Wednesday was one of those rare perfect late summer days, made for outdoor yard work with dry air, clear blue skies in the low 70’s. Cleaning up my yard gives me an immense feeling of accomplishment, so I dug in and began to rake and tidy. I worked clearing downed branches the yard beyond when my body told me to take a break. I was tired and achy. The next day overcast and the rainy afternoon invited me to stay inside and take it easy.
What do you do on a rainy afternoon during a pandemic? Many of the traditional rainy day activities are still not accessible or against state guidelines. Make plans to do things you like and and empower you.
Lyme Lessons Still Shape My Day
Lyme has taught me to value activity as well as rest and rejuvenation. Most of all my recovery reminds me to explore my strengths and respect my body’s needs while accomplishing the things I desire that give life meaning. I don’t have to climb a mountain every day. Simple things can add a lot of value and enjoyment. A different day with less physical activity was in order. I still wanted to feel like I accomplished something.
I assembled some easy things to do, some self-care, house care, writing, and games played with cards and pieces rather than on a screen. A simple list that I hoped would keep me away from collapsing in front of the TV and started in on the first task.
Rolling Piggy Bank Coins As A Kid
I remember, as a kid, the great satisfaction of rolling coins from my bank when it got too full. My mom would sit us down with our piggy banks and space out at the big kitchen table so we wouldn’t fight. Sitting together, my sisters and I first emptied our banks then sorted the coins for silver dimes and copper pennies; these had greater than face value.
We counted coins into stacks then carefully fed them into the paper wrappers. Later we would take the coin rolls to the bank to deposit in my college fund account but got to spend a little on a special treat. The bank wrote our name and account number on each roll to adjust for mistakes. Then we would begin saving again.
50 Years Later A Rainy Afternoon Rolling Coins
Now a lot of folks use CoinStar machines you see in stores to count coins, but they charge upwards of 10% for the service. So I do it the way I used to as a kid with a couple of improvements. I have a bag of coin wrappers that are pre-closed on one end, so much easier to fill. Years ago, I invested in a coin filling machine that I have to this day. You feed it slowly, and it sorts the coins by size and shunts them into tubes to give you the right number for each type of wrapper.
So, just after lunch, I pulled a big glass jar of coins into the living room to sort. I brought out my simple sorter and a bag of coin wrappers. All this assembled at the coffee table; I sat down to roll coins—this time, I had to sort out coins from various countries where I traveled.
My husband sat down to help as we tried to figure out what trip added each foreign coin to the pile and how to work the sorting machine. We chatted together as we worked. After a couple of hours, we had rolled 57 dollars. We weighed the rolls to be sure they correctly filled. We looked at the rolls lined up on the coffee table again with satisfaction, then cleaned up. All the extra coins went back into the jar to begin saving for the next rainy afternoon.
Remember Empowerment On Your Healing Journey
Empowerment is an important part of healing during every stage of recovery. Satisfaction in yard work or rolling coins on a rainy afternoon, exploring sweet old memories made a beautiful day that respected my need for rest and desire for accomplishment. More rain this weekend, I have to find another project to enjoy.
The purpose of this article is to share and educate on Lyme disease recovery strategies. The information provided on this website is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment, or advice. All the material here is for information purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.