Joy

I was recently granted a considerable leave of absence from my full-time job. Mainly due to my husbands health issues. I certainly needed the time to ‘calm down’, deregulate and ultimately breath; breath deeply and exhale the stress that these life hurdles put us under. Being given this time, I have finally come to realise and appreciate a few things about myself.

This down time has allowed me to reconnect with passions, interests, hobbies old and new. I have come to appreciate and feel a deep gratitude for this opportunity despite the circumstances it was presented under.

Year seven at primary school introduced me to cross stitch. I loved it, cross stitch is such a beautiful art form. What I have come to appreciate later in life is that there are other embroidery art forms that I can explore. A few months ago I was lucky to find a basic cross stitch bookmark that I could do. Have I finished it yet……no. But I have enjoyed the reconnection of a hobby from my childhood. It has also opened dialogue with my youngest son showing an interest and wanting to know more. An unintended connection that has added another layer of interest and joy.

Another old fashioned activity that I have rekindled is letter writing. When I was growing up I had many pen pals. I wrote a letter most weeks to someone or multiple someones. This continued right up to my early adult years. Even after having my children my pen pal writing turned into mass email (yes I am old enough to remember when emails were new and exciting). For me, emailing became the next evolution in letter writing. There really is nothing better than the art of writing, detailing what has been happening and sending it off. It comes a close second to the excitement of receiving a letter in the mail (not a bill!).

As the song goes “these are a few of my favourite things…..” I know that we are all time poor. The cries of being time poor reverberate across the globe. But I urge you all, when you are doing something that brings you joy, breath deeply and exhale, allow yourself to wallow in the moment. I’m starting to think that maybe if we all said no a few more times and not just nod and go through the motions, we may be able to reconnect to the joys in our life both old and new.