Clarity Revisited

My keyword for 2020 was CLARITY –  a clever play on the whole “2020 Vision” thing for the new year.

In retrospect, despite Covid 19 – or perhaps even partly because of it – I feel like what is important has really come into focus.

At the beginning of the year, I suffered some health issues that forced me into taking stock of my activities. I could no longer ‘spin as many plates’ as I had previously, so I pared down my commitments to a few things that I felt were most important and that I felt I could handle. My post “2020 Vision – Clarity” explains the particulars, in case you’re interested.

Then Covid hit, further limiting my interactions and thus my outside commitments. Instead, it was a time of creativity and productivity as I rekindled the creative juices. I wasn’t hindered by outside commitments, so I painted, wrote, quilted, played piano, took German lessons and more… . You can read about some of those activities here – “Fruit of the Spirit Series of Paintings” , “Blood Ties Unboxed – and other pandemic activities” , and “Self Isolation Productivity”. 

In many ways, the pandemic played into my new philosophy of focusing on the things I wanted to do instead of what I felt obligated to do, because there were no other options. I had to find ways to be productive and feel good about myself, and nobody else could bother me, even if they wanted to! These days, Covid restrictions are relaxing. It would be easy to begin to revert back to my ‘busier than is healthy’ ways.

Except… Covid 19 wasn’t the reason I started on this quest for clarity in my life. I must continue to be mindful of my health – which is okay, but not 100%. My new ‘normal’ is listening to my body and learning to gage when enough is enough. I just don’t have the same kind of stamina, anymore. So, continuing to say “No” is still part of my strategy. I cannot take on too many things. I must have clarity about the projects that I feel I want to do, and that I can do, without allowing stress to creep back in.

So, what is important in my life right now? Well, obviously, my faith, my family, and my relationships with people that I actually know and care about. I am continuing in my tenure as President of InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship, but will re-evaluate after our Fall Conference, and likely step down in 2021. I plan to continue working as a support teacher for HCOS, the Distributed Learning school that I’ve worked for since September of 2018. And, very important on my list, I want to focus on my own writing.

In reality, not much has changed, despite Covid! Those were the three things I decided I could handle when I first started thinking about clarity, simplicity, and downsizing. In other words, finding and focusing on a few things, instead of trying to juggle too many things at once.