on blogging
Let me start this post by saying that I don’t journal; at least, not in the traditional sense, anyway, the kind involving bound sheets of paper and a favorite pen, both of which you carry with yourself wherever you go so that you can write whatever comes to mind whenever it comes to mind. I don’t start my day at a desk or my dining room table or curled up on my couch with a cup of tea and a heart full of words just waiting to be poured out onto said sheets. I’ve dabbled here and there; photos and stickers in Creative Memories albums (remember those?), a prayer journal I kept when my first husband was ill, and writing in baby books for my children (quite a bit for my first, significantly less for my second, and not a lick at snake for my third). The thing is, I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the way I write and the words I choose; always reading and rereading and editing as I go which is much easier to do on a computer because, for me, an actual hardbound journal would be filled with tons of words crossed through or scribbled out. It boggles the mind to think of all the amazing authors and poets who captivated our souls for centuries without the ease of modern technology.
I’ve created two blogs over the last 17 years (long before blogging became a profitable business platform) – one about marriage restoration (yourmarriagerestored.blogspot.com) and one about crafting (makeitgiveit.blogspot.com) – but my last post was 10 years ago and, I don’t know…life changed and shifted, and I just stopped doing it. Now though, with Always Annalea, it feels different because I feel different. Restless and uncertain, yes, yet filled too with intention and purpose for the future. I want to share the big times and little moments, the hard stuff and the silly. I want to write in a way that causes me to take stock of why I do what I do and how to let go of what no longer serves me. I want my words to stir something in you that’s long lain dormant but now, needs gentle tending.
On that note, I recently watched an episode of the House of Joy podcast on YouTube and the following 4 journal prompts were listed in the description:
1. Name 5 things that make you feel the most fulfilled and why?
2. What are you most excited about right now?
3. Make a list of 25 hard things that you have done in your life that you are proud of.
4. What do you want more of in 2024, and what do you want less of?
These prompts are for everyone so, if you journal or blog or just want to talk about them with your girls over a couple bottles of wine, feel free to use them. Off the bat, #3 fills me with agita because…25? Plus, I already know it would require a deep emotional dive which I would have to be ready for, you know? I guess I would start with #2 which is that I’m most excited about this blog right now. It’s like an exercise or a regimen and while I don’t know where it’s going to take me, I know I need to do it so that I can grow.
