I miss running but I get to crochet
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I miss running but I get to crochet

ByPetra
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I miss running. I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could achieve 2021 miles this year – and I’ve already been a bit behind at the beginning of April – but then the thing I dreaded happened. I went on a run not just to focus on my challenge goal and regular exercise routine but I had just a difficult moments just the day before and for the best release and processing happens during a run. What I didn’t count on is how have that event actually impacted me and so instead of focusing on my run and pay attention to the trail my head was so consumed by all of my feelings that I tripped and boom sprained my ankle. Initially I…

Changes in latitude – a move ahead
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Changes in latitude – a move ahead

ByPetra
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Changes in latitude = changes in attitude! 31 days and my partner is Texas bound. I will be following in 2022 and there are reasons for that. Lennon has one more year of high school left and he’s also transitioning into adulthood and as someone who has a disability, there are a lot of things that happen for him. Since he is in a specific program for his schooling we thought it is best if he’d finish out the year before the big move. I could have probably figured it out in Texas but with a pandemic still having over our heads as well – we are certainly choosing a path that makes sense for Lennon. He will get to graduate with people he knows…

Petra’s 2021 Goals
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Petra’s 2021 Goals

ByPetra
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Even though it’s already the end of January I wanted to share my 2021 goals with you. I actually spend the entire month focusing on my content for the year and getting myself organized. Once again, life and the last year have put in perspective what’s important to me and 2020 was familiar to us as we had socially distanced and isolated ourselves after Lennon’s liver transplants to keep him safe. And somewhere in the middle, my partner had emergency surgery sewing an artery back together that he accidentally nipped while at work, leading us to some life-changing decisions. When the pandemic hit and everything shut down I started retreating from social media and reduced the scrolling. I focused on supporting my clients and did…

Balancing productivity with doing nothing

Balancing productivity with doing nothing

ByPetra
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Balancing productivity with doing nothing does not come easy. There is no question that I could be productive for 6-8 hours a day, working, working and working some more. And looking at my list from yesterday, I managed to record 4 videos for my journal course I will be releasing soon, met with my accountability partner, and decided to launch a Patreon community. Yep, I veered of my to-do list! I didn’t review my social media nor did I work on the wood-burning. Instead, I chose to honor my own needs and take a nap instead which was followed with a day of chilling on the futon and watching crime shows. I believe that if you are able to manage 3 things out of 5…

Not a soul awake (in my house) at 4:30 in the morning

Not a soul awake (in my house) at 4:30 in the morning

ByPetra
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Thunderstorm came through at 4:30 waking me from my slumber and not a soul awake in my house other than myself. I tossed + turned for about an hour before I said to hell with it and got up to make my first cup of coffee. And honestly I like this quiet mornings – not that my mornings are obnoxiously loud. Lennon will wake about in about an hour or 2, giving me a bit of time to record some videos for a course I am working on. But for now there’s not a soul awake. But in the meantime, I sat with my planner this morning and looked at the blank space of my gratitude list and I vividly recall times when coming up…

Staying focused while the world is falling apart

Staying focused while the world is falling apart

ByPetra
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It can be challenging staying focused while the world is falling apart. I’ve been intentionally spending time away from social media – with minor exceptions when it comes to my businesses or I had something humorous to share. I simply can’t handle the sharing of posts without credible sources and it all feels like a bad soap opera with the whole he-said she-said – and then of course conspiracies are rising up like a bad fiction novel that forgot to put the scenes in some kind of order so that it actually makes sense. We had lab work at the beginning before social distancing was the new way of life and I am happy to say all looks well! And since Lennon’s school been out…

We celebrated Christmas with anxiety and success
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We celebrated Christmas with anxiety and success

ByPetra
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We celebrated Christmas with anxiety and success but every year it’s the same! Lennon gets anxious about what he will receive. In the past, Christmas was met with shutting down and tantrums. The challenge we face every year is that he has expectations because that is how his brain works. And when those expectations don’t happen, he struggles. He doesn’t mean to because, at the end of the day, every Christmas is the best Christmas ever. This year, this year was different. This year, he had the forethought to know he may need help with his emotions when we open presents. And I give thanks to therapy and his therapist to help us maneuver this. This year was different because he was able to receive…

Why I’m writing about Lennon again
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Why I’m writing about Lennon again

ByPetra
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If you have been hanging around my world, you may know that Lennon is doing incredibly well healthwise. We’ve not had any setbacks since 2014 or any other complications. What has happened however is that at the beginning of this year (2019) he was officially diagnosed as autistic. And that he just started 10th grade and we are getting closer to adult transitions and it’s a bit daunting to think about what that may look like for him, for us. We don’t really know. So currently we are in therapy to gain some skills to maneuver social settings, advocating for himself and learning other independent living skills. In a few years, we will be deciding on power of attorney or guardianship an I am slowly…

I still worry about my adult children

I still worry about my adult children

ByPetra
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I recently read an article that has made the rounds stating that it confirms parents still lose sleep about grown children. And I still worry about my adult children. I didn’t read the article because I don’t need a study to confirm this for me. I always worry about my children – adult or not – and perhaps I worry about the adult ones just a little bit more than my youngest one. While I may have faced foster care, moving to a new country and being a rape survivor among other challenges, I do believe that parenting as a whole has been by far been the biggest challenge in my life. I’ve cried a lot over the years because of it because part of…

Life Lessons from a boy named Lennon

Life Lessons from a boy named Lennon

ByPetra
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There are always lessons to be learned in life if you are open to recognizing them and most importantly if you are willing to listen. My son Lennon has been changing people’s lives, inspiring them and motivating them into being more present, to not take anything for granted and also showing the shadow side of life is too short to be miserable. When I tell people that, Lennon is my greatest teacher on how to do life, I am not joking. The kid knows what he wants and he’s quite verbal about it too.  And what you may not know, if you’ve never heard about Lennon, read the blog posts or the book is that he survived his first 4 years of life, living with…