How and Why This Blog Got Started - This One Is Going To Be Long!!

Just over a month ago, I began my first blog entry with the words, "I love to write.  I always have."  I had no idea what to expect, how long it would last or how much it would come to mean to me in such a short time.  After just a month, I suspect it's going to last a LONG time.  I've been an avid reader of travel, hiking and full-time RVer blogs for quite some time and had thought of adding one of my own, but it just never felt right.  I now know why. 

I was at a point where I was quickly gaining back the 60 pounds I had lost in 2006-2007 and in a moment of sheer frustration, one morning I "googled" something (now I can't even exactly what it was) and Lynn's blog popped up.  I started at the beginning, read every word and then moved on to Diane's blog.  I ended up spending the entire day reading blogs and it was like a whole new world of motivation opened up before me.  Suddenly, I was 100% inspired to lose the 30 pounds I had regained and even though I'd yet to even offer a comment on anyone's blog, I knew I had found of community of support that would help me.  I also knew that rather than writing a travel blog as I had assumed I would, it immediately became clear that my blog would be much broader and would be about the gains and losses of my life in general with a primary focus on my continuing battles with weight loss and maintenance.  I know that this is going to be a struggle for the rest of my life on this earth, so I'll NEVER run out of material to write about!!  But for some reason, I still hesitated - I just couldn't get started.  I mulled it over for weeks until my husband finally said, "you are way over analyzing this, either do it or don't!"  But the doubts and questions remained.  Why was I considering it?  Was I doing it for me or in the hopes someone else would read it?  Who would that be?  Should I mention it to friends and family?  If I did that, I couldn't be totally open.  Or could I?  You get the picture!! 

And then came April 27.  I've been open in the blog about the fact that I am Christian.  Worshiping God through corporate worship experiences and daily living, consistently growing in my relationship with Jesus and modeling that to others is the reason I exist.  Part of that process is my morning quiet time.  Thankfully, I am a morning person because I allow nothing to get in the way of my quiet time.  Henri Nouwen wrote over 40 books, but one of my favorites is Bread For the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith .  Although written from a Christian perspective, each day's "wisdom" is applicable to anyone and can be read in less than 60 seconds.  I highly recommend it!!  On April 27, in the midst of all my doubts about starting a blog, I opened the book and the day's title, "Writing To Save The Day" stared back at me. I read the meditation, then through my tears, read it again...and again...and again.  Few times in my life, have I had a clearer answer to a question.  I would start the blog.  I would start it as a spiritual discipline for ME but in the process, would hope it might be helpful to others who begin reading it along the way. 

April 28th & April 29th meditations were also on the subject of writing and were equally as pertinent to the struggles I'd been experiencing.  On April 30th, the reading moved away from the subject of writing, but the title of that days meditation was, "Losing And Gaining Our Lives."  This may sound crazy, but I swear, I heard an audible voice that said, "Sharon, there is the title of your blog.  Now go get started."  And I did.  It was 14 more days before I posted the first entry, but I began the groundwork that day.  I write it for me - I write it for you!! 
 
For those who might be interested, maybe thinking of starting their own blog, considering discontinuing their current blog or just disenchanted with the whole process, and for me, ten years from now when I want to remember how this all got started, here are those meditations:

From "Bread For the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith" by Henri Nouwen

April 27 - Writing to Save the Day

Writing can be a true spiritual discipline.  Writing can help us to concentrate, to get in touch with the deeper stirrings of our hearts, to clarify our minds, to process confusing emotions, to reflect on our experiences, to give artistic expression to what we are living, and to store significant events in our memories.  Writing can also be good for others who might read what we write.  Quite often a difficult, painful, or frustrating day can be "redeemed" by writing about it.  By writing we can claim what we have lived and thus integrate it more fully into our journeys. Then writing can become lifesaving for us and sometimes for others, too.

April 28 - Writing, Opening a Deep Well

Writing is not just jotting down ideas.  Often we say, "I don't know what to write. I have no thoughts worth writing down."  But much good writing emerges from the process of writing itself.  As we simply sit down in front of a sheet of paper and start to express in words what is on our minds or in our hearts, new ideas emerge, ideas that can surprise us and lead us to inner places we hardly knew were there.  One of the most satisfying aspects of writing is that it can open in us deep wells of hidden treasures that are beautiful for us as well as for others to see.

April 29 - Making Our Lives Available to Others

One of the arguments we often use for not writing is this: "I have nothing original to say: Whatever I might say, someone else has already said it, and better than I will ever be able to."  This, however, is not a good arguments for not writing.  Each human being is unique and original, and nobody has lived what we have lived. Furthermore, what we have lived, we have lived not just for ourselves but for others as well.  Writing can be a creative and invigorating way to make our lives available to ourselves and to others.  We have to trust that our stories deser to be told. We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them.

We are still in Lexington, KY.  My husband's conference ends today and we have several fun things planned for the rest of the week if we don't melt first!  So far, eating is good today.  However, wonderful husband cannot come to KY without having a dinner of gut-busters, a.k.a. White Castle.  No temptation there for me, I can't stand them.  Will take my wonderful salad with me and enjoy it immensely.  I will also sleep like a baby tonight while he sits up in the recliner munching Maalox. 

If you made it to the end of this post, you are truly a "follower" and I appreciate it.  I hope I can be the same to you.