Two more days ’til it’s officially spring break!

I am ready for some SUNSHINE.

Sunshine AND warmth because at least Chicago is delivering on the sunshine part.

Yesterday evening, I hopped on a Zoom call for the writer’s workshop I’m a part of. I was definitely more of a passive participant, listening and taking notes rather than asking the questions.

But it felt so fun to be a part of it. And to put faces to all the micro-essays I’ve been reading.

As I looked at all the little boxes of faces, I was thinking about the stories they’ve shared. About motherhood, about anxieties, about all the things going on in their mind.

During the hour-long Zoom session, I thought back to a conversation I had with my therapist. Back when we were transitioning Ishu to school. I talked about how it was going to feel LOVELY to have so much free time to myself. I continued on, talking about how it’d be nice to finally fold the freakin’ laundry that sits on our extra bed. To have time to actually clean this tornado of an apartment.

My therapist let me talk. And when I was finished, she gently reminded me that it’s easy to fill in the hours with the errands. There will always be things to do. Always be things to clean. And then the day would go by and it would end up feeling a lot like it did BEFORE having all the extra time. I’d feel unfulfilled.

So she asked me to think about how I could use some of that extra time to do something for ME. To pursue a hobby, to carve out time to do things just for fun.

And, as I sit here with my notes on the table in front of me and a PDF open with my writing assignment for this week, I am so grateful I listened to that advice.

To pour a little into me.

Not because I’ve got some sort of book to write or some final product to put out. But simply because the act of writing brings me a lot of joy.

So, yes, I’m pretty darn happy with this extra time I’ve got in my life right now.

And pretty darn happy that I’m using it for things other than laundry. 🙂