A Year Later — This is What I Learned

I just got out of the hospital upon having my medication recallibrated, and I was told the world had changed. It was stated to me there was a shortage of milk and toliet paper. I was told things were getting scary and we didn’t know much.

My job had went to full remote, we had to get plenty of groceries to last for a while and we were about to be locked down. I was absolutely frightenned. No church, No coworkers to interact with, No Movement Lab(it closed permanently), No boxing, No traveling, No band, No haircuts, No dog grooming, No body pump, No going out, and everything became zoomed.

Living by yourself, I was absolutely horrified that I would have to go inward and be with my extroverted self everyday all the time. I am not a person who watches a lot of television so I had no idea how I was going to fill my time.

But I knew now was the time to explore things that I always wanted to do but didn’t have the time to do. I always thought it was incredible how people could make so many things by turning wood. So I got a lathe and started turning wood. I had never done it before and had no idea what was involved. I went on websites, watched youtube videos and joined facebook woodturning groups. I just had a vision and a knowing that turning wood into something was going to help me overcome this isolation opportunity.

I fell in love with turning. It wasn’t magic at first site. I took a month to get a pen turned. I had no idea how to get the vibration of the lathe to turn fast enough to turn a pen. I started with a bowl. And if you turn wood, you are a brave soul. Because stuff comes at you and you need to be prepared for anything at all times.

Little by little I got more knowledgeable about the lathe, what it could and could not do and what my comfort zone was with it. I can honestly tell you that the lathe made covid-19 manageable for me.

I feel closer to the divine wood-turning. There is something very spiritual for me when I turn wood. It’s like I can turn off the outside world and be one with the wood. I learned I could go inward and survive being by myself in a very small apartment.

My grandpa was a woodworker and I felt him guiding me to make different things. When we started opening up to go back out to bars and restaurants, I would give out my pens to workers serving me. I also made pens for people at church and for my family. Making things for others lights the fire within my soul. And when I make something where I just focus on the energy on them that product for me becomes very special.

During Covid-19, I learned I could survive living by myself experiencing the presence of the divine turning wood. Thank you for letting me share.