I'm back and Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 23, 2017

My precious Bucky Boy enjoying his Christmas tree this year.

I look back over 2017 and a part of me thinks, “Wow, this year sucked.” There was a system transition at work that has yet to be completed even though we began in January 2017. Talk about wearing on the mind and soul.  I began battling a mild form of depression and started taking meds to combat it. This year has truly been a flux of up and down and back and forth; emotions whirling and friendships rising and ebbing a bit depending on my ability to interact.

But there’s another part of me, a somewhat larger part, that is now able to see quite a few of the blessings that have flowed my way in 2017. With the Lord’s help, I’ve finally overcome something I’ve struggled with for years. That’s the epitome of awesome, right there. My family traveled to Finland (our first major trip outside the country) and discovered family ties, ancestral land, and just an incredible culture of people that we never imagined experiencing. Finland is amazing and I love it with my whole heart and it connected a lot of the dots about my values and the pacing of my life. Apparently you don’t have to have been born in Finland to live a Scandinavian lifestyle.

Another thing I’ve learned, and I’m sorry it took this long to learn it, is that I should never try to change up important things when I’m in the middle of intense life experiences. Like this blog. I’m much more than just one thing, and while I deeply admire the people who are able to blog about just one thing, that’s not me. I can’t compartmentalize like that. I love classic films, but I’ll go for weeks, even months sometimes, without watching one. I love books, but heaven knows I don’t always want to sit down and review them. There are times when the books I read are too personal, too intimate to my soul, for me to really want to share. I write, I knit, I crochet, and I think, think, think, probably like the majority of people with “intellection” in their top 5 Strengths/Finders.

I tried to put myself in a box, format myself into what I thought others expected of me, but I can’t do that. I have to be free to be who I am. I love the Lord and I need to express that when the urge hits me. If I read a book that inspires me to talk about it, I need that freedom to write about it. It’s the same with movies and television, no matter the era. Travels and writings and craft projects may need to be shared.

All this is to say that after a hectic time of growth and stress and overcoming the loss of loved ones over the last couple of years, my blog is returning to Musings of an Introvert. This is what it should have been all along because that’s when it truly felt right to me and I was engaged with it. I know I’ve lost quite a few readers due to my hiatus and that’s okay. People come and go. But the intensity of my identity needs to be channeled somewhere and I always found blogging to be therapeutic when I did right.


To those of you have still have me in your blog rolls, thanks. I appreciate you and I missed you. And to any new readers that may crop up along the way, cool. We’ll find our way together. Merry Christmas!

8 comments

  1. Yay! I'm very happy to see you back and blogging, because I'm missed you. I hope you'll tell us more about Finland at some point, as I'd really like to hear about it!

    Merry Christmas Eve!!

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    1. Hi! I've missed you too! It really is good to be back. Blogging can be so therapeutic!

      And someday I will definitely write a Finland blog post. We had an incredible time.

      Merry Christmas Eve to you too!

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  2. I'm exactly the same way. I have lots of interests but rarely do I ever bother blogging about them. (Probably because by the time I've written the post, I'm ready to move on to something else).

    And sometimes I'm too busy "feeling" things to really care to write about it as well.

    Sweet photo of your cat. He looks content.

    Happy Christmas Eve!

    Kristin

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    1. My Bucky is a very sweet cat, most of the time, when he's not getting into mischief. Such a funny boy.

      I think it helps me with what I'm feeling if I have a way and place to channel those emotions. I'm so glad my blog is back to what I need it to be.

      Happy Christmas Eve!

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  3. You're back!

    You know, I've tried pigeon-holing myself with blogs before too. I had a crafting blog for a while. I had a homeschooling blog for a while. Neither of them lasted more than a year or so. I kept up my blog-about-everything the whole time, and loved it all the while. I eventually did start a book-centric blog in addition to my everything blog, but it's pretty generalized too in its own way. Not devoted to only classics or only mysteries, etc.

    Which is my long-winded way of saying yup, I know exactly what you mean.

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    1. It feels really nice to be getting back into the flow of blogging. I've actually really missed it a lot. I didn't realize how much I gave up over the last year until I picked a few things up again.

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  4. I'm glad you're back! I'm looking forward to reading your excellent reviews and everthing else you feel like writing about!

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    1. Thank you! It will be interesting to see how much reviewing I do since it feels really good to just be talking about other things. But I imagine if I feel really passionate about a book or movie that I'll post about it. :)

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Thank you for your kind comments, which I adore!