I love my job. I really do. I also love to golf, love to read, have a passion for learning new recipes and collecting recipe books. My goal is to walk 8km every day. I’m slow so that takes about 100 minutes. Every day.

Once the most recent lockdown order has been lifted, I want to visit all 5 children and four grandchildren. They live in various regions of Ontario. I want to just sit and listen to them talk, watch the expression on their faces. Be with them.

I miss them. I think I took them all for granted. There are extended family members I have neglected over the years because I was “too busy” to keep in touch. Friends too. This last year has given me a lot to think about. The priorities I have automatically chosen over the years seem somehow selfish now.

Bill and I love to travel on short visits. However all of the bathrooms in the world have to open up before trips exceeding an hour can be scheduled! (Yes, I am THAT girl!)

Did I mention I work full-time? And I love my job? This year, because of COVID, and because I work with small business, the work load and the hours have increased. Ditto the stress.

When is it time to pivot to the next stage?

I’m also in my mid-sixties. When is it time to consider working part-time?

What would I do for heaven’s sake?

Oh yes Bill and I did retire for 6 months and live at our place in Yuma. We golfed 3-4 times a week, happy hour-ed daily and gained 20 pounds each. After six months, we had had enough.

And then….we went back to work.

Working is my way of life!

Neither one of us know any other way of life. It was who we were before we met. And it is who we are now. We love to be busy. During COVID when I was instructed to work from home, I brought a couple of boxes home, and set up my home office. I can do this I said to myself. I have my own office, at the office, so being at home wasn’t absolutely necessary. Or so I told myself. I am not a “work from home” gal. I have forced myself to stay home while overseeing the painting and renovations at the office. When the internet bailed for the fourth time in one day, knocking my remote access out, I headed back to my office. And my sanity!

What are my options?

I’ve been considering my other options.

I love my coffee. Maybe I can take a barista course and work in a “Starbucks-like” environment? But then again. Have you looked at the staff at Starbucks? Is anyone over the age of 28 in there?

My long term plan was to do what I truly love, talk and share what else? I am a perpetual snoop. I am curious and my passion is to express in words, what is in my heart. Hence why the blog was born!

In July of last year I bought a camera and a lighting kit to take professional photographs. The camera has come out of the box a half dozen times and the lighting kit is still in the box unopened. Mmmmm. Somehow I keep getting distracted.

Too many distractions

Distracted to what you ask? Currently on my bedside table there must be at least 4 books and a couple of other unrelated items. The subjects vary. A history book from my son. A Selenite Crystal from my daughter. Several Vegan cookbooks. A house and garden design magazine. A biography on Charles Lindbergh.

Next to the spot where I sit in the living room, is a bible and a daily planner ~ I’m working my way through verses and devotional readings.

I am passionate about aging gracefully and with optimal health in as natural a way as I can. I’ve incorporated an evening yoga practise on Gaia to wind down and just started a 7 day anxiety series on the app Calm.

But all of that doesn’t amount to much of anything other than a whole lotta somethings that keep my brain in constant curiosity mode and away from addressing that “where are you pivoting to after work?” question!

Fear of the unknown

Getting up and going to work has always grounded me. In the dark, dark days after my first husband passed away, getting up and going to the factory every day kept me from addressing my grief and the grief of my daughter and son and other family members. I rationalized that decision by telling myself our employees, our customers and our vendors, needed me to keep going.

In hindsight it was definitely not the right path to take but it was all I knew how to do.

Consequently all of the above has to be incorporated into the pivot. I haven’t quite figured out what that looks like yet. And of course, there has to be some mystery and unknown that keeps my curious mind alert to what might be around the next corner.

I’ll keep you posted!

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to visit my blog. You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram.

Be bold, be authentically you!

~ Donna