My "itch" has been going on for a while - truthfully my itches are more often than every 7 years. The past 6 years I have been very active in PTA and volunteering. I ramped it up about 5 years ago, and then last year after I served subsequent 2 year terms as a VP and then President, I drastically slowed it down. The idea was that I was going to do something else. I did get back into Substitute Teaching (not really as much as I had initially planned.) I was going to do other things - maybe get a Realtor license? Finally finish all my scrapbooks? Write a short novella? (No... never one of the ideas, but if anyone asked why I dropped off the face of the volunteering planet it was a good enough excuse!)
The volunteering came as another itch worked it's way in about 6 years ago - we had just moved and my youngest started Kindergarten. We were in the same area, just a new Elementary School. I decided that I need to get more involved, make new friends and do something worthwhile with my "free time." I sure did and before I knew it 5 years being heavily involved has passed. During that time, I lost weight, gained weight, lost it again, and gained it again. Major changes happened in our family: husband's work circumstances, daughter's transition to adulthood, my parents moved close by, several family members had surgeries of various kinds. The last year I was actively volunteering - my life got in the way big time until I had to just say "I'm sorry I'm not doing as much as president as I did last year but XYZ are happening and I just can't do as much." That year was what basically led to me doing less this year. I needed to devote time to something else and myself.
2016 my husband created a new company and I had to get used to him working from home full time, we lost a very close friend to cancer and my grandmother to Alzheimer's. It was a big transitional year all around and while many people said that 2016 was "THE WORST!" we took it as it was, and grew. While all this was happening, that itch started. Thus, why I re-entered the work force (albeit very part-time.) I also analyzed what I could do to help my husband in his business, also what I could do at home to make it more balanced and simplified.
I posted yesterday about my giant Monday of a month, so in all reality not much was done to further any ambitions. But the gears, they were spinning. I would tell my husband, "I've got something... it's spinning." My thoughts are going, I'm getting itchy, it's time to move out of the shadows into the spotlight, it's time to STRETCH myself away from what is comfortable and into a new area. (Enough metaphors?) I feel it and I have to be the one to make the first move.
So the STRETCH isn't anything major like moving, or going back to school, or having a full-time job in a completely different career. It's taking my energies and applying it to where my family needs it most right now.
The business - needs me to generate Social Media buzz, work on photography and marketing. I'll take a few courses, learn some stuff and feel like I'm pulling my weight while learning new things.
The family - needs me to learn to say "NO" to some of the outside endeavors and continue to make my home a better place. Right now organization (continued!) and family history are my focus. Basic stuff like healthy cooking and interesting activities are also part of the plan.
Myself - I need to feel better about myself. One of those surgeries were mine, and it laid me up for several months. I needed it to help me take my "break" and cut down on commitments, but now I need to get my physical self back up to where I was. Then I need to focus my on interests by working on projects that make me happy. (So, quite literally I need to stretch because of my knee and back problems. I know that my exercises and yoga will help so much!) So, I started out talking about my "itch" but really instead of SCRATCH I really need to STRETCH. Honestly, I need both! (Now I also literally am itching, so off to hunt down my hand cream....)
