The last half of the week and weekend have been a complete turn-around for me since my first post here on December 14th. For some reason the other night after that first blog post I decided to post in a Facebook Group for the Digby area and asked if anyone thought there would be a market for a small craft supply shop in or near Digby and the response I got was overwhelming to say the least. Hundreds of replies and likes all saying yes, we need one, and yes they would support us if we opened a small brick and mortar store here somewhere.
Photo by Jane Carmona on Unsplash
It’s really turned my spirits around immensely. I feel like I have a bit more of a purpose now and don’t feel as stuck. I set up an appointment at Nova Scotia Works. I can’t remember if I mentioned that in the last post, but essentially they can help me write up a professional business plan, look for programs, loans, grants and other sources of funding to get this going. I still fully plan to incorporate the website as per my last post, but with the response I think we really need to consider opening up a small local shop to start out with as well if we can find the funding. I would love to be able to sell worldwide with either free or really decent shipping costs, so that we are not limited to the area.
We also decided that mom and I would go in 50/50 on the business as partners and leave the men out of it as it will open us up to more funding options, programs and things since there are some “women in business” type associations that have options for support and funding as well that we will be able to possibly access. I am unsure if there is anything for seniors starting businesses, but we will have to check on that as well and see if us being partners would affect that since I’m not a senior, yet lol.
Overall, this has put me in a much better mood over the last few days and helped a lot with my depression and even anxiety. I haven’t had a panic attack for a few days. Which is much better then the 2-3 per day I was experiencing through the beginning of December. Hopefully this will give me something to strive for, work on, and give me some goals to achieve and new ones to set and maybe spur me back into finishing my courses and getting my diploma as well, even though it will not help me directly with the business, it will still mean I won’t have to hire out anyone to do our website at least.
It’s not all been good over the last few days and I will mention some of the bad here in a moment, however this has managed to outweigh the bad and still help me keep a more positive frame of mind. As for the bad, just about the same time all this happened Eddie and I made the decision to give Bella back to mom and dad for now. I was struggling so much with her. I am just not used to having a dog or puppy and I’m afraid I did not adapt well to her. I started bonding, but much slower then I expected and I’ve also come to the conclusion that I honestly just don’t like dogs in general much.
I was struggling emotionally with how to handle her puppyishness (sorry I know that’s not a word); the bouncing, chewing, whining, etc. was causing me migraines and panic attacks and I felt I was completely incapable of caring for her and giving her the love and affection and the training that she needed even as a pet, never mind a service dog. So, after some discussion we all decided it was best for her to go back with mom and dad (she was born there) and live with them. They don’t plan to rehome her as she has been bounced around enough. They said we could re-evaluate down the road and as much as I’d like to do that I need to do what’s best for her and I don’t think yanking her later on from a home she has loved since she was born is what’s best for her.
Even in just the few days since we made the decision I have felt some of the fear, anxiety and depression melting away slightly. I know it was not the direct cause, but it sure didn’t help when she was here. I felt kind of heartless but I just kept wanting to go back to it just being Eddie and I and the two boys (cats), and I knew that it would not be a good fit for her here and not fair to her.
The other bad thing that happened, not that I would call mom and dad taking back a puppy that they love very much a bad thing, but anyway, is that COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed here to the highest they have ever been. For a small province of just under a million (970,000) we have had 476 new cases today alone, meaning that we have been smashing our previous records from the second wave, day after day for the last week, including 18 today in the western zone, where I am which has remained relatively COVID-19 free or really low compared to the rest of the province. We also had 426 new cases the day before, 394 the day before that and 287 the day before that on top of a week of almost 200 a day before that. So the cases have steadily been rising since the end of November, we now have 632 active cases (not sure why but that does not seem to add up to me) and the Omicron variant has been confirmed here and I think confirmed to be the majority of the cases as well, I am not sure about that one but I think I read that somewhere. We do have 82% of the population with 2 or more doses though, so that’s good. They have started on the boosters for health care workers, people over 60 and those with immune issues.
This has caused restrictions to be put back in place, which were almost completely gone over the summer due to super low cases (like under 10 a week). Which means that going to Halifax for Christmas this coming weekend is going to end up looking a bit different. As of right now the government is not asking us to cancel our Christmas plans outside our households, but they are asking us to change them to help minimize the spread. So, as of right now we are going up, spending Christmas dinner at his sisters with only 8 of us and then not leaving the hotel other then that. We may even end up ditching the dinner if more restrictions are put in place or the cases continue going up, which I am sure they will. I am pretty sure we are going to end up going into a full lockdown for New Years and am working in preparing myself for that. It sucks, but I know we are not alone, everyone everywhere is facing similar situations I think worldwide.
10 Comments