So I was reminded this week from one of my readers that I needed to keep blogging. (Thanks Spammy!) I must admit, I've thought about it over the last several weeks, but I've allowed life to get in the way. So this is my apology to those that were enjoying my posts from time to time the summer. I will try my very best to not allow life to get in the way again.
One of the reasons that I've not blogged recently is that I've not been spending time up north at the lake since September. I don't seem to feel the inspiration or feel creative when I'm in the city. What happened to that feeling.... well I woke up one morning at the lake in late August and realized that it was time. It was time to get back to the city and get back to work! The time off over the summer had truly been the best gift I've ever given to myself and allowed all the stress and fog of life to go away. That August morning I realized that I was starting to feel that zest for life again. I really wanted to go to work! Wow...that was a different feeling for me to have again. When I was younger I always seemed to have that zest for life. What had happened to me? That's what this summer was all about for me. That's what northern Minnesota and all the beauty of the lake gives to me!
I know losing that zest happens to a lot of us as we move through our lives, but how unfortunate that truly is. We all start off as energetic young children with so many dreams about what life is going to be for us. Somehow, though, life just seems to slowly take that energy away if you don't consistently re-energize yourself. This summer allowed me to get back to the basics of what my core values were and remember what my true passions were again. Most importantly, I realized how many years I had spent giving all of my free time and energy to the wrong places and people. I had given most of that time and energy to either my employer at the time, customers of mine or some goal I had set for myself that in the end didn't really align well with my core values or needs at all. I have a lot of theories of why I've allowed myself to be sidetracked over the years and most of them stem back to the way I was raised to give 110% to everything or I was trying to get noticed and recognized by those that I loved.
I knew one thing after this summer. It wasn't for the "stuff" I was able to accumulate in those years. The stuff didn't really matter to me in the end. Don't get me wrong. I still love to be able to buy that sweater I see and love or that pair of shoes that I just have to have. But really, I found out this summer that it took very little money or activities to make my day complete. Just looking out at the beauty of nature and the lake, getting to know the local residents better, and having more energy for my family and friends when I saw them meant so much to me. I loved being able to have to time to actually think about that new recipe I wanted to create that week or maybe that new activity I wanted to try the following week. When we get so busy in our daily lives, that precious time to be creative and think seems to go away. It's hard some weeks to even find the time to buy a gallon of milk.
Now I'm back to work (only 3 weeks now) and loving the fact that I have a new perspective on this career. Just yesterday I was out taking little survival kits of goodies to the local Realtors holding open houses in the city. I was reminded in doing that how much I truly love meeting new people and getting to know them. I was able to make it to three yesterday and was blessed with meeting two great new people with whom I will hopefully do business with in the future. Minnesotans are proving to be very open and gracious people!
The best thing that came out of yesterday for me though was a realization about myself that I know came from my time up north this summer. One of the three Realtors that I met yesterday was not someone that I would now choose to have a business relationship with. She had every personality trait that I instinctively would not enjoy being around. Some of those would be guarded, cold, nasty, cynical, and bitter. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to meet her though. Believe it or not, it's those type of people that remind me that I never EVER want someone to describe me like that.
I'm off to another six open houses today with goody bags in hand! Wish me luck!
