Back for the Last Third

*dusts of blog*

Greetings. I have had quite a roller-coaster set of months and now I am waking back up to the world and jumping in. I have made great strides in clearing out my spaces and drastically paring down my possessions. I can move forward with clarity now and put my dollars in the places that they need to be.

Life here in Barbados continues to roll on and I am convalescing from a viral illness. I still feel very weak but I am pressing on to get as much of my to-do list crossed off as I can in these days before I head back out to work. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it my sick leave ran straight into my vacation and so as my sick leave ends today I will still be off work until the 19th.

My list contains very mundane things such as washing up, cleaning, writing blog posts and getting some long overdue letters and packages out the door, but as I accomplish each task I am filled with happiness and that feeling is getting quite addictive.

My garden of two plants is thriving, more thanks to the rains than to me but seeing them blooming pretty and green uplifts my spirit. I had to save the one off to the right from a enormous caterpillar and another smaller one today that were using it a restaurant, so I guess I did my part in some small way.

Mr. Mint and Ms. Sage.

I have taken steps to start my financial consultancy and so far the demo sessions that I have had really fill me with joy. This is something that I plan to dedicate myself to even if it never brings me any financial gain. I enjoy writing articles on the topic of personal finance and abundance; the more I delve into it, the more inspiration for other articles I seem to get. This is something that is adding much energy and happiness to my life. It has stuck with me even as I have battled depression and discouragement and for that I am grateful.

I have decided that I will not give up. Auset Finance will continue to live on in some small way through every action that I take to express my passion for it.

I am searching still for a way to balance all of my interests so that my life feels just full enough but not too overwhelming. I am now beginning to fully explore what it is like to go after what brings you joy in life. Some things that I did before may well fall to the way side but I trust that in the end whatever is meant to be with me will still be there.

Knitting is something that I have not paid much mind to while I was struggling with depression. I confess to being unsure if I want to continue being creative with string of any kind. I am paring down my craft supplies and of course I am left with an huge amount of yarn - a shipping barrel's worth actually, which makes me feel simultaneously ashamed and overwhelmed all at the same time.

I am a bit jaded with the string but also reluctant to give up on it entirely. Most of my enjoyment comes from gifting my friends my finished pieces. I love being generous but they are several other ways to be creative that would allow me to share with the world.  I think I will try with drawing and calligraphy and see how those grab me. I also love to doodle and never tire of it.

Writing is one of my greatest loves and so I plan to make time for it in earnest. I have already started to write some prose and a few articles for my business but I hope in the coming weeks to expand that once again to poetry which is where my love affair with the written word started in my teens.

Life is a journey and the path twists so that you cannot see what is coming before you. I will keep walking forward using the things that bring me joy as breadcrumbs to help me get back on track if I ever feel lost. Thank you all for being in my life. I feel beyond grateful and blessed that I have made friends through my crafting over the years. True friends whose warmth reach through a computer screen and touch me here in my room in Barbados.

Yours with love and smiles, Asha.