You may have noticed that this place has been a tad quiet for a while. Instead I've been focusing on the day job and enjoying life. But mostly it's been because I decided to stop stressing myself out with trying to do things I thought I should be doing when I didn't really want to. The result has been more writing just for me, experimenting and playing with form and story. Recent world events however have pushed me to want to start blogging again in a meaningful way but not so it feels like a burden. I wasn't really sure how to do that but this past weekend I think I got my answer when I took part in a wellbeing weekend.
What is a wellbeing weekend? In this case it is a friend's idea that she wanted to test run. I won't go into too much detail as she is still in the process of building it up as a business but it involves using creative activities to express yourself and to consider your own "wellbeing". I've been doing mindfulness activities for a while so it wasn't entirely unknown but it did bring home to me that I have been neglecting the creative expression in my life by not publishing anything for so long. It's all well and good creating things for yourself, but if you never share them then they remain nothing more than an idea. If someone has a genius thought that could change the world is it really so genius if no one knows about it?
I've decided to return to my blogging but in a more constructive and conscious way. Rather than just write about things as they happen I'm creating a "content plan", so I can think about the things I want to write about and prep them in advance. I currently have about eight posts lurking in the depths of Blogger that I never published in the end - all were sudden ideas, without a plan and just didn't feel right for this place. So the other step I'm taking is separating my political/current affairs writing out from this blog and into my Medium space. That way I can keep this area to just writing, books, personal and productivity related posts and my fiery feelings about the world can be filtered into a more journalistic area. Expect a lot of cross over in my stories though...
If you have an opportunity to go to a type of wellbeing weekend I highly recommend it. Sure, you may be uncomfortable with group activities (I know I am) but that in itself is a good thing to overcome and challenge. You will likely learn things about yourself you didn't know in the process and most importantly will get to meet a bunch of great people, with their own inspiring stories to tell. What more could any would-be-writer ask for?
