Wow, my last post was February of 2020. TWENTY TWENTY. The year that wrecked the world. I didn't intend to step away from my website for this long. Then again, has anything gone according to plan in the last year? I am more active on Instagram, if you'd like to follow along there- @TheArtsyCajun
So, to catch you up on us, let's start from Feb. of 2020. We'd decided that we would move to Florida. We took a quick trip to Panama City Beach/Seaside area to scope it out and determined that we could live there and it would be similar to our Hawaii life... except not so far away from family and friends. We came back, covid hit everywhere, and we'd already put our house up for sale.
This caused multiple problems, as you can imagine. I am immunocompromised, so it was terrifying to allow people in our home. We had assurances from realtors that they'd wear masks and were not allowed to touch anything. Of course, I doused the house in sanitizer after everyone left. At the same time, we were searching for a home to buy in Florida. That's difficult. We did have walk throughs- which in covid era meant our Florida realtor went through the homes on video chat & we "saw" everything.
We had huge interest in our home, and had put offers into a Florida home. That home turned out to be hurricane/water damaged that they lied about, and so we were able to back out of the contract once the inspection report stated the damages.
Around the same time, we had a member of my husband's family get diagnosed with cancer. Our family was rocked. But, they proved to be super human and beat it! (I told you it's been too long since I've blogged)
We stayed home, no visitors, no outings. We had groceries delivered, and that's how we lived for the last year and then some. To say that both of us come out of a year of quarantine , just us, and everyone is alive is a testament to our emotional intelligence progress from the last few years of therapy. I cant imagine how this year would've ended if it happened pre-therapy.
For now, we've moved to North Illinois, near family. It's been torture to be so close but we can't just pop in for visits as often as we'd like. Things are now opening up more, we've ventured out a bit, and are both fully vaccinated. Even though hearing that we may need boosters doesn't exactly knock my anxiety down as much as I thought the vaxxs would. So, we've relied heavily, as most have, on technology to communicate with our loved ones and friends. That also opens the door to us STAYING our our devices and not being present here. It's a double edged sword, isn't it?
Which leads me to my next subject, this book. This amazing book right here.
Built to Belong: Discovering the Power of Community over Competition.
This book should be a must read for anyone using social media, Christian or not. My teenage and preteen years did not include social media. Even so, as a __ year old, I catch myself being caught in the comparison game of it all. Not intending to, I compare other's highlight reels to my boring bits of life. I'm setting myself up for disaster, yet I do it over & over. A tragic loop. This book dives into the heart of that.
I love that Natalie gets into how to build a community around yourself, how to stop competition in it's tracks and live out the hashtag #communityovercompetition. We moved to a new town, too far for randomly visiting old friends, but during a pandemic. As if it wasn't hard enough to find good friends on a regular day? To have this book as I start venturing out more into this covid world, gives me the best foundation to build a new community, one that isn't in the game of comparison, from the ground up. As she says in the book, we weren't meant to live live alone.
I'd suggest this book for all ages and stages in life.
Disclaimer: I receive complimentary books from various sources, including, publishers, publicists, authors, and/or NetGalley. I am not required to write a positive review and have not received any compensation. The opinions shared here are my own entirely. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255