Pandemic Projects & Procrastination…(Can they be completed and successfully concluded before we are required to enter a non quarantined society? Does it matter?

The past two plus years have altered everything we know about social interactions, how we shop, (note the pic below of me buried in my Amazon boxes!). Also, how clean we keep our homes when it is just us…personally I am constantly surprised at how acceptable dust and clutter have become in my world.

I will admit that just prior to the lockdown my standards of organization had totally started to slip, (along with my rabid dust aversion); I found myself in the unplanned & unprepared role of Caregiver for my Husband who had contracted an aggressive form of ALS. Due to his inability to communicate verbally or feed himself there was not enough of me to go around. We have all heard the phrase

“Something’s got to give” – that phrase started the beginning of my “projects list”. My Husband passed in 2019 and my adult daughter in October of 2020.

So here comes this strange disease that people were talking about EVERYWHERE. Lockdowns and precautions were picking up speed like the snow of an avalanche. I was quickly realizing that I would need to do something to supplement my income, as when I lost my husband I lost 2/3 of my monthly income. I put things off (reality) for a few months using my meager savings to get by as I took care of all the necessary business.

I had things to sell. They say everyone has something that doesn’t fit, or you don’t want. Boy did I!!!!

You name it, I have/had it! I have boxes and boxes upon boxes that have treasures from every year, event, businesses, crafts, etc… from the early 70’s to present day. My Husband was, and I am horribly sentimental so every thing as been saved for “prosperity”, or for the next generation ( who has little to no interest as regards these treasures ).

So Quarantine- things that were always “saved for a rainy day”, when we had “time to be home” to devote to organizing “stuff”, and “decluttering” things that “don’t spark joy” to coin a phrase. In other words, the dreaded “Pandemic Procrastination List” had come home to roost. No room to run and hide and no more excuses.

But…. And that is a BIG BUT- you were exhausted, ravenous, stressed out, paranoid person who was spraying Lysol on their Mail and that list of “to do’s”was the farthest from our minds.

So, I decided to do Arty things and really threw myself into creating first jewelry (listed on Etsy) with polymer clay, then graduated to making hearts with complicated patterns. Of course, I can’t neglect to mention my photography notecards.

Meanwhile, I have boxes in my office and living room to get listed and sold. I have had big hopes the last 2 years to get this done before people are back in the thriving surge of cosmopolitan life.

Will I get a power focus surge and knock everything out by the end of the year? Probably not.

With focus on my Side Hustle (**Note~you really need to try Tori Belle magnetic lashes- they are amazing on/off & no glue!), plus listing, selling, and mailing things off of the Poshmark Platform. I do not have much down time. Yet I have still managed to gain 20 plus pounds- dunno how that happened….

Doing the above activities I use up many hours of each day in a positive way – Plus helping other women reach their potential, feel good about themselves, and train teams of their own with Tori Belle.

Meanwhile, there is still dust everywhere and the carpet could use a good vacuum- but, that can wait til tomorrow.

Each day has it’s own anxieties. These days that is a huge understatement. People are suffering from things we never heard of prior to Covid. Did you ever think that there would be something called ”Zoom Fatigue” that is a real thing? How many times have we all been dressed like how they used to describe the haircut mistake of the millennium “The Mullet”….”business in the front – party in the back (or below the view of the screen).” Slippers and Sweats Anyone??

We are now years and variants experienced Covid Warriors- our school age children are confused about at home/ in class learning, mask or no mask mandates and vaccination status’.

Often they are sucked into following their parent’s viewpoint on all those issues, and trickle down conspiracy theories find their way into all of the fabrics of our lives. Right, wrong, controversial or mainstream- as we enter back into the workforce all of these issues will be right there waiting for us.

Yet another level of pandemic fatigue and stress we now have to accept as mainstream. There are so many different fatigues that face us 24/7, it is a wonder there are any functioning adults in society at all.

Pandemic & Maybe Zoom Fatigue While In Home Schooling

I have been blessed to be able to work side gigs/hustles in my own time, from my home, when I feel that I can focus even for a bit. I am so very thankful for that and for the people who have presented me with these options.

I’m very glad I said “Yes” – it has been part of my Pandemic Survival plan. I highly recommend looking at direct sales again. It is not your parents’ direct sales companies- today they are made of stay at home moms and dads, people who aren’t able to do a 9-5 job due to health or family responsibilities.