What you think on grows…..again

Hello!

How are you? 

This is me,

I am Donna Lee.  I am many things, a soon to be 67 year old woman, a wife of 43 years, a mother of 3 and a grandmother of one.  (I know, I know, I take terrible selfies). I haven’t written or posted a blog post in a few years.  I think the pandemic made me shy away from social media. Weird?  Yea, I know.  It drove or beckoned so many folks to take part and join the online community.  I have a new appreciation for those people and the work they put into their channels, websites and all their reels.  I still enjoy the slice of life posts where someone brings us along for their day.  I like seeing how other people live and what they think and what they believe is important.

Me?  To me, the most important thing is being my honest self.  I don’t edit photos or pretend to be someone I am not.  I am too old for that stuff.  I don’t mind turning 67 at all.  My body may mind some days more than others, but mentally and emotionally it’s cool.  I like the person I am now better than the person I was back in my 20’s.  I am kinder and less judgemental.  I can more easily appreciate someone else’s goodness or good fortune and not always wish it were mine.

I have been married since 1981 to my high school sweetheart and love of my life.  We seem to still enjoy each other’s company (and oddly finish each other’s sentences or say the same thing at the same time) and like doing some of the same things.  Only some.  We each have hobbies and interests that are separate.

He likes woodworking and gardening.  He is retired (because he’s a contractor and his contract was not renewed in 2020 and it was easier to retire than to continually send out resumes into the wind and not hear anything back.  Ageism is real).

I am still working.  I work as a social worker in behavioral health.  This involves working with psychiatrists to provide community mental health services in Philadelphia.  I have been doing the same job for 30 years. I look forward to retiring but have a few projects around the house that need to be taken care of.  I like to knit, spin, sew, read, cook, talk and watch sci fi and horror movies.  Godzilla minus one was so good!  Watching really bad movies is something my husband and I share.  We’ve seen some doozies recently.  The Shark Exorcist comes to mind…..

I have been reading an interesting book, Craft Psychology by Dr Anne Kirketerp.  It was just published in English.  

It is an interesting look at how craft (any kind of handicraft) can help calm a frazzled brain, help people become more relaxed and refreshed.  Her theory is that if you sit and do nothing all day, you are tired and restless at the end of the day, not refreshed because your brain goes to the “what if” place and it is usually not a positive place to spend the day.  If you engage in a craft that is challenging enough to require your attention but not so hard that you are sweating the details, your brain goes into a state she calls “flow”.  And that is what helps your whole being feel refreshed and renewed.  

She has the data to back up her theories and it makes for interesting reading.  I don’t think it’s earth shattering.  It’s an idea that I have had for a long time.  The peace that my mind feels when I sit at my spinning wheel and find my rhythmn, is real and not duplicated by anything else in my life.   I have been crafting my whole life.  I don’t know what people who don’t have hobbies do with themselves.

We used to have a Wellness Fair at work and I would always get the table devoted to leisure time activities.  I think a lot of the people who attended the fair didn’t necessarily think of my leisure activities as pertaining to health but they all took one of the small craft kits I put together for knitters, sewists or crocheters.  I have taught many of my clients over the years how to knit or crochet and several kept up with it.  In a few weeks I have a woman coming in for her appt with the dr and afterwards we are going to have lunch and I will teach her to knit.  I will get a beautiful skein of red yarn and some comfortable needles and show her how to get more “flow” into her life.

I have a case load of around 100 people at the moment.  It’s a lot.  Trying to keep up with them and making sure everyone gets what they need and gets the help they ask for is what keeps me busy.  I also run 2 groups a week in our Adult Day Program.  Leisure Activities (currently Bingo) and a Poetry group.

I like my job and I am good at it.  I don’t know how I will walk away when retirement beckons.  And I think I want to go back to posting here.  Not every day but hopefully every week and maybe twice a week.  I can be ambitious.

So, pull up a chair, take out your craft supplies and once we have all had our chance to find some inner peace, we can talk about it.

See you soon.