Silver Linings
Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Kerri Connor, author of several books, including the new CBD for Your Health, Mind & Spirit and Spells for Good Times.
For the past almost 19 years now, I have been running a pagan group from my home. In 2020, we decided to legalize the group with the government and turn it into a fully recognizable church. It took me a long time to make the decision to make The Gathering Grove into its own legal entity—well over a decade. When the bookstore I was working at closed in August 2019, I decided to start writing more, focusing on what I always wanted to do. The group and I soon decided it was finally time to take things to the next level. It had been discussed many, many times before, but for one reason or another, it didn’t happen until I filed the first of the paperwork on Yule 2020.
We are almost done with the whole process, we have our 501 (c) (3) status, we have our own accounts, and today, when my husband gets home from his job, we will be going to get the paperwork notarized to put the deed to our home into the name of the church.
While 2020 was an incredibly difficult year, it gave me a chance to really put things into perspective and decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Tough times sometimes do this for us. They give us the opportunity to see things differently than we had before, even when the “opportunity” comes from a forced situation over which we have no control.
I loved my job at the bookstore; it was my most favorite job anywhere, and I loved my coworkers. When the store closed, I was left with a large emptiness. Six months later, we were in lockdown from the pandemic. I, like many others, had to make many adjustments mentally and emotionally to deal with the isolation. I lost several people to Covid, including my granddaughter’s other grandmother—Gigi.
While I’ve developed some nasty anxiety (working on getting rid of it!) during the pandemic, I’ve also managed to write a few books, and begin a church—accomplishments that probably wouldn’t have happened had things remained the same with my employment. The end of that job led me to a new pathway in my life’s journey.
The tough times and the good times are what life is all about. It can be difficult to find the silver lining when life gets rough, but when you do, be sure to grab a hold of it and see where it can take you.
Our thanks to Kerri for her guest post! For more from Kerri Connor, read her article “Spells for Good Times: Refocusing Energy for a Brighter Future.”
