"Hello, old friend," I said to the PC. "It's been awhile."
So, I stood up, started a cup of coffee, turned on the old desktop, and here I am.
I've actually been writing, just not on this blog. I started a rough draft of a children's story and have also been working through a short story that I may/may not try to publish in a literary review somewhere down the road. Most of the writing I've been doing lately is purely creative and fun and really just for me. I find the best writing we do is often for ourselves, and not when we're trying to meet a demand that we suspect others may have (even on a barely-heard-of blog). And like most things it's a lesson that applies to life in general: 'Don't do something because you think it will please others, do something because it pleases yourself and makes you a better person.'
Recently I've been doing a lot of thinking on that subject - "What pleases me?" I stopped watching mindless TV shows. I got off social media. I stopped saying 'Yes!' to pop-up social events, and decided to just be me. I started re-reading one of my favorite book series (Outlander). I started working out more (and FINALLY got a membership to the YMCA). I started being mindful of everything around me, and being present in the here and now.
My husband returned from a work trip to Belize a few weeks ago and he brought back beautiful pictures and stories and told me we totally need to go to this amazing eco-tourism resort near some of the Mayan ruins and part of a conservation establishment that protects nearly 30,000 acres of wilderness in the Western part of Belize. After looking through my hubby's pictures and the Chan Chich Resort website, I'm totally ready to grab a backpack and head on down!
I actually was a Cultural/Political Geography major when I was in college, and my focus of study was on Latin America. My senior year symposium and thesis was on the discovery and conquest of Mexico and the anthropological impact it had on the native populations and their descendants. I hadn't thought about that thesis in years. But seeing the pictures of the Mayan ruins at Caracol completely rejuvenated a part of me that used to yearn to understand why we function in the societies that we do because of the physical and human geographical components of the land and cultures around us.
I used to be interesting. I used to have lengthy discussions at cocktail parties and talk about geopolitics and hegemonic stability and the impending downfall of our nation, using cogent arguments and historical examples. Then I became a Mom and started talking about which car seat was best, the benefits of breast milk and if home-schooling was the right option or not. Now, I'm not saying that those topics and Mom-hood aren't important - they are! But it's easy to lose sight of yourself sometimes if you allow it to happen; if you allow yourself to be consumed by little things that may seem big at the moment, but in the grand scheme of things are just a portion of what truly matters and what truly makes you happy.
We are complex animals, us humans. We try to act simple and say simple things sometimes, but our brains will always deny us. We are constantly asking questions and wanting to understand things. We yearn to explore new places and find greatness. But we are also inherently lazy, if allowed. And sometimes the worst way in which we are lazy is when we stop looking inward and asking more from ourselves because it's easy not to.
So, I ask you, my few followers: "What pleases you? Really and truly?" Go out and find it. Expand yourself. Challenge yourself. Remember that you are interesting.
** Top four pictures, courtesy of M.M. McCarthy. Bottom two pictures, courtesy the Chan Chich Resort website: https://www.chanchich.com/the-lodge/ **
No comments:
Post a Comment