2024W18: Making A Living While Making My Life

I have random thoughts to share on a topic, also realizing that I didn’t post last Monday, so here is the Week 18 post of the year, 6 days late…

There’s a saying that we can get so caught up making living that we forget to make a life. I’ve been lucky to have been able to do both at the same time. I’ve been able to live comfortably and had the time and energy to nurture personal relationships that are so fulfilling.

But I sense something novel and electrifying happening this year, as I round the corner into a new decade: I’m engaged in activities that both make my living and imbue my life with such purpose and drive. I didn’t know this was coming, and I feel both wholly unprepared for the new velocity of life and entirely awestruck by the serendipitous arrangement of opportunities before me. I’m standing before life’s all-you-can-eat buffet, I haven’t eaten all day, and I have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

And with that, I bid you adieu until next week’s update comes out, tomorrow.

Gratitude From My Sick Bed

What started as a 3-day cold has given way to bronchitis, and perhaps a mocking hint of conjunctivitis yet to be... Each day, I test myself to see if I can taste more, or better, than the day before. A wave of symptoms seems to subside and a new one takes its place. And yet, I can't help but feel immensely grateful...

• It could be worse! But it isn't. I am grateful.
• This illness hit me during a 10-day stretch between work travel. The number of people affected is minimized. I am grateful.
• I haven't exercised in over a week, and I can tell my overall muscle tone is softer. But my deep inner abs? Strong as ever, and sore, thanks to two nights of coughing through the night! Who knew? I am grateful.
• I have successfully worked from bed for 3 days now, which means short trips to the kitchen, a few times a day, to stock up on snacks and water and throat lozenges. I work in short spurts, and read or surf FB and IG too much in between. Every day, I've been able to take a short nap when I feel tired. I am grateful.
• I am able to work from home. So many aren't. I am grateful.
• My family is picking up the slack. Laundry and dishes are getting done without me. Even the dog took a few shifts snuggling, catching up on last weekend's episodes of Girls and The Walking Dead with me. I am grateful.
• If I talk for more than a few minutes at a time, I devolve into a coughing fit. It has made me a better editor of my speech -- only saying what is absolutely necessary, nothing more. I am grateful.

Hope you've successfully avoided the cooties! I thought when March began that I didn't need to be as diligent about my Vitamin C AND I WAS WRONG! How humbling to be wrong. Lessons in humility are good. I am grateful.