⛤ January Q&A (Patreon)

I love the smell of coffee at midnight. Ever since I switched to a nocturnal schedule, this has been one of my most calming rituals. I was going to continue editing Ozark Tales 4 tonight, but then I saw that the month is about to change and realized I've been too busy to even answer your questions all month. So I'll do that first. 

Making this many resolutions means I have to get used to doing a lot more in a day to keep up with everything. At this point I'm toeing the line between a sense of pride in how much I'm accomplishing and looming crippling overwhelm at how much I'm still not accomplishing despite being busy all day. I'm hoping things will start to feel easier with time. 

Did you and Jack have a pleasant Christmas and New Year's Eve? Yes we did. Since the entire month of December has been pretty hectic and chaotic to say the least, we decided to stay home and just have us a cozy evening indoors. I made traditional mince pies and some side dishes and ... more pie. A very festive apple elderberry pie, to be exact. Made with apples we picked from the orchard last year! I love getting to use up ingredients from our freezer. Every harvest season I seem to pack it so full of fruit I can barely manage to stuff the odd no name brand mason jar in there anymore. What about you?

What are your goals for 2023? Lots of tiny ones over the months, or one big boi? I don't like to set goals as in something I have to accomplish because I have painfully low self-worth and any failure to accomplish an objective can set off my RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria). Instead, I made a list of resolutions for the year that I can act on continually to make changes in my life. To recap, my resolutions for this year were:
1. Be a more interesting person (because I'm tired of being bored all the time, not because I lack personality)
2. Keep a cleaner home
3. Do not overwater the sage (I have killed two sage plants by overwatering two years in a row)
4. Raise a habanero plant and make passion fruit habanero liqueur
5. Buy a full size jar of my favorite moonshine
6. Make more videos
7. Always be ready (ready = look presentable and not require 6 hours notice to spontaneously do something)
8. Do more photography
9. Sing more
10. Make music
11. Get another tattoo
12. Remember to live

I know this assortment of resolutions looks ambitions, but I take them more as 'friendly suggestions' for the direction I want to take my life in. So far I think I'm not doing too poorly. 

Do you use olive oil when you cook? Yes. Though, as I am working with a pre-inflation grocery budget, I always buy the value option so I expect the actual olive content in my oil to be minimal. Still, it is a very flavorful and versatile oil and a pleasure to use in any cooking and baking. 

Truth be told Ally, I’m slightly stressed and freaked out about my future career change, wondering if you know something that will help? Any change can be scary, even if it is for the better. Remember that you have a support system around you to help you through this transition. You have your employment consultant to help you find a good position for you, your mom whom you seem to have a good relationship with and Sweden even has a social insurance system in case you don't find anything soon! There is absolutely nothing you could do wrong and your new job will likely come easier to you than the one you have now because it will be something you generally enjoy more. If you have anxiety around change, it is helpful to stick to your daily routine as much as possible. Because a lot of things are going to be different, you want to keep as many things as possible the same. Wake up at the usual time, sleep at the usual time, have meals at the usual time. Indulge in habits and rituals that you find comforting, like watching your favorite TV show or listening to your favorite music. You may want to try incorporating a mindfulness meditation into your self-care routine. Also, stay busy as much as possible. If you are busy doing something, you are not thinking about the future and the things you can't control. No matter what happens, you will survive this. Don't be too proud to reach out for help if you struggle with any particular thing. I'm sure the people in your life will be happy to help you get on track or take your mind off things.

Ally, have you ever heard of Laleh Pourkarim? No, I actually haven't. Just pasting her name into google, I can see she is a stunning woman. With the most unusual name I have ever heard. Seems she is doing well in her career, too. 

That was all the questions you sent in this month. I hope my answers were insightful and there is another post available for February here if you thought of anything else you wanted to know. I hope you're staying warm and safe and I'm looking forward to reading your questions for the next month!

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