When Small Problems Turn into Bigger Problems

"Many people delay taking action because they

hope to avoid suffering. They keep searching for a

path that won’t involve trade-offs.

But some form of suffering is always inevitable.

The process of taking action is the process of choosing

your pain." - James Clear

I read this quote last month, and because it touched a nerve, I taped it to my computer.

Last year my husband and I packed up our business of 30+ years and downsized to a studio. I’m sure that you know the chaos of a move. At first, you are neat and intentional in your packing and by the end, you are tossing everything in a box and promising yourself that you’ll deal with it later.

Within 30 days of handing the keys back to the landlord, my son got sick and COVID was upon us. And my life became a whole lot busier. We were in crisis mode and anything not urgent was ignored.

Once my son’s treatments were over...and thankfully successful, my Youtube channel was in full swing and I had even less time. And those boxes sat unopened in the back of the office but still weighed heavily on my mind.

The information to file my tax returns are in those boxes...I should have filed them yesterday. But like so many problems I can’t do this (A) until I do that (B), and I can’t do that until I deal with another thing (C) and I can’t do that until I do yet another thing (D)...etc, etc...honestly, I might run out of alphabet.

Then I realized that I needed to use the same strategy that I recently did when I pulled out my #100days100blocks pile lying abandoned in my sewing room. Here was this project I started years ago, and after my interview with Gnome Angel a few weeks ago, I can’t help but think about finally finishing it.

And that’s what this week's video is about. How do you step back into a UFO and move forward?

And the very first step I need to take is dealing with the shame and embarrassment. How did I let this get out of control? Why did I wait so long? What if someone finds out? I came clean with a friend first. And funny, once it was out in the open, it didn’t seem so insurmountable.

Now I need to choose my pain. For me it's about setting aside some TIME. I figure that it will take 30 days. Not fun days ahead, perhaps less quilting...but it will get done. And you can bet that my 30-minute timer will be involved.

I know that you want a MANDO update. He is so wonderful. I took him on a park trail the other day and we both had so much fun...remembering days with Holly... and I realized how much I missed the outdoors. We are also meeting new friends in the neighbourhood. Mando has such an amazing vocabulary. He has a different yip, whimper and bark for everything. Though we are deep in the nipping and chewing stages...and our seedling pots are his favourite toy [sigh] he has nestled deep in our hearts as he has always been there.

Don't forget to check out my new Karen's Quilt Circle interview on Monday, May 10th. I will be speaking with Ursula McClintock from LDH scissors about - what else - scissors! It's a great informative interview, and you will want to check it out.