t want to take chances with Squirrels, or Monkey Butt’s or my own health. I’m getting used to 90 degrees and humid while I wear a mask and a buff. I’m kind of over people in general right now and… if people don’t want to accept my choices because they don’t mesh with their choices… then I guess that is something else to be grateful for… knowing who is excepting enough to stay in my circle.

Love and Light
AprilJoy
7/18/2020
OH… and… my keep Squirrel’s head from exploding walk this afternoon means I made my July goal. I am officially a Joyful Wanderer!

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Taking responsibility for my own safety.

Posted on July 7, 2020 | 2 comments

Ohio has started to see a drastic rise in Covid cases.

My county is the second highest county on the “oh crap” scale of cases.

Masks are not mandatory in all public places (I’m still not straight on whether or not the sidewalk in hour housing area is considered public places or not but I’m erring on the side of caution).

Found out yesterday that there are 79 positive cases in my town.

I managed to make it to the bank this morning with Squirrel. I’m probably not going anywhere else any time soon. We have tickets to the Asian Lantern Festival at the zoo for Saturday night. I’m not sure whether we will just suck it up and lose the money or not. Maybe. Bear doesn’t want to live in fear or locked up for the rest of whatever time he has left. If I push him… I can control how close or far away we are from other people. I would like to make these memories with him. I guess the next few days will tell a lot.

Monkey Butt went for a walk last night. The bar’s parking lot had not one empty parking spot. Red Lobster, very busy. Outback Steakhouse… nearly full parking lot.

I’ve come to the point where I can’t expect other people to care enough about humanity (at least not in the United States… ) to take pretty much any precautions as they relate to people who are not themselves.

I won’t give up on trying to help, as much as I can, the common good. But I think (no, I know) I’m going to have to step up my game on taking care of myself.

I bought antibacterial bowls and glasses and straws from silipint. I really like the pint, the 22oz and the bowls. I don’t like the 12 oz cup as much because the lid that goes with it doesn’t fit nearly as well on it as the bigger lids fit the bigger glasses. I can carry them with me and I can put them through the dishwasher (or oven). They are heavier than any other silicon food/drink containers. Whether it is a good thing or bad thing, it is heavier and harder to push/slide across a table.

I bought sets of silverware. I can toss them in my purse/backpack and carry them with us. I can know that it is clean and not been touched by anyone else.

It sounds a lot like I’m a germaphobe. I’m really not. I have no problem with picking a penny up off the ground (ACTUALLY happened today). I can pick up fruit or cans or bottles and not completely melt down. I don’t touch my face until I’ve washed… but I don’t lose it.

I’m starting to actually feel a little more ‘in control’ of whatever right now. Between that, and 99 Walks, I’m starting to be able to center myself and find the joy.

Love and Light
AprilJoy
7/9/2020

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Joyful Wanderer… 99 Walks July

Posted on July 3, 2020 | 1 comment

It’s been rough. Mentally, it has been really rough the last few months. And now Ohio is at 1301 new Covid cases in a day. That is the third single biggest day yet. Our last three days have been 743, 1076 and 1301. I’m worried that today will bring us up over 1500 and that will be the biggest day ever. They have implemented a county by county color coding system for the state.

Trumbull Ranks Red in New COVID-19 Rating - Business Journal Daily

7 counties are red. We are one of them.
1 county is very close to being purple. I fear for Columbus area. I fear for Cleveland area nearly as much.

And that, my friends, is the lead in to my today.

Right now, I am sharing my space with my bulldog. My buddy. He’s guarding me… keeping me company… being my boy.

Yesterday I kind of melted down. Between the notice that the day before yesterday came out with the news that there were 3 confirmed cases of Covid in the building where I should be working but thank the stars that I’m not and one presumed positive (a tenant of our building, not someone from our company) and the notification that we are one of the biggest hot spots in our state… it was not a great day.

But it was a day that I needed to step up and shake myself off and knock some proverbial sense into myself. I can let this shit beat me down. I can let it define me. I can let it take away everything that I have always been. Or I can ‘man up’ (so to speak… but I guess that isn’t politically correct any more either) and get my own shit together.

I’ve paid for three months of 99 walks. I’m really liking the app and the Facebook group. It is an incredibly positive bunch of people. The theme of July is Joyful Wanderer. June (I made my goal so I get the bracelet) was share your sunshine (or share the sunshine or something like that) and it was a good theme and all… and I really really like the May bracelet that was Inhale Exhale (because yeah… ) but July… July I am really taking to heart. My word for the year in Joy. And I have been struggling mightily with it. But now it’s time to focus on it.

Posted in the 99 walks some of the mental and emotional struggles I’m having. But this morning I really decided it was time to put my shoes where my mind needs to be. So Squirrel and I went for a walk. We went to our park. She wasn’t ready, mentally, to go back to the lake and I’m not really sure I am either. But our park… yeah, I can do that.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that they have been doing so incredibly much work in our park, I know that change happens and change is okay. This change was kind of depressing. They ripped out the dam that made such a pretty waterfall. Right now everything is really dug up a lot and you have to sneak across the BRIGHT ORANGE fence (where someone else had already stepped it down to the ground) to see what has been going on. It was hard to see what they had ripped out, but it is good, too, because they are making it in such a way that you will be able to go down to the edge of the creek instead of taking your life into your own hands if you decide to do that. I viewed it with mixed feelings.

We then went to the wildlife sanctuary part of the park. Squirrel sat in the truck (too humid for her to be comfortable) and I went for a walk. I walked to the pond and watched the fog blowing across the surface of the water. I went to the little pond. I went along the creek. I went and sat for a few minutes at my favorite oak tree. I rescued (not sure if that was something I could get into trouble for or not so… no no, I didn’t do anything) a few of her seedlings and brought them home. They are now planted around my yard.

After I planted the saplings, I came in the house and started a decent sized batch of sauerkraut to (hopefully) fermenting and in about 4 weeks I will be able to can it up.

I’m not completely back yet. But I’ve made the conscious decision that I need to be back and I need to get my proverbial shit together and stop letting what other people do and what other people don’t do impact my day.

I need to center myself and get back to working on my word for the year. It’s the middle of the year and I’ve lost at least a quarter year being lost and afraid. Covid isn’t going anywhere and I need to find a way to live with whatever this reality is.

Stay safe

Love and Light
AprilJoy
7/3/2020

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