I never thought I would take a year long break, but it happened.
As we have all experienced to some degree, the world turned upside down with the spread of COVID-19 and restrictions being put in place to slow the spread. In California, we experienced shelter-in-place orders since March 2020 and have only just begun to come out of another lockdown. I’ve been on a rollercoaster of emotions this past year, with varying energy levels, but it feels like a good time to check-in and give an update on where I am at personally, mentally, and professionally.
Here’s what I’ve been up to this last year:
I landed my first client for my freelance work and was contracted again on a few projects. It was encouraging to be able to work with someone that trusted my abilities to get their website and branding updated.
I signed up for Selfmade, an entrepreneur boot camp style course that was organized by Brit of Brit & Co. I learned a lot about running a business and actionable steps to take to achieve certain goals, but I haven’t been able to get my sneakers on the pavement quite yet. I did complete the course and felt it was worthwhile and would recommend it in case you need a support group of like-minded women to help lift you, but in the middle of that, I experienced a big life event.
I experienced the loss of a loved one back in July 2020. I stayed away from visiting family at the beginning of shelter-in-place orders, and slowly eased to doing a few outdoor visits. Not seeing family was the worst, but even more so because my grandma’s health was declining. I did take the risk to be down with my family, which I do not regret because I was able to be there for her at the end of her life.
I’ve struggled with growing my service-based business and lining up clients, as I tend to struggle with pitching, but I feel grateful to have had the flexibility that I would have otherwise been missing out on when my mom needed someone to be with my grandma while she returned to work after caring for her. I had extra time with her that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
During this time, I’ve had a supportive husband in many ways. He’s been an essential worker by providing personal protective equipment to the staff at his job, and honestly is the one that keeps us afloat financially. It’s something I worry about as things are uncertain. I’ve made income on the side with Poshmark and other reselling platforms, but nowhere near what I was making pre-COVID. I’ve been job hunting in order to keep my options open as the world re-opens.
In the past year, I’ve run a club, I’ve spent lots of time with my dog Iris, and I’ve done some home projects here and there. I recently shared on Instagram Stories that I reupholstered a vanity bench, which is something I never thought I’d tackle as quickly as I did.
I don’t get dressed up like I used to, but I am finding reasons here and there to wear something special, and I want to go back to sharing fun outfits plus everything I’ve done to make my home a cozy oasis.
I’ve missed writing and I am so glad to get this life update up and to hopefully get back into the swing of things. I’ve learned from this last year that it is really easy to put things off and not get to them. I may be less concerned with how things look to some extent as long as I can keep sharing my writing and stories. Perfectionism can sometimes make me put something off to the point that it is no longer relevant, but I want to get back to where I was when I first started blogging.
If you are still here, thanks for sticking with me.
Until next time,
