2024 December Newsletter
The year started off with a dear friend of mine having what we thought was a fatal stroke and becoming blind. He was told he wasn’t going to make it through the night and he called me in tears. It was in this moment that all his regrets of not living his best came to light for him. We all said prayers for him and I believe he made some deals with God in hopes he could live through this. My friend experienced two miracles: one of life and one of his sight being restored (sight restoration took 6 months). Sadly, he forgot about those deals he made with God and went back to his old ways of treating others poorly, being demanding, lacking patience and being selfish. As his behavior turned toward me as one of his last remaining friends (due to his misbehavior and the behaviors were not a result of the stroke) I had to say goodbye. This was a friendship of 25 years.
This year has been a year of transition for my work and working 6-to-7-day work weeks for the majority of the year created stress beyond belief as this interfered with my family time, down time and painting schedule. While I managed to be able to attend every paint-in, it wasn’t without personal consequence as I tried to juggle everything and seemed that no matter what I did, I couldn’t be caught up at work, home or in my leisure time. There was no pleasing everyone and there never will be. If I don’t take care of me, I lose out. While I didn’t say goodbye to my job, I am addressing boundaries at work continuously and am navigating the excessive workload.
I was raised to not talk back and not create conflict. As I desire peace, I know that people pleasing and conflict avoidance do not keep or create peace so I said goodbye to people pleasing and swallowing my feelings when faced with disrespect, criticism and maltreatment. It is amazing how many people do not like it when you set boundaries and do not tolerate their poor behaviors.
I’ve also been dealing with chronic pain from accidentally being mistaken for an active shooter. Long story short, you would have been proud of my moves as I slipped out of he handcuffs which angered the officer further as he threatened to do physically harmful things to me. While I never received an apology or compensation, I remain thankful that I wasn’t harmed further as there were attempts to taser me and I realize I could have been shot or killed.
You see, this year has taught me some hard lessons in that people pleasing to keep others peace has cost me my peace and sanity. Being stressed to the brink this year created opportunities that my own sight was eventually restored to be able to see what is important to me and what is not worth expending energy. With some of this new awareness, my peace is slowly returning. I believe that stress can cause physical and emotional harm and when we recognize that stress is causing harm, we need to implement changes or we are destined to stay in the cycle of stress and the problems it creates. This is not to say that stress will not happen, but it is the chronic and unnecessary stress that begins to wear on you and causes you pain.
I am looking forward to putting the trials of 2024 in my back pocket to be able to review as needed since life lessons shouldn’t be forgotten. I am tremendously grateful to be able to take the wisdom of this past year and apply it to 2025 and beyond. I am also extremely grateful for those who supported, did not judge me, didn’t add to my stresses, loved me and gave me grace when I complained, grouched or appeared salty and sassy. Those who did not sit with me when I was in the dark were never in the arena with me but sitting in the stands heckling and adding additional stress but calling it friendship or caring.
I hope that as 2024 concludes, you have created amazing memories and takeaways that will carry you into 2025. I know that GSDP hopes to inspire and connect with you in our 2025 paint-ins and seminars. We still have teaching opportunities open for 2025. To assist our teachers, we have a microphone/speaker system and now a camera and projector. If you are interested in teaching and using any of these helpful aids, please let me know in advance so that I can have it available to use. Some of it is my personal equipment and that is why I need advance notice, to ensure I pack it up for our painting sessions. Don’t forget to renew your membership and if you fall within the 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30+ renewal year, I will have another charm to add to your art doll/art guy. I am excited to see you at our holiday party and I wish you many blessings and prosperity into 2025.
May you be able to turn those challenges into opportunities,
2025 Seminars and Paint-ins
If you have suggestions for projects for 2025, please let the Board know.
Christmas Raffles
Date: December 14th (Saturday) 1:00 pm
Cost: GSDP will give everyone who attends $10 in cash toward their meal, you will be responsible for the balance.
The Party will be held at the December 14th (Saturday) Hug Hes Cafe (2432 W 1700 S B6, Syracuse, UT).
Meal Choices:
