After a long March spent grieving and healing from a friend’s passing, on April 1st, I woke up feeling a bit lighter than I had in weeks.
I’ve always loved April. It’s my birthday month and it usually signals the end of our long, cold winter and the beginnings of Spring. It’s only the first week and it’s been such a change to hear birds loudly chirping in the mornings again and little buds start appearing on the gray, bare trees we’ve been staring at for months on our drives.
Last year, I spent the month challenging myself to learn how to roller skate and trying to skate every single day. I called it Skatepril and if you scroll back far enough on my Instagram, you’ll see how I actually started in March to practice for the challenge, and then ended up stretching it to 100 days in a row on skates! It was fantastic and I’m so glad to have this new skill to practice that’s been amazing for my mental health, as well.
If you scroll back through my Reels on Instagram, you’ll find Skatepril, plus my warm-up weeks in March, and then how I ended up skating 100 days in a row!
I haven’t had the energy for skating with everything last month, but I’m hoping to pick it back up as the weather gets warmer and I can skate outside again. As much as I love the privacy of learning to skate in my own living room, I’m starting to feel the need for more space.
The last time I skated outside, I was sharing a beach pavilion with another skater and had plenty of room to move, but I ended up skating mostly in a smaller space that was maybe only a little bigger than the living room space I normally use. It’s funny how when you get used to the space allowed, sometimes you don’t know what to do when you have more freedom.
I’m currently reading “Radical Acceptance” by Tara Brach, Ph.D., and she talked about a regal white tiger named Mohini who spent her time pacing in a cramped 12-foot cage. By the time the zoo she was at created a natural habitat for her, she was too used to her cage and she spent the rest of her life pacing a 12-by-12 foot area of it.
So this month, my focus is to help get myself out of that cramped feeling the winter and being cooped up in our house has given us and actually, INTENTIONALLY have some fun!
Do I know what that looks like yet? Nope. Do I have a plan, like I normally do? Nope.
I also enjoyed hanging back on Instagram the last month so I don’t even know just how much I’ll post a lot about my fun focus, though I’m sure I will 🙂 We shall see!
One of the fun things I got to do the first week of April was go on my first podcast of 2022! I’m not quite sure how I made it to April without getting on the mic, but I’m glad I didn’t go much further.
If you were following me on Instagram and Twitter last month, I was posting about how Mark and I were watching the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in 30-40-minute stretches during our lunch hour. It was my first time seeing them (I know, I know!) and because of this, one of my longtime podcasting friends, David, invited me on his podcast “Tales from the Fandom” to talk about my first reactions.
I had such a good time connecting with David and being able to talk excitedly about the movies to someone who could answer a lot of my questions I had and who knew them fairly well. I had a blast and I hope I have a lot more days that include something fun like recording a podcast!
One thing that has been getting more attention is my Fairy Hair and maybe this will be the year I can get Fairy Hair by Emily up and running!
GOALS FOR THE MONTH — APRIL 2022
Enjoy my birthday month and find the joy of turning another year older.
Be intentional with time and energy.
Treat Yo’ Self (within reason)!
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