For those of you who have been here before, I know it’s been a while since I’ve been active. This is actually only the second post I’ve written in almost 4 months. While I needed the break in order to sort through all that’s happened over the last few months, I never really intended it to be so long. And for that I’m sorry.
Forgive me?
Keep reading and I’ll explain how this whole break came about. And if you stay until the end, I’ll share some exciting news about where things are going!
What Happened?
The first two and a half months of 2020, I spent planning two separate trips. One was a quick 4 day trip, the other one was my big 2 week trip to Europe. The new year had me motivated to achieve big goals.
While on that quick 4 day trip, everything changed. In just one night, a travel ban was put into place, the grocery stores were raided, and stores, restaurants, and businesses started shutting down. We had to completely pivot on our trip when the activities we had planned were suddenly closed.
I knew the world had suddenly changed when we were the only people in the security line at the airport. Don’t get me wrong, it felt so good not to have to rush through the TSA line. (You know the emptying your pockets, getting your tablets and liquids out of your luggage, and taking off your shoes all at the same time dance!) But it was very eerie all at the same time.
Normal Life....was not Normal
We returned home to empty grocery store shelves and stores that closed with no warning. My company which had never offered an option to work from home was suddenly struggling to figure out what we were going to do.
For those of you that don’t know, my day job is in HR.
I spent long hours researching COVID-19, the FFCRA, and sample work from home policies so that we could get everyone working from home safely within a week. Printers and cameras had to be ordered for remote work and meetings. We got our personal computers set up with Zoom and Teams and packed up what we needed to start working from home.
The next week we started working from home, but that also meant setting up not just one but two home offices in our house so that both myself and my husband could have our own space. I set my office up in my craft room. That also meant having to order a desk and a good, comfortable chair.
Daily Life Got Really Busy
Soon after, we had to deal with our first COVID-19 case as a company. And since then we’ve had to deal with several more. And it’s not just the positive cases, it’s all the potential cases, and potential exposures. Exposure from employee’s family members or spouses, exposure from vendors, and exposure from customers.
Each case involves estimating what the actual risk is and deciding how many people need to quarantine. And this is happening on nearly a daily basis.
I Lost My Motivation
I completely lost my motivation towards my goals. I saw all these incredible photos online of people doing super creative or productive things during their quarantine.
People were cleaning out closets and organizing every single space in their homes. And I had not done any of those things. I was extremely upset with myself that I had not “accomplished” anything big during that time, which only led to even less motivation.
I’m not a big fan of change and during the first two months that we were dealing with COVID-19 and the shelter in place orders, things were changing rapidly on a daily basis. There were constant legal webinars to keep all HR professionals up to date on all the new changes.
And even though I have to stay on top of new laws, policies and ordinances for my job, looking at the news every day, takes its toll on you mentally. I have seen so much hate online, especially on social media, and it breaks my heart because if ever there was a time to be kind to one another, it’s now.
So many people have lost their jobs, lost their businesses, lost their homes, and lost a way to feed their families and stress is at an all time high. It’s during these times that just one simple act of kindness would mean the most to someone.
Then I Lost My Direction
I love travel. I love planning for travel. And I love inspiring others to travel. But it’s very hard to have a blog about travel when you can’t actually travel. And even though travel is slowly starting to take shape even if it may just be local, travel is still really limited for the time being.
And with the current spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases around the country and more travel bans and quarantines being put into place, travel might be shut back down completely. The future of travel is so uncertain right now.
And when you combine that with the fact that I’m a die-hard planner, it has really thrown me off balance. I am not spontaneous. In fact, I absolutely hate when plans get thrown at me at the last minute. When things get thrown in spontaneously, I get super anxious and stressed out.
That’s why I enjoy planning trips. Having it all planned out ahead of time with a polished itinerary, printable packing list, and maps to all the locations for the trip takes away a lot of my anxiety. It helps me relax. So not being able to plan a trip right now due to the uncertainty that could change at any given moment, has left me feeling a little bit lost to be honest.
I’ve been stressed with all the constant HR issues in my day job and with all the uncertainty surrounding the future, I could really use a vacation right about now. And yet, I’m unable to plan for one without fear of cancellation. So I constantly feel like I’m in a state of travel limbo.
What Happens Next?
All of that led me to the big question that had been in the back of my mind since all of this started. Where do I go with my blog? And I know that a lot of travel bloggers are feeling that way at the moment.
For me it means I’ll be changing it up a little, at least for a while. Until everyone can travel without the fear of quarantine or a travel ban. Planning is still a big part of who I am and even though I can’t plan any trips, at least the way I used to, there’s plenty more planning tips I can offer.
I’ll still sprinkle in some travel posts here and there for inspiration. But you’ll be seeing a good mix of lifestyle type posts as well.
You’ll also notice some major changes around here. The first change is actually the name of the site. I have officially changed the site name to lynnblakley.com. While the original name for the site came from a personal joke about where my extra spending went (either towards yarn for knitting or travel), I feel like this site name will give me more options with where I can go with content.
While the type of content may be changing, I hope that you still find it helpful and at times inspiring.
Fresh Look!
You’ll also see that the website has a fresh look and feel to it. I felt like it needed a little makeover to go with the new site name.
There are updated options on the menu with more specific locations under the destinations. In addition, I’ve created some menu options for planning which I hope to fill with lots of future content. I’m also working on a resources page with the best apps and websites for all things travel and planning.
And I’ve been in a super creative mood lately which is good news for you, because I’ve been trying to create all kinds of cool freebies. So if you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter, sign up today so you don’t miss these freebies because that’s how I’ll be sharing them!
So whether you’re a return visitor to my site or a newbie, I’d like to officially welcome you here and I hope you’ll stick with me as we maneuver this strange time in our lives. Have a look around at some of the new content and if there’s anything you would like to see, let me know!
