Renewal

Welcome Spring! So glad you’re finally here. We had a survivable winter in Omaha but I love the warmer weather and increased light. I grew up in Tucson, AZ so light and warm are important. I’ve started a new part-time job at CNC Surveying, just a block away from my Resin Art Studio on Leavenworth St. If you come by the studio please call me, ’cause I’m just 5 minutes away at work or at home. Going back to work is actually great. It means I can pay rent for the studio and slow burn through my fantastic ideas for resin art projects and paintings.

My younger years were the opposite of a slow burn. I liked that though. I have always been willing to work hard. But the stress of a career and family occupied my thoughts more at 60 than ever before. It had a lot to do with my expectations.

Worse than it really is?

The problem with age is comparing where you are, your family, your life, against the expectations you built while working to fulfill the dreams of youth. Combine that with inevitable changes in health and you have a greater potential for stress, more health problems, more worries and more reasons to be upset. Add some regrets onto the mix and

THIS is why people need time to relax and repair. Plan, and then take some deserved scheduled time off to rest and re-align. Spend time without the stress that brought you into those difficult thoughts. If you don’t recognize yourself anymore, you need to make a significant life change. I was lucky to be in a position to semi-retire. And for God’s sake, listen to the people who love you. I’m happier with simple. What I do now at a slower pace leads to greater creativity. COVID taught the world that people, and time, and the pursuit of happiness are SO much more valuable than things, and hurry and hate. Please be kind to others.

I’m glad my perspective changed. I had to see my achievements of a long marriage and a happy family as greater than anything else accomplished in my career. I realized that ambition doesn’t guarantee success.

That is not to say I wouldn’t love to sell some of the art I’m making. But, the pressure is off and that feels great!