Here’s to welcoming myself back to my little space. It’s been a while, a few months actually. Oh, social media…I love you and I hate you. So, let’s see…where do I start.
Perhaps first with Instagram. I really enjoy Instagram. There’s so much creativity and inspiration shared. But, I often find myself in a conundrum. Do I “like” the image because it’s really a great or creative photograph or do I “like” the image because I know the person. I wonder if others have these similar feelings. I know I don’t want someone liking my images if it really doesn’t do anything for them. I guess I can see both sides. But, I rarely see political comments and that part I love.
Then there’s Facebook. I’ve cut way back simply because of all the political comments. Why should I visit Facebook when it just stresses me out and I have enough of that in my life already. I don’t want to give it up entirely simply because I love connecting with some folks I’ve known since first grade, as well as folks I’ve met as I’ve traveled the world. How else would I know about a friend who lives in another state just had her baby? It’s fun to sit down with a glass of wine and see what’s going on in the lives of others. There’s also the “need” if you’re doing any kind of online classes because many will host the class questions and feedback on Facebook. But there’s also part of me that sees how Facebook has contributed to our country’s woes. It’s a love hate relationship.
Now my little space. It was really the other day when I went looking for a posting to give a friend that it dawned on me how important it was to continue. She was headed to a country that I’d blogged about and I wanted to share my experiences with her. I actually enjoyed reading it and found myself deep in thought about that particular place and the experiences I wrote about. Yes, I have the images…but what about the words and the feelings I had when I made the image? Many people blog for their business or to get followers for financial or other benefits. I really just want to be able to remember one day what the hell I did, what kind of experience I had and how I felt about it. On this last trip to Oregon I took one day and made notes on my iPhone about my day. The goal was to document sounds, smells, and my feelings in simple statements as I went about my day. I went back to those notes for the first time a week ago. It brought back so many thoughts that I know I wouldn’t have remembered had I not documented them. I’m also finding I keep lots of quotes that I come across. But then I put them in multiple places and then can’t remember where I put them! Age! So why not find an image and put it with the quote and voila…there’re all in one place and perhaps ready to be made into a book one day.
From a housekeeping perspective I’m going to do a little simplifying to the blog structure. I look back and at the time there seemed to be a good reason for adding and changing, but time moves on and it doesn’t seem important anymore. Yes, I wanted my friends and family to understand why I would want to live in NYC for a year. Yes, I wanted to share my travels because many may never be able to because of time or financial constraints. But after nine years of having this little space, I really want to continue updating it for me. (Now if someone comes across a posting and gets some value out of it, great!) Another deciding factor to continue with my blog came when I was cleaning out some drawers at my mom’s during my last visit. I came across a little bundle of letters from her boyfriends that also included my father at the time. It struck me as to how important they were to document a part of her life. Now I don’t have children, but I do know that if I’m hanging around some 20 or so years from now and have somewhat of a mind…I know myself well enough to know that I’ll enjoy reading these entries as much as I enjoyed sitting down and reading all the letters I found in that little bundle.
This past January (nine months ago!) I told myself I’d be more consistent with my entries. That cracked me up. But, shit has been happening in my life. My mom is declining, and she’s running out of money because of her daily care needs. There’s been gut wrenching decision making going on and many visits to the farm. Documenting my life just hasn’t been on the “to do” list. But, what has been on the “to do” list is creating and reality is writing is creating too, not to mention therapeutic. A good friend sent me an article recently about how art therapy reduces stress. It was great to read the article, but I’ve experienced firsthand how much truth there is to that statement. But, that’s for another entry.
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I made this image in the Columbia River Gorge/Mt. Hood area of Oregon. The aroma from the lavender was intoxicating…and of course paths always remind me of life pathways. I think Henry David Thoreau said it best…
“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”
