Let me take care of the “Notice” part of the title right off.

I’ve chosen to rest for awhile from tending The Green Sheep as a business. I’ll put my Etsy shop into vacation mode next week, for an undetermined amount of time. I am not taking new commissions for blankets for now. I’ll continue to sew. I especially will be attentive to the sweet but reticent muse that can surprisingly move me to dream about a blanket. I’ll also try to write now and then, to check in. And I’m always available for questions, comments (or entire conversations) right here!

In summary, I think I can safely say,

Whoa, it’s 2022 … and none of us are where we expected to be.

I thought, like most of us, by now we’d be on far less confusing ground regarding Covid. I expected to be making new friends in my new town. And I looked forward to more time, post-retirement, to sew some beautiful wool things.

But: this pandemic is long and rough. This new house required unfamiliar and time-consuming work. I’m helping my dear 88-year-old mom in all the long-distance ways I can think of. I miss the camaraderie of fellow neuro therapists and clients. Thinking about keeping up with the call to be online socially and business-wise makes me want to take a nap.

In response to all the above, my wool blanket mojo
is unexpectedly hibernating (*sob*)!

And what happens when this introvert gets stressed, overwhelmed and a little bit sad? I retreat. I haven’t quite turned into a hermit, but maybe a hermit crab? I like to get out and about some, but prefer to keep my place of comfort near!

Lead Image Source : Vagabondivan/Shutterstock

It’s snug and quiet in my shell. I’ve lots of books, a journal, nearby hiking trails, sourdough starter and an oven, and a sewing machine. I haven’t pulled out my wool much but instead have been trying to gain new mastery of understanding sewing patterns and how they work. I practice with sheets, tablecloths, upholstery remnants, and Walmart bundles. Good-looking ones! Then I challenge myself to wear my handmade things to the library.

I still do lots of stuff with family, videochat with friends, and get outdoors where there are other people. I’m getting better at doing mind-healthy things regularly (exercise!). But the level of brain fatigue mid-pandemic plus all-the-other-things is real. For ALL OF US!

I’ve come to define where I am as “rest time.”
I’m not sure what will come next or when it will come, but I’m ok with that!

I recently found some pebbles of wisdom in a list of Austin Kleon’s favorite quotes of 2021. The quotes that caught my eye are about dormancy. (Kleon in fact does an entire blogpost on that topic here.)

If you are not where you expected to be either, if you’re spinning your wheels or you’ve lost your muse or simply being a hermit sounds awfully good, read these little things. Roll them around in your mind. They’ve helped me consider that in spite of my flat “fatigue response,” something else rich and wonderful can still be going on down deep.

“Barren days, do no planting.”
—Farmer’s Almanac

“Plants may appear to be languishing simply because they are dormant.”
—The New Oxford American Dictionary

“In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others to help us better determine how we feel about ourselves, and to in turn feel the need to be constantly visible — for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success — don’t be afraid to disappear from it, from us, for a while and see what comes to you in the silence.”
—Michaela Coel, in her Emmys award acceptance speech

“You can’t know it ahead of time — you’re giving space for something to freely arise that wouldn’t have arisen if you hadn’t created that space.”
—Iain McGilchrist (author of The Master and His Emissary and The Matter with Things)

And most significant of all for me, I sit and rest daily on this good word from Jesus—

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
—Matthew 11:28