March Wrap-Up

What a strange time the marvelous month of March was for me! If I had words for it, they would be restless, bored, pensive. March was my birthday month.  Aside from that I also felt that I was holding my breath for April.

❓ The birthday I did not celebrate.

It’s one of those milestone birthdays. A decade older and totally clueless about what to do with it.  I had asked myself several times how (aside from the special dinner) I wanted to celebrate but ended up with a blank each time.

I wasn’t feeling sorry or sad for myself or anything like that, it was more like options paralysis – I was feeling very grateful for all the things I already have that I couldn’t think of one particular way to celebrate. (I warned you this month was ‘strange’!).

Plus I realized that if I truly wanted to celebrate outwardly, then this entire year is a celebration of my birthday – starting with finally quitting work back in January.  Now top that! (Ooops, I smell a year-ender blog post in the making!) 🙂

❗ Nervous energy galore.

Sweeping generalization: all I could really focus on in March were my video games because I was restless. I even took to exercising twice a day (and we all know how this turned out!).  March was undoubtedly affected by the family’s upcoming move to another country.  It’s exciting, and I’m so looking forward to it.  But I also feel sad for the things I love that will be left behind 😦

❗ The clutter in our lives.

The process of ‘leaving behind’ has my thoughts going to all the excess ‘stuff’ that we accumulate in all or most areas of our lives. There are tonnes of books and websites about getting rid of excess but I have yet to find one about avoiding the accumulation of ‘stuff’ to begin with.  (If you know of something, please let me know).

So right now I have things like creating capsule wardrobes, making lists of essential bath/toiletry/make-up items and this golden rule of “you only need one” that I’m hoping will help ward off clutter moving forward. I also find Gretchen Rubin’s happiness quote very helpful:

If money is to enhance your happiness, it must be used to support aspects of life that themselves bring happiness to you.

❓ Boredom and hobby-envy.

I knew when I quit work in January that a time of temporary boredom would befall me as part of transitioning to becoming a domestic goddess – it came to me in March. Finally the infatuated bliss of freedom I felt in January and February settled down and I was confronted with time and opportunity.

Rather unfortunately though, I am also faced with limited time in the sense that the family will be moving to another country pretty soon, so anything I want to get into is shot down with a “you’ll just be accumulating more stuff you have to leave behind“. 😕

It’s not a fun place to be in, truthfully.  It feels to me like I’m putting the present on hold for the future.  I’m still feeling envious of a friend who’s enthusiastically throwing herself into terrariums, dream catchers and watercolor painting

💡 Blogging reflects what is going on in your life (to a certain extent at least).

Another lesson learned 🙂

I was (admittedly) a lazy blogger in March because:

1) coming off of my self-imposed post-every-weekday challenge in February, my immediate reaction when March rolled in was to relax, and

2) pretty much nothing interesting was happening in my personal life because as mentioned, I am in a ‘waiting to exhale’ mode.

 

That said, I still managed to rake up some shimmering stars for my birthday month:

⭐ I reached 500 likes on the 13th 🙂

⭐ I received another blog nomination on the 16th 🙂

⭐ I reached 200+ followers on the 18th 🙂

⭐ finished and passed the Origins of Crime online course (Open2Study)

⭐ finished and passed There’s No Place Like Home online course  (Udemy)

⭐ came to terms with the role of diet and exercise in my life

⭐ learned that my natural inclination is towards physical and mental hobbies as opposed to creative hobbies

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And now on to you 🙂 How was March for you? You must have accumulated some stars too!  Bring my comments fields alive by sharing them – pretty please! 🙂