Where I’ve Been and What I Did There
Once again, I start a blog post with the (obvious) statement that it’s been a long time since words graced this page.
Aside from a brief post to celebrate the Ten Things of Thankful blog hop’s sixth anniversary, I’ve posted nothing here in over a year and a half. How did THAT happen? I’ll simply say as I did in that last post that life happens and it has been happening in full force around here for quite a while. Some of that life has been really great; some has been not so great. I’d say that’s pretty standard, really. But sometimes you just need to focus all of your resources in a particular direction and that is essentially what I’ve been doing.
So to answer the question suggested in my title, I’ve been away from here doing the work of living, facing the changes that life throws my way, and spending some time thinking about what direction I want to take as I step back into things and head into the future.
I like to choose a word each year to serve as a focal point or guiding principle. I’ve posted about most of them here. For 2019 I’m not honestly sure I ever picked a word – if I did, any efforts in that direction certainly fell to the wayside. For 2020 I’ve had my word in mind for quite a while already – GROUNDED. I think this word picked me more than the other way around. I realized toward the end of 2019 that while many great changes have happened in my life over the last few years, I’ve felt a little frazzled by all of it. I often feel like I’m reacting to life rather than living purposefully, which is something I really want to do. I feel caught up in the activity of life but don’t find ways to process or savor it. I need to focus on being more grounded – living life in a balanced and sensible way. So there’s that.
As we move forward into a new year, plans and goals become a hot topic. Yes, I have plans. Yes, I have goals. No, I’m not thinking about them in any particular way just because it’s a new year. I truly believe that any day is an opportunity to start a new project, set a new goal, adopt a new perspective. If it happens to be the first day of a new year, so be it! I like to follow Ben Franklin’s example and look at life as an ongoing opportunity for learning, growing, and becoming better at being one’s true self. Considering some new plans and goals on January first is a good idea. But I’ll propose here that we all try to make goals each month or week or even every day. Hell, I sometimes need to refocus and set a new path with a new hour! But that’s OK – we can regroup and make a fresh start anytime we need to.
And so with this little blog post, I jump back into putting words on the page here and in my offline projects. I will also be working on plans and projects in my in-person life. Some of that may spill onto the page here. Who knows? Let’s just keep it loose and say that if you’re reading here you can expect to see some (much needed) cosmetic and organizational changes to the blog, some posts about life, its banalities, and the quest to live deliberately, some posts about books and movies, definitely some posts about the adventures of my Rotten Cats, and whatever else falls out of my brain.
In the meantime, I’m glad to be back here. And I’m glad you’re here reading and sharing the journey. Leave a message and say hello – I’d love to hear from you and know what you’re up to!
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Cheers and welcome back! Wise words indeed!
Hi, Liz! Thank you and good to see you!
Hey, welcome back! Glad to read your words on here. Great choice of word for 2020. Can’t wait to read more of your thoughts in this space.
Hi, Jean! Thank you! I’m so happy you came by to say hello. And I’m glad to see your blog is still going strong. Hope to get back to reading again soon!
Life is where we have the experiences we process in writing. Kind of like churning butter requires milk first. It’s a good topic, life. Cheers to a GROUNDED year!
I like that comparison, Charlie. Milk first, then butter. Yes, cheers indeed!
Aha – you said “living purposfully” – great minds think alike! My word “purposeful” pairs wonderfully with “grounded.” I love the idea that any day is an opportunity to start something new. Well said Lisa! It’s good to see you here:)
Thanks, Dana. It’s good to be back here. I thought the same thing when I read your post – great minds, indeed.
Welcome back, Lisa!
“…feel like I’m reacting to life rather than living purposefully…feel caught up in the activity of life but don’t find ways to process or savor it.” I can totally identify 🙂
Look forward to future posts!
Thanks, Denise! It’s the stuff of life, isn’t it? So easy to get caught up in the flow and not really process what’s happening. I’m working on keeping that at bay.
Looking forward to more posts, too!
This place, the blogosphere, for lack of a more credentialed term, is surely a unique place for human associations.
While, as in the ‘real’ world, it’s possible to stub your toe, spill your coffee and otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of surprising events, I would submit that this is a special place, where the mind plays more active a role than we allow it during the course of our normal days.
Blogging for me has been a re-imagining of so many aspects of life in a world full of people. It offers me much in terms of validation and requires of me so little/so much; I must believe in myself, at least as far as the screen that gives shape to my thoughts that I send out to Readers and perhaps that is the cost/benefit as one thing combined.
So, glad to ‘see’ you back on the (virtual) scene.
As you wrote at the beginning of this post, “…since words graced this page.”
The word ‘grace’ surely waves it’s metaphorical hands, shyly but confidently.
Aw, thank you Clark. You nailed it, I think, when you say this requires so little and yet so much of us. Yeah. That’s a big idea which I suspect will be the thing I think on today. LOL
It’s good to be back. Looking forward to popping around to “see” everyone again.
Your bio is interesting…’reluctant owner of three rotten cats…’Wonder how you manage the three of them:)
Haha – yes, thanks. I was a sworn cat hater. And then one day I ended up with three of them – there is a story here on the blog about how that happened. Truth is that most of the time, the cats manage the people! Thanks for coming by!
Happy to have you back in the blogosphere! I’m glad we’ve also had the facebook connection while we’ve not been blogging and I’m hoping the same to write a little of this and that more often this year but this or that hasn’t been triggered yet except by the FTSF prompt – so I’m going to participate in the next one as well. I think grounded is a great word and I feel like mine chose me too. I guess your word for the year should be the one you need most.
I think that’s a good way to look at it, Kenya – the word you need most. Looking back over the last several years, that’s pretty much what mine were. I’m glad to be back – finally – and hope that I can settle into something sort of consistent once again. I’ve missed filling this space. Looking for that FTSF prompt for this week to see if it can help!
Grounded feels like the perfect word. It’s funny how you mentioned that it chose you as much as you chose it. I felt the same about my word – and I even tried to get around it and find another, but in the end, I had to listen to it, if that makes sense. It’s so good to read your words again. I miss you.
That’s probably a good sign that it’s a good word for you, Kristi. That thing that won’t leave you alone? Go with it. I’m glad to be putting words out again. I missed me, too! xo
Welcome back. I look forward to reading you again.
Thank you, D.!
Good to see you back, Lisa! I haven’t been writing much, either. Lack of motivation. Boredom. Complete and utter laziness.
I like that you have a yearly theme. Grounded is a good one! I have a few goals that I wish to achieve this year that I have written down. I’m trying.
Hi, Dyanne! It’s good to be back. We had such a rough year and a half for so many reasons…everything else just fell to the back of the queue. I have a ton of things to catch up on, goals I’m working on. Just trying to do it one thing at a time. OK, one hour at a time, some days! LOL