Six on a Sunday: A Change in Seasons

Words, words, words about how fast this year is going

Sometimes advice comes when you least expect it. While visiting one of the fabric shops I frequent, I started chatting with K, a fellow sewist and Pelobuddy. I asked her about her progress on Peloton and K shared that she hasn’t had time to put in the work on her bike and, instead, has been focusing on doing meditations with the app. K said that she just leaned into this season of change and allowed herself to embrace what she needed, allowed herself to feel how she felt, and did what she needed to serve herself. Since our conversation, a number of things have happened. The 2024 election, family members experiencing some life changes, devastating changes and the world in general and I have been thinking about how to end this calendar year. 

Here is Six for Sunday with a sprinkle of December goals

1. A Strong Finish

My everything kind of fell off as the year ended. I’ve been a bit bummed and down since the election (that deserves a whole space of its own) and have been riding out the feelings of despair and hopelessness. Muddling through the days I realize that while I cannot control the world, I can control me and I refuse to let that orange clown and his circus dictate how I feel.

Do things feel hopeless?

Yup. Sure does. Am I going to let that hopelessness make me change who I am?
NOPE.
Back to working out, crafting, enjoying my people, and living that juicy laughter-filled life that I enjoy and hope are the acts of resistance that I can and will control. I promised myself a juicy life and dammit, a juicy will be held. 

FOR DECEMBER: Crush my BGR Holiday Hustle Challenge (there is still time to register!), go to those three parties I was invited to, and help mom and aunt decorate for the holidays. 

2. Spending time alone

I took a lovely week off from work and have enjoyed the time alone. I’ve peopled a bit but mostly stayed home, knit, read (I READ TWO BOOKS!), and just kind of been hanging home, alone. During this solo time, I thought about being alone versus being lonely. I haven’t felt lonely during my solo time; I relish the time I get alone. I know it sounds horrible. I have a social job, and my partner is a not very social homebody. This situation makes for limited opportunities to be home alone. When the opportunity strikes, I make the most of it!

I visited my mom, who spends lots of time alone. She’s always saying that she’s not lonely. However, there are times when she prolongs a goodbye or has just one more task for me. This happens when I announce that it’s time for me to go. Sometimes I get annoyed. I’m busy and her requests don’t align with my schedule. Then I remember that the times I get to spend with her are nice. I get to support her like she’s supported me and we get a few more moments to hang out. 

FOR DECEMBER: Continue to enjoy my time alone. Also, consider reaching out to my mom and others who may not relish alone time as much as I do. 

3. The Blog Rebrand That Wasn’t

My attempts at rebranding kind of fizzled. I still don’t know what this “Say it Rah-shay” space is for. I am still not quite ready to give up. “Influencer” was a big part of my life that I am not anxious don’t want to revisit , however, but I do like the idea of sharing a bit of me. Ideas I have been toying with:

• Politics for dummies because WTAF was that election?
• Restarting a running journey?
• Life post-transplant|?
• ?
• ??
• ???
  
• FOR DECEMBER: Share a post or two each week. They may be about the above topics, the may be about something else. Enjoy the ride!

4. Social media

My screentime report came back this week with an embarrassingly large amount of hours PER DAY of screentime and that is not the vibe. I love using social media for ideas and to see what’s going on but increasingly I find myself staying to watch skits, bookmark food I never make and the next thing I know an hour (or two) has passed. Ironically, I watched a video about a kid freaking out at an Apple store because their mom wouldn’t replace a broken phone, and while tut-tutted that video, I thought this could be me if I don’t get a handle on things.

FOR DECEMBER: I’m going to trick myself into staying offline. Each time I get the urge to scroll, I will get up to drink water and declutter a thing. My home and workspace will love it.

5. Happy Kidneyversary!

October marked one year since my transplant and in December, I have my last appointment with my transplant team. I am excited to see my regular nephrologist again, but I am going to miss my transplant team a bit. They took care of The Duras Sisters and me and I appreciate the transplant team for taking my concerns seriously and watching out for me when I didn’t always watch out for myself.

6. Sitting out Black Friday

The holidays are weird. There’s this pressure to have a picture-perfect season and buy all the things. With my family, you throw in a trauma that was never really talked about, and oh mama! These last few years I have decided to sit out shopping on Black Friday, patronage select small businesses on Small Business Saturday and be intentional with my dollars and time. Some of it is because I some upcoming obligations that I need to make sure I can afford but mostly I have enough stuff. This year, in particular, I am still reeling from the election and have decided that in addition to joy, my act of resistance will be made with where MY dollars go.

On Small Business Saturday, I visited one of my favorite fabric shops picked up some fabric that I was eyeing, and visited a small café for some treats otherwise I have been intentional about where my dollars are going.

FOR DECEMBER: Use that fabric instead of hoarding it. I am taking a quilting workshop soon and plan to make that fabric into the beginning of my newest obsession.

And that’s Six for Sunday. Happy December and enjoy the last month of the year.