Sarah's Monthly Musings

A round-up of big and small things that are on my mind this month.

Ides of March

Truth be told, March is not my favorite month; it's long, there are no bank holidays, college basketball doesn't do it for me, and the weather is very unpredictable. I can also think of many jobs that I started in January and with no time-off accrued or holidays until May, March made for a torturous month. But with that being said, this year I'm trying to reframe my mindset. My kid's school sent home a bulletin the other week talking about March Magic so I'm going to use that terminology going forward to turn my attitude around and see what manifests!

Mom on my mind

Another reason why my attitude towards March is 'meh' is that it marks the month in which my mother passed away. On the 22nd of this month will be the 1-year anniversary of her death. The other week I attended a professional training on Grief and Loss. It was two-fold in that it fulfilled credits for my social work license but also gave me some great, personal takeaways for navigating my own grief journey. With my new March Magic attitude, I'm going to keep a lookout for any magical synchronicities this month.

Gallery walls aren't for me

I learned this month that I like gallery walls in other people's houses and in pretty Instagram squares, but not so much in my own home. After we took our first family vacation 5 years ago I got on a kick of taking travel photos and putting them on the wall in our upstairs hallway. Fast forward to 20 framed images and it brought me more agita than joy to look at. It was just too visually noisy for me. My husband was none too happy having to patch all the holes and repaint, but I'm much happier now having just one large piece of art to rest my eyes on.

The heaviness of Ukraine

Here are two things that brought me a little lightness this week:

The Colorful Work of Ukrainian Artist Maria Prymachenko

and

Booking Airbnbs in Ukraine to Lend Support

The Power of Positive Self Talk

My son is 9-years-old and can't swim. We've tried community swimming lessons over the years to no avail. We hoped that hanging out at friends' pools would provide positive peer pressure to learn - nope. We've now had him at a private swim school since September taking weekly classes with minimal progress. As summer is looming I've reminded B it'll be another season of camp in the wading pool and his friends in the big kid area if we don't make some real progress. Cue me stepping up my game as a parent and now taking my kiddo to the Rec Swim hour at our high school pool. Being in the freezing cold water with him is not the way I want to spend a Sunday afternoon, but I'm focused on helping B meet success. Well, let me just say that at our last Rec Swim session I overheard him talking to himself, "I'm not gonna be in the wading pool this summer. I'm going to be in Miss Beth's pool without my floaties." The kid was talking himself up and we made a few more baby steps of progress! Way to go, B! So when you're standing in front of your out-of-control pantry or your too-stuffed closet talk yourself up and watch the magic happen!

Upcoming Event

Last, but not least, I wanted to let you know that I'll be putting on a virtual workshop: 20 Unconventional Ways to Get Organized scheduled for Saturday,

April 9, 2022, at 2:00 pm.

This workshop will offer out-of-the-box techniques to jumpstart your organizing journey and is great for people who struggle with chronic disorganization or excessive clutter.

Click HERE for additional details and to register.

Hope to see you there!

Well, there you have it, a smattering of what's been on my mind for the last month.

Tell me, do you have a month that you dread?

Are you yay or nay on gallery walls?