I am guessing most of us can agree that 2020 is the year “that can’t end fast enough”. I certainly never thought I would see and experience some of the things that have happened this year. Every one is affected in some way, for me its been a huge financial impact as my main source of income went to zero almost over night when COVID broke (and won’t recover until next spring…well hopefully it will). I have had to really re-think how I was doing a lot of things to even make room in my already stretched days to get everything done. It is not ideal…but as usual…the universe has a way of working things out when I trust it.
I have had no choice but to find ways to laser focus on only what matters right at each moment….what I need to do to get my family through each day, each week, each month is all that matters. I have “tuned out” everything that isn’t fundamental to making things work here so that I could “tune in” to what I need to do to get it done.
The funny thing about “tuning out”….life is so much more pleasant this way!!! As an introvert and a homebody some of the limitations Covid puts on life have little impact on my day to day. I am perfectly happy to not go anywhere unless I absolutely have to. Like most of us, I felt incredibly emotionally and spiritual drained by the stress and drama of the current state of affairs. I made a conscious choice to tune out everything that was draining me… for months now…I shut down TV and any form of news and have limited my use of social media other than my own FB page and some business pages. I unfollowed any person, group or page that was zapping my emotional and spiritual energy. My phone, that I used to carry every minute of the day, now lives mostly on my desk by itself. If I have learned anything in the last few months…almost nothing is immediate. It can wait.
It took something as extreme as losing a full year of my business to realize the benefits of being “tuned in” . My days are more productive, my stress level is so much lower and life feels much lighter. The second I reconnect…to the world’s drama…everything seems instantly heavier. I have to wonder do we really need so much connectedness? Do we need it all? Is social media and a 24 hour news cycle actually connectedness or is it a lie? Perhaps the entire notion of it is false and it does more harm than good. Is there a balance? I suppose the answers are different for each individual.
When I do log in to FB now or my husband gives me the occasional run down on the news I see and hear things with a different lens…a much more sensitive lens. The ugliness seems so much more obvious. There is a lack of compassion, a level of anger in our culture and an acceptance of hateful behavior as normal that is spreading far faster than the coronavirus. Taking a step away, especially from so much FB time, makes all media but especially social media feel like such an ugly place to hang out. Even people that are usually kind, thinking people are lashing out in hate and anger at anyone who disagrees with them… causing drama to defend positions and ideologies that are flimsy at best analysis…more than likely completely lies that society is being programmed us to believe. Logging in to social media feels like agreeing to go to a party where everyone is red faced, angry and has zero manners…just doesn’t sound like fun anymore.
I am coming to believe that the notion that we need social media to stay connected with each other and informed, even in the era of COVID, is a lie…an ugly lie that is hurting our society even more than coronavirus. Is social media really connecting us or is it killing the very thing that makes communities work? If have learned one thing for certain this year…I personally do not not “need” anything on social media…I also don’t need to watch any news on television…my life functions fine without it. When I need to know something the universe makes sure I know it. All the changes this year have definitely “slowed life down” here..but it’s not a bad thing…watching my vacation rental business crumble is definitely not fun don’t get me wrong…but the change of pace and limited consumption of any media is a pleasant change and I am glad that it has happened. I am not sure I will ever go back to wanting to be “connected” to the drama outside. I am not sure I even want to try to restart my vacation rental business next year; perhaps its time for a bigger change.
Daily life at Misfit Manor goes on no matter the chaos going on elsewhere…the needs of the dogs are always number one priority and keep me busy around the clock. Rosie, while happy and sweet as ever, slowly but continually gets weaker over time. She is always at my side no matter what I am doing and I am grateful for every day that I have with her. Millie is now completely blind and deaf. She manages just fine but always wants to be close. The rest of the Misfits keep me on track…if dogs and cats love anything…its routine…every day is ground hog day here and I love every minute of it.
Holly’s remains came home this week. She is an urn on the mantle with Sam, Sparky and Hercules. We will bury some her ashes in the garden at some point this fall… perhaps on All Souls Day. I miss her terribly and am grateful that I had the chance to know her even though it was just for a short time.
Getting ready for the holiday selling season is also keeping me super busy lately. I am expecting a really crazy selling season as folks don’t want to go shopping in crowds this year and fewer will be traveling with gifts but rather order them online. If you are planning to do online shopping for the holidays this year…do it early!!!! USPS and UPS are already slow…it will get much worse as we approach the election and the holidays. If you need to shop for dog lovers please check out our shops! We have our own Misfit Manor Shop and an Etsy shop.
Don’t forget to check out our Pinterest Page for all things pet! We collect ideas for pet recipes, pet parties, pet furniture and more…fun!
Be safe…embrace kindness…love a dog!
Nancy & The Misfits