The End of the Silence

Seven years ago I started a blog -- like Twitter today, it seemed to be the thing to do. I worked as a volunteer with an international non-profit at the time and relied upon monthly financial support to pay my fees. I posted fairly diligently on the blog so that friends, family and financial supporters could keep up with my whereabouts.

When I got married, I stopped writing on the blog and deleted the whole thing. Although I kept the domain name, I concluded my epic postings. Instead, I relied on Facebook to keep in touch with people, but even then, for a long while I felt that I needed to keep my private life sacred and well, private. The silence has lasted for several years.

It's not that I didn't have anything to say. I just wasn't sure how to say it all. My writing wasn't even the problem -- I have been crafting words my entire life. For as long as I can remember, I have also been creative, with an eye for photography, a penchant for handmade gifts, and a slight obsession with paper, scissors and glue. The thing is, I wanted to combine all of those things into something, but didn’t know how.

Then for a while, I only wanted to focus on writing. But I didn’t want to lose sight of all of the other things that make me, well, me.

Suddenly, I felt a little trapped. I had tried to separate all of my gifts into separate boxes. And while I tried to package them all into neatly tied separate categories: knitting, writing, cooking, crafting, and a whole host of others -- I seemed to lose a bit of my own identity. I compared myself with every other food blogger, knitting guru, photographer and writer out there.

The thing is -- I should never have compared myself to anyone else in the first place. 

I had been so busy trying to put everything into separate boxes, I forgot that I was the one who tied them together in the first place. I couldn't separate the things that made me, me. I needed to put the gifts all together -- in the same box -- and then leave the box open in order for those things to escape from within me.

My husband and I recently took an epic road trip to scope out some potential places to live. We have been wanting to move somewhere with a bit more of a creative vibe. I realized though, somewhere between Nashville and Austin that I didn’t necessarily need to live somewhere ‘creative’ or ‘artistic’. Creativity lies within. And it's time to share mine with the world -- no matter where I go.

So, I have decided to resurrect the blog. Starting today. Welcome to Typing Sunflowers.