Why I love to blog and write

 

Why I love to blog and write

1 April 2024

Soooooo, until I picked up my “pen” again on the 5^th of March, I hadn’t blogged for absolute yonks! Doesn’t mean I hadn’t thought about it though. Cause I had. Quite a lot actually. I had had many blogging ideas swirling around my head for ages. But life got busy. As it does. And I got distracted. As I do. Extremely frequently, in fact. Cause all it takes is for me to… Alas, I digress. See how easy it is?

 

My mom and aunt always encouraged me to start it up again. And I had a few loyal blog followers, who would mention it to me on occasion, but I thought they were just being polite. And sweet. People are naturally kind in my opinion.

 

And then, on the 5^th of March, the idea popped up in my mind again and I got such an instant rush of happy endorphins when I remembered how much joy and happiness blogging gave me. I had found it so fulfilling, entertaining (yes, I do actually find myself funny) and creative. And I thought, “No man! Enough already! Just bloody write something again for a change”. So, I’m probably rusty. And apart from lengthy WhatsApp messages to friends and family (they’re terribly long suffering, yet patient with my long messages – kind people, all of them), I hadn’t done “proper” writing for a veeeeeery long time. But it’s like riding a bicycle, right? Right? I mean surely, something will spark again. So here goes…

 

There once was a girl called Helene

Just kidding

Done that before

Still think it’s funny though

(Doesn’t rhyme at all – note to self, practice more)

 

For now, I’m absolutely loving it. And thoroughly enjoying it. But at the same time, there’s also a nice discipline to it. If you don’t make time for the things that feed your soul, you won’t find time to do just that. It’s also such a happy hobby. Cause that’s my focus when I write. I write about things that make me happy. My observations of the world around me. My take on things if you like. And it’s also a way to remember things with greater accuracy and more details in the future. Because I can jog my memory through a blog I had written.

 

Looking back at my blogs from the earlier years when I first started, I’m filled with gratitude for doing it. I somehow managed to permanently capture so many of the wonderful memories of my children’s childhood years in stories. Silly little things really. The every day. The average. The daily things. Odd things they’d say and do. Experiences we had.

 

Cause here’s where I’m at now. In the blink of an eye, they’ve all finished school. Dancing lessons, hockey practices, school orals, studying for exams, the daily packing of lunches, supporting my kids along the sport’s field, the endless stream of social dances and school gatherings they attended, basically just all of it. It’s gone. It’s over. Never to be repeated. And had I not recorded so many of those average daily activities, in words, they would’ve been lost. Yes, I’ve got the memories and so do they. But we have different perceptions of the same experiences. One forgets so easily. Life is fast paced. And you simply move onto the next thing. You get sucked into life and living it.

 

For now, I’m enjoying playing with words again. I do love them so. And I’ll continue to write as often as I can. Because truth be told, if I don’t, I’ll resort back to long, lengthy messages to friends and family again. And they need a break.

 

Maybe one of the purest pleasures of blogging, is that I selfishly do it for me. Because I enjoy it so much. I get lost in a thought and the words just tumble out. Never quite knowing where it’s going to go or when it’s going to end. It just falls into place. Unfolding as I’m doing it. Which is possibly part of the joy in blogging. Unfurling as I paint pictures with words.

 

And I genuinely forget that others read it to. Quite surprising really, as I do share every single blog on my social media. You’d think it would be expected, but somehow for me, it’s not. And thus I always find it surprising when someone comments on a post or a blog. Or when they say something to me in person. Maybe because the irony is, that though it is called social media, it’s not really all that social after all. And one becomes disconnected from the fact that there might be someone on the receiving end of what you’re putting out there.

 

So thanks to those (diligently my mom, Maggie and my aunt, Bettie) who read my blog, for doing so. For your kind comments and reactions. For your encouragement and support.

 

With fondest love,

 

Helene