What now?

We’ve been through a lot in the past few years. Many people started questioning how they wanted to live their life.

For others of us, we just rode it out, waiting for life to return to normal.

Except that our former life just doesn’t exist anymore. So much has changed. We have changed. I think for the better, but right now we’re in this weird state of transition.

I had started looking for a new place to live when covid hit. Then it just seemed safer to stay put.

Then after another year, I started looking again.

Houses had gone up. Not quite as bad as now yet, but still… Any reasonably priced apartments had waiting lists. Some were even charging you just to get on the waiting list.

I had found a small fixer upper that was in a nice location. A block from the beach over the border in Wisconsin where taxes are lower. Most of the work was cosmetic, paint, new floors and baseboards.. stuff I could do for the most part. It took too long to get approved and get my bid in. Lost it.

After that, everything had skyrocketed.

One day I just cried out, “Lord, just put me in the right place.”

Like the next day, this apartment called. They did not have the model I wanted, but did I want the 1 br. they had available?

Everything and everyone was so nice. The apartment is small. I think the smallest place I’ve ever lived. But nice. Especially for what I’m paying. And its just me now. I don’t have to worry about my daughter anymore. She is fully self sufficient. I just had to have faith that this was the right place I had prayed for.

Getting in here was a nightmare. Mind you, I had a 2 br. apartment in storage, plus all of my day to day stuff in the rooming house where I had been living since I started chemo.

Everything had to be cleaned and sorted. It took me a couple weeks. Then over 1/3 of it all moved back out. It all went to charities. Very little went in the garbage. Thank goodness! It would feel horrible to know you were storing and hauling garbage!

Now I’m pretty well settled.

And now I look around and ask, “now what?”

I’m not sure yet. I know I’ll be writing about some of the challenges of going small, and ways to save on grocery bills since everything has gone up. This blog used to be fun for me. I want to get back to that. I love helping you make your life better.

How are others dealing?

My daughter tells me that they are short handed at work. They hire people who don’t show up, or they’ll show up the first day and never come back.

The people working at home seem to be doing pretty well, but I worry about our lack of true social contact. I think that has a lot to do with our escalating violence. We’re losing our humanity. It’s hard to feel connected to people you only see on a screen. We need face to face contact.

Plus when you are at home, everything can revolve around you and your family. You’re not as concerned about other people. You’re in your own little bubble. And it was sort of necessary for a while.

Hopefully we will find our way back to being human and caring about one another – not just ourselves.

How about you? Have you had any weird transition struggles? Have you decided to change your life?