Why I Blog: The Common Rhythm

Although this blog is a very fresh space for me, moving in the online writing, branding, and business arena has been an important part of my life for more than eight years. In my late twenties I began to suspect, after a decade on the job, that classroom teaching may not actually be what I’m best suited for personality wise. It’s also when I began to tap into my own creative power and offer it to the world. I began to lay plans for some major life changes, moving ever so slowly for the sake of those I love and who depend on me. I’d have never been able to predict what would come of my crochet design work and writing, nor how I’d also feel that season slow and deepen into something far greater. Eight years later, here I am having another dance at the blogging ball, and I’ve been asking myself exactly what it was that prompted me to join in again.

All of my best decisions have been made form the gut, when I’m able to tune out the white noise of my brain and hear a more intuitive melody. I listened to my gut and began this endeavor from scratch, but that didn’t mean my brain was going to stay quiet about it for long. Moving within a tightly choreographed fiber arts brand for so long, I’ve felt a little adrift here. I’ve been circling around what my purpose is, trying to catch the new rhythm, even as I recognize how good it feels to move freely.

In order to understand the common notes in my varied ideas, I sat down and wrote out all of the keywords and concepts I feel might be part of this new space. Up until this point, they all seemed to be an unrelated mess, but as I physically wrote them out I began to see the common rhythm tying them all together, as well as why they’d all seemed so jumbled before.

What I’d been doing is trying plan the steps so I could feel safe and secure. But I’m not here to only feel safe, nor to know everything that is coming next. I’m here to be connected, and to encourage you to become connected, as well. And that is the key to it all, online and off.

The common rhythm in all I’d like to share is

connected living.

Living to actively honor all the ways I am connected to others, to creation, to God, and to myself works itself out in every area of my life. The isolation we can feel is a trick-nothing that we do or say can be done or said without impacting everything and everyone around us.

We move in a great sway of creation and consumption, life and death. In our global and digital age, the consequence of our daily choices is played out before our eyes in a way we’ve never, ever had access to before. Each footfall on earth sends literal vibrations running through all that lives and breathes and has life, and we have so much power over what that feels like for those we impact.

All that I write about and think about here is related to the concept of connected living. None of us can do better than to play our part with love. Honoring these natural connections allows us to tap into more love than we ever could on our own.

To this end, I am excited to explore and play with ideas around real-world community, spiritual development, reducing waste, slow fashion, simplicity, faith, creativity, margin, understanding impact, sabbath, handcraft, noticing, empathy, conscious consumerism, mindful priority setting, helpful routine practices, and living it all a little more slowly. These are all ways I have developed a way of life that feels deeply connected and meaningful.

Choosing a blog as the vehicle for these messages has been a natural progression for me. First off, blogging is familiar. There is a certain amount of beginner status in this world I’ve already overcome through previous experience. But, blogging is an ideal platform for more important reasons than just familiarity.

Access

There are a lot of different opinions about the democratization of writing and “journalism” through blogging, but I personally find the access invaluable. The gatekeeping that happens through the formal publishing process and mainstream journalism is absolutely necessary. I’d never diminish its importance. However, the kind of access we have to one another through blogging platforms means we get to strengthen and broaden the web of humanity across geographical boundaries in a real time way that does not require a certain level of expertise or privilege. This holds potential space for a world changing amount of empathy and connection. I’m here for it.

Practice and Feedback

“Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions." - Paulo Coelho

To be a writer, I need only to write. But to write real things, to breathe life into the dust of words, what I write needs to be read. Sharing writing, like sharing my knitwear designs, becomes a recursive creative process. I give it to you, you build your own meaning from it, and give that meaning back to me.

Although I firmly believe in the importance of just putting pen to paper and getting the words out, even if they only ever see the inside of my journal, I also believe just as strongly in the importance of having readers. I’ve told my elementary age students many, many times over the years that writing is communication. If you write and your message is lost, what’s the point? Keep re-working it until you’ve revealed your mind, heart, and soul to your reader.

I’ve been writing to the inside of many a journal for many a year. It’s time to give it to the world. It’s time to build some meaning together. It’s time to connect.

Business

In the spirit of full transparency, oh my gosh I struggle hard with this. I struggled with it when first offering my crochet, and I struggle with it now. I fear having too much money to stay connected with struggle and growth, and I fear not having enough to be free from it. What I have concluded is this: if I can build something worthy of people’s trust and attention, and I can lend that attention to those whom I trust and in whom I find value, that is a legitimate way for me to gain some freedom in this life. If I can offer something that has value in itself, that is a legitimate way for me to gain freedom, too. When I offer something of value and you take it in exchange for your attention, that is another way we become connected. Is it ok for me to make money here? Is it ok if it’s a little? Is it ok if it’s a lot? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I can promise that I’ll take each new step carefully and with integrity.

Creativity

I simply love the combination of visual curation, written word, building a home, hand craft, communicating through personal style, photography…it’s all part of who I am, who I’ve been created to be. To have place where it all coalesces into a kind of diary I can both keep and offer is invaluable to me.

Connection

At the very heart of it all, that common rhythm is still there-blogging facilitates connection with folks who may understand you in a different and valuable way. That is something I am very excited to continue to build.

Have you ever considered starting a blog? What would your motivations or messages be? What might be holding you back?