Cate Crafter

This year has been the most surreal and scary year in my life so far. Coronavirus pretty much bought the world to its knees and made nearly every single one of us rethink life. I have realised that I just want to live simply and allow myself to have joy and appreciate everything that I have the privilege of experiencing.

It’s September now and while COVID-19 (the invisible enemy) is still out there lurking, things are starting to go back to normal, well kind of anyway. But maybe instead of going back to normal we need to create a new normal, one where Black Lives Matter, one where the Climate Crisis is taken seriously, one where being LGBTQIA+ is perfectly ok, one where disabilities aren’t met with discrimination. What a beautiful world that would be!

Also, just another thought does anyone else feel like this whole situation has been similar to cold war era paranoia? Instead of “commies” or “red under the bed” it’s a virus that is making us paranoid and suspicious of each other. A cough in public is tantamount to reading the communist manifesto. I really can’t wait for this to be over.

Book: Diary of an Oxygen Thief (2nd Hand) Watch: TX MAXX Phone Case: Ideal of Sweden

Personally, I am having yet another tidy up (I swear my clear outs are just as frequent as a DFS sale!). I am also spending my days reading books to declutter the 100’s I have occupying several shelves and pretty much most surfaces in sight. I feel like this time it might stick as I just feel like I need a less chaotic space, in a world so utterly out of control I need to control my little patch of it. I am also starting to look for jobs, I am hoping to find something that will actually allow me to use my brain creatively and failing that I might try freelance copywriting for a while while I make this blog better and try and write a novel.

I am also still studying languages (French, Korean and Norwegian) and I hope to put them into use when the world is safe to travel around again. I can’t think of anything better right now than in a few weeks time renting a cabin in the north of Norway, chopping wood for a fire, snuggling under a blanket and reading while sipping on hot coffee. Then marvelling at the northern lights when it’s dark and the sky is clear. Maybe next year, aye?

There’s something quite profound about packing up your life. All the little things that you have collected over the years add up to make you. Are you the sum of your things? The clothes that adorn your body, the ornaments that bring you joy, the investments you made to make your life easier or to give you peace of mind…

I always say that I’m not really a sentimental person (and I still stand by that) but when you’ve lived in one area your whole life it’s a strange moment when you realise that you will soon call somewhere else home…

Maybe if I can move out of my comfort zone (my hometown) then I can move anywhere. That is a thought that has crossed my mind a lot recently. And to be honest that has always been my dream, to live in some far off place where they don’t speak your language and the customs differ absolutely. Maybe, this move reaffirms that I can make that a reality…

I’ve always felt that I don’t belong anywhere (I’m yet to make up my mind whether that is a rather sad or quite a beautiful sentiment) so maybe sometime soon I’ll find where the me shaped jigsaw puzzle piece will slot in…

Maybe it’s my time to bloom again…