Pressing the Control-Alt-Delete button

Another 11am sunrise— while the short daylight periods leave a lot to be desired, sleeping in AND seeing the sunrise is a total win.

2022 has been a thoroughly crap-tactic year for me and the hits just keep coming. Any time the universe decides to grace me with a reset, it will be more than welcome.

It began with the end of a long term relationship that even I never saw the reason for the end coming. In February, I lost one of the better bosses I’d ever worked for and while I stayed at the job for a while longer, it was never the same.

The best co-worker at the job I left in October.

Mid-way through the year, I lost my mentor. This person had been encouraging me to push forward in my career since my career began over 15 years ago. Losing that was more of a shock than I could have imagined. Family health crises made an appearance in August/September. Combining those with working full time, attending grad school full time, and trying to maintain any types of relationships was a recipe for disaster.

And disaster fully hit in October when multiple competing crises came to a head and had me screaming “Stop, I need to get off this merry-go round.” I cut back working hours and school hours, but there was still no joy in Mudville (and if you catch that reference, we are automatically BFFs).

The one thing that brought me joy and satisfaction over the last 15 years has been travel. I booked a trip to a previously undiscovered (by me) location and tried to break out of my rut.

I searched for the Yule Cat in Iceland
And saw Aurora dance
I ate gelato every chance I had
And soaked in geothermal hot springs.
I even learned about the poop logs of Barcelona

But nothing was working to reset my soul to its original condition. So what do you do when everything is on the fritz? Unplug and power down. The control-alt-delete tab didn’t work so maybe it’s time for a factory reset.
So for the next few days (weeks? Months?), I’ll be doing a factory reset until I can find my mojo once again.

Truthfully, for the first time in a long time I just want to get home to these guys. T-24 (or so) hours until I’m back on the prairie.