This will be my third coffee catch up post (check out the second and first one here), as a way to connect a bit with my readers and to reflect on my own thoughts and experiences from the last little while. I thought that this post might be a nice way to wrap up 2020 with some of my reflections from the year.
It’s been a wild year for sure, and an interesting holiday season. I’m not sure what everyone’s areas look like this Christmas, but the city I am in is on lockdown as COVID cases spike. It hasn’t affected me too much as most of the work I have been doing is virtual, or in areas where I am considered essential, I don’t like going to malls, and I haven’t been comfortable all year going to restaurants so I never went when restrictions eased up over the summer. But the holiday season was weird for me as I am sure it has been for many people. I hope regardless of the broken traditions and different energy of this holiday season, that you are all safe, healthy, and find some holiday joy! If you have anything you want to share about your week, please feel free to leave it in the comments!
Here’s what happened in my life this past little while:
- I had my first appointment with my therapy appointment with my new therapist through BetterHelp! It was honestly such a wonderful experience, she was understanding of my educational background and knowledge about therapy, and called me out for not using my therapy knowledge on myself. We chatted in way more depth about things than my previous therapist, and she challenged me to go into nature and scream for one minute and text her afterwards. And she told me we were going to work on being more mindful and present. My fiancee and I took a couple days to go up to her dad’s place and I started working on being mindful in my own life. I realized that I talk about mindfulness with my pediatric clients, with my art classes and my yoga class, but I never take the time to focus on being mindful myself. I also did scream in the woods and let me tell you it was a very hilarious experience but also afterwards I felt cracked open and tired….yet like a weight has been lifted. I have another session on the 30th and I already feel like I’ve been growing quite a bit since last session!
- I have started training at my new job, and have managed to continue to maintain my boundaries about my schedule. At the beginning of training there was a chaos about me not being available in person for a training session that was scheduled outside of my availability. I was able to push to attend virtually, and it was very successful. After that schedule change there were 3 other schedule changes (due to staff sickness etc) – and we were able to make that work as I maintained my boundaries and had them work around my already solidified schedule. I think that this is an important foundation that I have created so that moving forward I have those boundaries set to maintain work life balance
- I’ve come to notice that I have a lot of trouble with self esteem/confidence about my body – which I used to have a lot in high school and university, but didn’t realize it was still there. After a year of not going to the gym due to COVID restrictions and anxiety around that, my body isn’t the strong, flexible mover it used to be…. but I am thankful to have a fiancee who helps me remember that my body is strong for getting through 2020, and hopefully I can add more mindful movement into my days when I can!
- COVID Christmas came and went, and it looked very different than the holiday season usually does. I got to see my mom and dad on Christmas eve, my fiancee and I started watching the Mandalorian on Christmas day while I painted, and my sister and I scheduled a family zoom call on boxing day as a gift for my dad. It was very different to have our 30ish person family all yelling over zoom than in someone’s living room, but it was nice to see all my aunts and cousins and the new babies and to know that everyone was home safe. We played among us with our close friends, and otherwise I’ve worked the last couple days at one of my jobs for some extra holiday pay. It’s definitely been a strange holiday but we’re all safe and healthy and I am thankful for that. Hopefully next Christmas will look a little more normal
- Ok final point for now – we got an Instant Pot for Christmas and I am VERY excited! Yesterday after work I made Chicken Soup from scratch and it was the easiest meal ever! I am super into making soups and stews in the winter, especially this year with us being in lockdown again, we’re needing a little extra warmth in our lives. I also made Sourdough popovers and felt like a chef extraordinaire 🙂 Especially with the weather continuing to get colder and colder, I’m looking for more warm, easy, healthy meals to keep us going through this long lockdown winter. Please feel free to share your suggestions!
As always, lots of things are happening in my life so I could keep writing forever! But I’ll save some for another day. How has your week been?
Let’s end with another cute video! This is a compilation from one of my favourite tik tok content creators – these kids are hilarious and bring me so much joy! So please enjoy this cutie little video and have a wonderful week! And as always, if you have a favourite feel good video, please share!
Be Your Own Sunshine 