Refuelling Again

Self-care is neither frivolous nor indulgent. It is not narcissistic or greedy. It is, however, smart and sound. If, for whatever reason, you do not nurture your Self, you risk becoming worn and wearied, hollow in the shell, unable to maintain any energy in the moment, much less move forward with vigor. Self-nourishment equals Self-love. ― Becky Vollmer,

We got another blast of winter here on Vancouver Island. We've had a couple of successive dumps of snow which have made the land white and the sky grey. It's made for some pretty interesting sights over the past couple of weeks:

I work a lot with the general public, which means that I got to be the punching bag for everyone's frustrations this week. It's a sad reality that when the weather turns, I get to know about it... over and over and over again. I care about people, really... except when I don't care... and I don't particularly care when they take out their frustrations on me and our staff. But that's life in the service industry.

I've been trying to remember to do nourishing things to make up for all the ways I get depleted throughout the week. I've been working on some of the assignments for an online watercolour course I am currently working through. I didn't think I would find them quite so enjoyable, but once I sat down and actually did them, I really had fun:

These are little pretend planets that we had to paint by using different watercolour methods. I also had to choose an analogous palette, which I finally understand now. After the first layers dried, I went over with more paint, some ink, and some gel pens to add the details:

I think I like the little asteroid clouds the best:

I'm also trying to use my hands for other things apart from scrolling on my phone. In my idle moments while I am on hold or when I am chatting with a friend and need something to do with my hands (apart from knitting), I've been turning to doodling. I've been inspired by the patterns by hersarong on Instagram and have been practicing them on scraps of paper. This one reminds me of the sweeping sandstone formations you see in Utah and Colorado. I'm thinking that I'll eventually add some doodles on some of the paper gift bags I've got in my stash. I think that would be a fun way to personalize them:

I attended a mini-conference at the local arts council yesterday. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to go, as I'd been feeling quite drained and I thought I might be coming down with a bug, but in the end, I picked myself up and went. I was very glad I did. I enjoyed the activities, the speakers, and the demos immensely, and it felt good to be around a lot of other people who enjoy creating things. I got chatting with a few people and I think I might actually dredge up some of my energy to volunteer here and there. I hesitate to commit at the moment, but the longer I think about it, the more I think it would be more nourishing for me to do that than to lie on the couch at home scrolling on my phone and feeling sorry for myself.

While I was there, I pulled out my current knitting project and made some progress on the next colour block. I tell you: this thing has been ripped out SO MANY TIMES. I've changed the construction, the stitch count, the size of the armscye, and the width of the stripes... I am avoiding sewing in any ends because I am QUITE SURE that if I do, I will find myself ripping them all out again. Still, I am enjoying how it is working out:

I plan to use some charcoal black at the bottom, but I was afraid that it was going to blend in too much with the darker colours above, so I decided to break it up with a fun set of coloured slipped stitches. I'm liking them a lot:

So the sun came out today and the temperatures warmed up so the snow is starting to melt. We went out for a walk. It felt good to see a bit of blue sky:

It brightened my spirits considerably, and I'm hoping that means that the folks I encounter this week will also be in better moods. In the meantime, I'm just going to hang out with this little guy. He's a bit grumpy, but at least he's cute and cuddly:

Have a good week!