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Good morning everyone! I know I haven’t posted anything this month, so I thought I would pop on here and just give everyone a little update on where my mind has been this past month..

First, let me quickly address the elephant in the room..

Here in the U.S. it’s an election year, which means that we have a new president here in America. Naturally, as often happens with voting, we had a winner and a loser. Meaning, that half the country is mad, while the other half of the country is happy.

I myself have not, nor will not, talk about my political views on here or anywhere else for that matter. I am very good at staying neutral and see no point in losing friends, jobs, clients, or anything else over my political and personal opinions.

Now that that’s said, I am also burned out on all of the political talk online!

Everywhere you go on the internet there are videos of fear-mongering that try to catch your attention by making it seem like the world is ending or that all of our rights are being taken away. This happens every four years, no matter who is put into office, and it comes from both sides of the aisle.

Some of it is fake news. Most of it is clickbait. And despite me knowing this, I STILL CLICK ON IT! 🤦‍♀️

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A few days ago, I got into a heated debate with a good friend of mine, about things that didn’t pertain to us, or the state we live in. I caught both of us just repeating things we had heard on the internet, with no real facts behind them…

It was then that I knew I had to take a step back from it all, and I knew I had spent too much time on the internet.

I couldn’t decide what my real thoughts were on some of the subjects we debated, because all we were doing was repeating someone else’s thoughts from the internet!

I spent the next day almost completely silent and in my own head. I spent some time (both at work and at home) just thinking over everything, and I learned a lot about myself by just listening to the thoughts in my head.

I spent the whole day offline.

I spent some time in the real world.

And I spent hours in my head, just thinking…

I was someone who used to worry about the whole world! I worried about things that were happening in different countries. I worried about things happening in different states. And I worried about complete strangers online who didn’t even know I existed. I was a very anxious child, and I think a part of that came from growing up in the Military, as we always HAD to worry about what was happening in other countries…

Through all my fears, my father taught me something that still helps me to this day, and it was one of the reasons why I decided to step away from the internet the past few days and just breathe.

My father taught me that all that stuff I was worrying about in other places, they don’t affect me. And I know what you’re thinking! That’s a selfish way to live! But it helped me from overthinking and working myself into a panic attack when I turned on the news (eventually I learned to just stop watching the news).

My father started asking me, “How does this affect you and your life?” He taught me that If I’m going to worry about stuff, to worry about stuff I can control. Instead of worrying about laws being passed in other states, maybe I should worry about the laws being passed in my OWN state. Or instead of worrying about what other people think about our country, start asking myself what ‘I’ think about my country (and if I don’t like it, what can I do about it).

The reason I say this is because so many people are worrying about OTHER people’s lives and how they live them. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t worry about other people! But why worry about what someone else is doing when you have so much going on in your own life?!

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Anyways, I wanted to take a moment to step back into reality. We spend so much of our time online watching other people live their lives and judging them for stuff, that many of us forget to live our own lives!

So, what have I been up to this month?

Well, I’ve been doing a lot of coloring..

Normally I color with something on in the background, but since I’ve been taking a break from the internet, it’s been nice to just color and sit with my thoughts.

I’ve also been working on the next batch of coasters for the craft fairs this year! My theme this year is fantasy cottagecore, so it’s been fun to make some cute new coasters with some whimsical themes. 🙂

In addition to the coasters, I’ve been working on some crocheting crafts! I’ve been making some hair bandanas for the girls, I’m going to be working soon on some new hat and beards for the guys, and I made these adorable little mushroom people for the kids!

My January has been very slow-paced, and I love that I’ve had time every day to do something I love. This has truly been a great start to the year, and I’m hoping that it only gets better from here!

I apologize if I don’t post as much these next few months, but I promise it’s for a good reason! I’m just out here living life, focusing on family, and taking every day as slow as I can. ❤

As always, my lovely readers.. Smile, have an amazing day, and spend some time in the real world today! 😉