Tomorrow, March 17, 2021, will mark one year since I left my office and started working from home full time ("temporarily"). There is so much to process about that, and I will probably post a follow up tomorrow, but for now I am looking at the sun pouring in my window and I am reminded of that first week at home. I suddenly found myself on more conference calls in a day than I ever had been before. I support our senior leadership and with the uncharted territory of the pandemic came many, many more meetings to discuss how to move forward. Added to these back-to-back-to-back calls was the "home schooling" for a reluctant middle schooler and you can imagine that the stress was adding up quickly.
That is when I started stealing away between meetings to go outside and lay
on the ground where the sun hit just right over the house. It was still chilly in Boston since it was March, but there was a little beam of light that would shine down on the steps, and it was a perfect place to just lay down and soak it in.
I was literally solar powering my body.
In that short amount of time my mind would wander all over the place. I would get some great ideas of things I wanted to make or ways to organize the rest of my day. Somehow that small beam of sunshine jumpstarted my creative juices and helped me get through the next few hours until I could get back into the craft room.
Sadly, over time my break was spent doing other things around the house. Emptying the dishwasher, sewing masks during the PPE crisis, prepping dinner. There were many things that pulled me away from that quick ten minute sunshine break. I did try to work outside during the summer, but that lasted about 20 minutes before it got too distracting. When winter came I found it really hard to leave the comfort of my hallway-turned-office. I definitely found myself in a bit of a funk. Other than redesigning my website, JoatmonCreations.com in January, I haven't done anything fun or creative over the last few months. Coffee was the only way to get myself perked up to face the day.
Now a year later I sit here, on my fourth call of the day, and I am staring at the sunshine beaming in my window. I know it is still cold out there, but I am drawn to that beam and I am counting down the minutes until I can go outside to try and catch it. I need the vitamin D, I need the warmth, I need to get my mind moving. It's time to get out of this funk and start feeling normal again.
Whatever that may feel like....