In Honor of Our Beloved Dog Josie: Lessons from a Loss

Withdrawing From Creating

Many of you have suffered the loss of a pet and you know how devasting it can be. It is unlike any other loss. For us she was one of the family as many pets are. We loved her with all of our heart and soul. With her gone there is a part of us that is missing and always will be.

For the month of January I truly withdrew. My motivation and drive to do much of anything was gone. I decided to take a couple of months off from creating yoga classes for YouTube and doing any work on this website. My heart was not in it. And I did not want to create classes or blog content just to do it. When I create a class or write a blog post I want to give freely of myself. I want to feel good about creating. After losing her, I did not feel like creating so I did not.

What Time Off Taught Me

Deciding to take that time off to grieve and to process that loss was the best decision I have made. It helped me realize what is truly important to me and what is not. I've always been a goal oriented person. Setting goals and working to achieve them. But sometimes with no real purpose but simply to do.

During this time off I learned I need to let go of producing just to produce. There needs to be some heart behind what I do, a purpose. It should make me feel good and I should enjoy doing it. If I don't maybe it's time to let it go.

I did some soul searching as to what it is I really want to build and create. After some time I came to the conclusion I wish to build a small business with the goal of helping people live happier, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. With my passion and skills firmly rooted in yoga it is the right fit for me. Choosing this path feels right in so many ways. I will continue to learn and refine my skills along the way.

Sharing this beautiful, transformative and healing practice with others is my path. Yoga along with plenty of time in nature has been my great healer. I still miss our sweet dog very much but my heart is finding the path to healing.

On December 27, 2024 we had to make the heart breaking decision to let our sweet 10 year old Boxer go. Her name was Josie and she meant the world to us. It was a devasting loss. I maintain a travel blog and I wrote a nice tribute to her there. There is a link to that post at the bottom of this one. But I wanted to write about what I have learned since losing her.

Life is an adventure, full of ups and downs, learning how best to navigate it all is the key to a happy life. Join me as we build this journey together.

Where I Am Going From Here

After some thought and obtaining some advice from my trusty AI, I have an idea of where I am headed.

I plan to build a library of yoga classes on my website along with continuing to post shorter classes on YouTube. The classes on my website will be more in depth and a bit longer, most likely around the 30 minute range. Enough time to get an in-depth and well rounded class that will fit into most people's schedules. This is something I have been thinking about doing for awhile. And now I am finally taking steps to make that happen.

As far as the blog is concerned I love to write. And this is something I plan to continue. However, I have decided to let go of the structured/scheduled way of doing things when it comes to the blog. I am learning I am more of a go with the flow kind of person. That fits in nicely with our nomadic lifestyle on the road.

We find ourselves in a different place every week or two and the "schedule" varies from week to week. Instead of holding myself to a posting schedule that is too rigid, I would rather make it go more with the flow of life.

In the end I believe in being more authentic and true to myself than to try and hold myself to a schedule that does not fit with my lifestyle or what I enjoy doing. It is my sincere hope to create valuable content to share with all of you. From classes to blog posts to tips to enrich your health, well-being and your life.

If you are interested in the tribute post to Josie

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