2021 started slowly, I did a bit of Marie Kondo tidying of my sewing room and found joy in sorting fabrics. I wrapped small pieces of ribbon around bits of cardboard and filed everything in Rainbow order. I took time, I was working slowly and now I know that working slowly, and with purpose is good for longevity. It seems working slowly and in a focused way is good for creativity, for problem solving and for innovation. It has taken me over 40 years to learn to do things slowly. In my youth, pace was essential to success. Speed was everything, it differentiated the star performers from the averagely good. We were all told that speed, multi tasking, ticking things off lists and doing stuff mattered. Then came the pandemic and all of that changed. For example my travel list, which is still exhaustive, sits unmoved from 2019. The plays, ballets, operas remain unseen or heard.
Really, only the first two weeks of January were very slow, thereafter I embarked on the first term for several workshops. I did Contemporary Quilting, Abstract Art, Advanced Fiction, Journalism, Advanced Coaching, Creative Writing and all of these weaved alongside my work as a consultant and coach. I attended meetings, readings, and professional webinars. I worked weekends, I worked during the week from early morning late into the evening and I enjoyed most of it. When that term ended I realised I was physically exhausted and that my mind was weary. I had been doing lots of writing, sewing, painting and working whenever possible, however, a life on zoom is sedentary and sometimes soulless.
Having taken the Easter break to review things, I have decided to streamline my commitments to allow time for leisurely creativity and innovation to emerge; to allow more time for being active; to allow more time for people I want to see. I am choosing not to squander my energy, and to cherish it and to save it for the things that help to make me healthier and happier.
Sounds extreme? My lessons from the first term of 2021 (AKA Lockdown 3): I must do work that inspires me, and, that leisure activities should be just that!
How was your Lockdown?
Some of my projects from the third lockdown.
Rita's Roving 
I felt “”locked down”” in lockdown with the broken ankle 🙂 and still ! Thank God I have a job that I like.
During first lockdown I felt it necessary to cook and learn new things e.g sour dough bread. But now I’m just content with the slow pace of life. It’s a bit like practising for your retirement 😂
Funny old times.
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