I wanted to follow up post on this, in part because there were great suggestions, but also because I seem to be in flux.
What I didn't notice at all last week is that for the most part I have to push very hard to get started with arts & crafts, and then once I get started I tend to do fine with it. What was very different about last week was that I required no push, in fact it was very, very hard to stop. At first this was quite worrisome, until I realized that the "voice" (which I've written about elsewhere) that typically is screaming at me about what a piece of crap I am was actually quieted down, and that a new type of "voice" was screaming at me, but this one was really excited about creating, crafting, and making art! So it was as if that mother from "Throw Momma From the Train" went on vacation, and Bette Midler came to stay instead!
That hasn't happened to me in a very long, long time. For several weeks I've been working on things in the evenings, mostly doing mixed media things getting "backgrounds/bases" ready for things, and then last week I went on this "finishing" binge.
Some other things that have occurred that may have thrown me off kilter (positives aside):
-I've written about my poor doggie, who I'm getting ready to take to the vet on my next paycheck. I was in a fantastic rhthym (spelling?) taking her out of walks quite a few times per week. So for her to suddenly be unable to keep up dramatically changed things up.
It was tough enough to try to get out daily to exercise, but now I'm actually having to try to get out to walk *twice a day*, one time for her (at a shorter and slower pace), and one time at a faster pace, longer distance for myself. This has been incredibly hard.
*With Mother's Day last week, my ex decided to do a very "typical" thing and try to pick a fight. This time he decided to effectively threaten to not bring my daughter home on Mother's Day and I had to threaten legal action...again.
*My AA birthday is coming up (God willing!) in about 10 days and I always get a little squirrely right before.
*I need to start looking for a new place to live and am very scared about all the work this will mean to get out of here.
*I received my letter back from one of the credit agencies and need to respond so we can begin the ping pong of trying to fix my credit.
Since roughly yesterday I've felt more even keel about the crafting thing, and even somewhat tired or depleted. I discovered last night that if I write down some of my ideas, instead of keeping them all in my head, they actually simmer more peacefully. There is part of me that mourns this a bit, as it was nice to feel such a *drive*, but the reality is that I also need to clean house, and quite frankly I need to start looking for another place to live!
I've started trying to do some of the maintenance suggestions of doing the short stuff in the moment that takes nearly no time right now, and have been plugging away at the basics. Tonight there are no dirty dishes left on the sink, all are in the drainer drying, or last load in the dishwasher.
Daughter and I had a lovely evening folding laundry together, and I put away most of it while we watched our movie. The floor in the bathroom has been liberated from dirty clothes, and while my bedroom has some clutter on the dressers and such, the floor is still there!
The change of seasons has also thrown me for a loop--when it's sunny out I really want to get out and get natural light! It also gets hotter earlier, so I have to get the little dog out for her slow walk earlier in the morning.
Essentially it doesn't seem I deal well with change, even the really natural stuff life the seasons changing!
