Dear reader friends,
As you could have seen over the last wee while, I've taken the better part of the last four months off from blogging and writing and such. Today I wanted to share some thoughts before I continue on in this space.
If you've been around here for the last couple of years, you know that my family and I went through a really difficult time in the summer of 2022. My dad got diagnosed with cancer and six weeks later, he passed away. I probably don't need to tell you, but the months following that were extremely hard. Our lives had literally been flipped upside down and inside out and we had to try to walk through each day even though nothing felt the same. Last winter and early spring were especially hard and I was going through an incredibly trying time. My body was in a state of shock, I think, as a result of the previous months. I had physical signs that my body was just completely and utterly stressed out, not to mention my mind's condition. Thankfully as spring marched on and summer came, I began to feel a lot better. However, as August came, I began feeling heavy with things again. My October blog series really was an outlet for me that I needed and very much enjoyed. But by the time November came, I was barely keeping my head above water. So I decided to step back from this space and try to focus on myself.
It's been 18 months since my dad's passing now and while the initial shock of things is mostly gone (sometimes it all still seems hard to believe!), other things that I've been struggling with the last couple of decades came to the surface.
I've just needed to take a break from everything and focus on myself.
And it's an ongoing, continual journey of healing.
These things didn't take place over just a few weeks or months or even a few years' time, so they aren't going to be healed in a short amount of time, either.
So sometimes, you may find that I just need to step away from this space for a while and have some quiet and peace and calm and then I'll be ready to return.
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Another thing I want to do here is to set the record straight about a few things...
Over the last year or so, I have received multiple messages and comments making assumptions about me and my life. And I wish to talk about them here.
Firstly, this blog is not a blog about my life. This is not a day-in-the-life diary sort of blog. This is not a blog where I share my day-to-day personal business. This is a blog where I share my hobbies and things I am passionate about and things I enjoy and wish to share about with others who share common interests.
Because I share about reading books or watching a movie I love or baking a cake or some photos of flowers in our garden, that does not mean you know everything about my life. Because you don't. Just because I share about the things I mentioned previously doesn't mean I spend my whole day doing nothing but watching movies. That may be how I spent a couple hours in the evening, but you don't see how I spend the other 22 hours of my day and night. And also, don't forget that you never know someone's "why". Lots of people are going through things or working through things that you do not see. Remember that, too.
Also, and I really shouldn't have to mention this, but every single person's life looks different. We all have different responsibilities, schedules, lifestyles, and we are not all in the same season of life. I am a single woman who doesn't have a husband or children, so yeah, I have more free time and time to myself than say a woman with a husband and three children. I also live at home with my mom and sister, so we share the responsibilities of homemaking. We each have things we are good at and things we enjoy and that's what we do. Then there are tasks that require all of our combined effort. But our homemaking is a joint effort. It doesn't take up all my time or energy.
I am a very private person and there is a whole heck of a lot that I do not share about. In fact, most of my life, nearly 98% of it, I would say, you don't see or know about. I am not on here to exploit my life or myself. I am on here to share things that delight me in hopes of adding some delight to the day of whoever may find themselves reading my blog. There is enough crap in the world and especially online, that I want this space to be a haven for anyone who finds themselves here. But there is one thing this blog is not, and it is not a personal diary of my daily life.
I am not going to explain myself or defend myself. This is my life. You have your own life.
And finally, after 11 years of blogging, I am through overexplaining myself or what I mean when I write something. It boggles my mind how I can say one thing in a post, and someone takes it and completely twists and turns it into something completely, entirely different. On top of that, they can read one thing and they think they know everything about me. I'm honestly done with all that crap. Having to explain what I mean until my fingers are nearly numb from over-typing sucks all the fun out of blogging. I do this for the fun of it and people's stupidity really drains that fun all the way out.
So to set the record straight...
I will share what I want to share. This is not a personal diary of my private life. I intentionally don't share lots of things because I value my privacy. I will no longer overexplain things. Either you understand what I'm saying or you don't. It's not my problem. And I also just really wish people would get it in their heads to stop making assumptions about people because they see 1% or 2% of their lives in an online space.
I am sharing these thoughts and making a few changes because I want to keep on blogging and sharing in this space. And these things are to keep this a positive space and experience for me.
With that said, if you want to stick around as I share about the things that delight me, that's fine. I'm glad to have you here. Really glad. You don't know how nice it is to have a space for kindred spirits to gather because of a shared love of something.
But if this space is no longer for you, that's fine, too. So long, farewell. See ya! Ain't nobody keeping you here against your will.
And if you read this entire post, thank you!
I'll be back to my normal sorts of posts on Thursday, but I wanted to get this bit of "housekeeping" taken care of first.
I hope you have a wonderfully beautiful day!