Hi S&T Readers! I know it’s been a minute since I dropped a blog post. Life has been life-ing and work has been work-ing. But if you were wondering, I am still breathing! Here’s what else I’ve been doing since my last post in December 2019.

I’ve been in the house.

Literally.

That’s it.

That’s the post.

Just kidding.

Read on.

I’ve been working from home.

Corona has got me working from home indefinitely. I work at home. I sleep at home. I dine out at home. I watch movies at home. I entertain myself at home.

There are pros and cons to full-time work from home. I can roll out of bed, grab my laptop and join work calls. No one needs to see me. No one knows whether I have on pants. Since I no longer need to spend an hour getting dressed and styling my hair, drive 30 minutes to work in the mornings or spend an hour getting dressed, I have more time during the weekdays to handle personal things, like chores and home improvement activities.

I baked an apple pie last Monday. Prior to Covid-19, I never would have had the time to bake on a weekday.

On the other hand, working at home blurs the line between work and personal life. Last March, when my company enforced a WFH policy, I was relieved because I had more time during the day. To my dismay, I started to work endlessly. I woke up in the mornings at 6am to work. I worked through lunch. I worked after hours. I even woke up in the middle of the night to work.

In those early days, work stressors permeated my personal time. I didn’t know how to separate church and state. I felt guilty for devoting any downtime to anything other than work. I suppose my professional life interfered with my blogging life.

Now, WFH is my lifestyle. I am a little better at separating work from my personal life. I’m not perfect, but I no longer wake up at 2am to check work e-mail.

I encountered a couple life-changing epiphanies.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to shut down. It caused a lot of chaos and it also created some clarity. Upon reflection and sessions with my therapist, I realized that I was unhappy with some areas in my life. Instead of addressing them, I immersed myself in work. Throughout lockdown, I made a couple promises to myself.

Now that lockdown is over, I am fully vaccinated and have been cleared to see my favorite people, I have kept these promises. As a result, my relationships are more fulfilling. For that, I am grateful that the pandemic afforded me some much-needed downtime.

• I promised that I would prioritize the relationships and friendships that I valued the most.
• I promised that I would speak up if there was something occurring within a relationship that upset me.
• I promised that I would be vulnerable and speak my truth.

We added a fur baby to the family.

In January 2020, my husband and I added a puppy to our family. He’s a Doberman Pinscher named Lance. Shortly after we brought him home, the world shut down, so we were in quarantine with a 4-month old, rambunctious puppy. Initially, I was not thrilled with Lance. I like dogs, but I didn’t want to endure the inconvenience of cleaning up after, entertaining, training, bathing, and otherwise caring for a pet.

Lance is now a loved member of our household. We’ve enjoyed hiking, roadtrips, and fetch with Lance. I don’t like to admit it, but he has made this pandemic a little more tolerable.

I have discovered new hobbies.

I’ve never been an outdoor person, but throughout the pandemic, I’ve learned to appreciate the great outdoors. I’ve discovered some amazing hiking trails in my neighborhood. In November, Hubby, Lance, some friends and I went to Asheville to experience some new trails. Nature puts me at ease and clears my mind. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a hard-core hiker, climbing outrageously high mountains, but I enjoy the peace and serenity that an easy trail brings.

I am working on a Project.

I started working on the Project during lockdown last year. I got discouraged, but last week, I picked it up, dusted it off and joined a couple Facebook groups for support. I’ve decided to prioritize that Project over S&T for now, but I’ll check in with you all periodically. There are a couple of other recent events that have occurred in my life. Please stay tuned, S&T Friends!

Follow me on Twitter at yaayaawrites and scribblesandtos!