On a sunny Sunday afternoon, with a full tummy and a fan blowing in the room, I opened a book. Thumbing through the pages, it was my hope to soon read my way to sleep (Sunday naps are my favorite!). But as I continued to read, I was captivated instead.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was the book of choice. Now I must admit, this is not a common genre for me to read. And I'm not even really that interested in novels turned into motion pictures. But somehow, I was drawn to this woman's search for pleasure, devotion and, ultimately, herself against the backdrop of a few vastly different cultures.
In the early chapters, she reveals the struggles she faced in leaving her marriage and a complicated love affair gone bad. She discloses details of her gruesome depression that followed. Although I cannot relate to the circumstances surrounding her lowest moments, over the last several months I have faced many low moments myself. Her words gripped my heart as she described some moments of crying out to God on the bathroom floor, remembering my own desperate prayers in the same setting.
Throughout this season of her life, Gilbert found joy in one simple hobby: Studying Italian.
Out of all the languages to study in the world, I don't believe Italian is high on the list of usefulness in many countries besides....well...Italy. But she decided to learn it for one reason...
She loved it.
After studying for some time and falling in love with each Italian word, she decided to visit....for 4 months. In fact, she decided to spend an entire year traveling and living in Italy, India and and finally Indonesia (what's with all the I's?). It was in Italy that she pursued what brought her pleasure, and found it in the culture, the language and the food. I loved that she did all this because it brought her joy in a much needed time.
For me, that might very well be this blog.
I love to write. Hand-written journaling is actually therapeutic for me. And I used to be an active Xanga blogger back in the day. But revisiting the blogging scene has not come as easy for me in recent years. As you can see my last post was nearly a year ago, and I'd created this account long before my first post. For some time, though, I've had a nagging desire to post something. The barriers usually take form in the pressure to write something of substance - something deeply profound or thought-provoking. I have asked myself about the reasons I want to write, but kept getting tripped up by questions like...
What is the primary purpose of my blog?
Who is my target audience?
What will I write about?
How often will I post?
Although these may be appropriate questions to ask for someone starting a blog, I can no longer let them obstruct my ability to do something I enjoy. Truth is, I am decidedly removing the pressures of writing (now if only I can do that in more areas of my life...).
Here's the plan....
Just write.
Topics may be sparatic, posts may be infrequent. I may have very few readers, if any at all. But I will find joy in the simple act of doing something I love.
What is something you do just because you love it?
P.S. I could use a litte help on a Title for this Blog....any suggestions?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"What is something I do just because I love it?" This is a challenging question for me. I'm not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but it seems I've been "lucky enough" to find a way to make a living out of many of the things I love. I love musical expression, so I formed a private music studio and teach other budding musicians. I love graphic arts and design, so I took on the task of marketing and promotion at my job. I love helping people grow (relationship, personal discipline, spiritual life), so I became a pastor.
ReplyDeleteTrouble is, once I started doing the things I love for a living, they lost much of their satisfaction. Not so much their appeal (though that sometimes happens as well), but rather, they became tasks to be completed instead of adventures upon which to embark. So much of the risk went away that the joy derived became neutered somehow.
Currently, I am working on rekindling flames that I can keep exclusive from my professional life. This is difficult since my jobs require writing (which I love), some photography (which I am quickly growing to love), design, etc. I am looking for the imbibing inspiration found in life balance. Moving to the mountains has been a good start. It pulls me away from my work environment and helps remind me why I love the things I love.