Finding My Way Back

I just spent a solid 20 minutes flipping through my own blog.  Honestly, I don’t even know the exact point in time when I lost my way, but somehow I’m back to the same spot I continue to find myself in year after year- the place where I wonder when I quit doing the things I love to do best.  Encourage.  Teach.  Share my life and share the gospel.

Sure, I love crafting.  Memory keeping is an enormous part of my life.  (I even have a small business on the side devoted completely to that!)  But that’s not all I love.  Although, if you looked through this blog recently, you might think that’s all there is to find here.  Truth is, on most days there are so many thoughts living inside my head that I struggle to find ways to get them all out.  So I just suppress them and go to sleep, and by morning, new thoughts replace the old thoughts.  I journal some of them, but really who has time to walk around all day writing if that’s not their job?

I want to keep this blog, but I don’t want to just use it to share my sporadic scrapbook layouts.  I could just use Instagram for that, right?  I’m honestly a little torn about my direction.  I have two websites- one for business and this one for fun.  But how much time do I have to devote to both?  Perhaps I’m overthinking it, right?  Maybe I can just share my thoughts quickly without worrying about having the “perfect” picture to break up the page.  Maybe blogging to me is more about getting the fluff out of my head quickly rather than creating drafts that sit unread for a year or more because I never finish the post.  Maybe, just maybe, there’s someone out there who won’t care if my posts are two paragraphs long and quite nonsensical and don’t have pretty pictures every time, and instead they’ll just be happy to have someone whose heart they feel connected to.  Maybe.

Truth be told, I get discouraged very easily.  I don’t like to look at stats because most of the time they are quite disappointing.  But instead of focusing on how there are only a few people that actually read my blog or open the {very few} emails I send, I should focus on the couple people who are waiting and listening and loving on me despite the twists and turns.  (And no, I don’t know the names of who is reading and who isn’t.  I mean, I do for the email subscriptions, but I extend much grace there because I quite honestly hate being bombarded with emails, too.  LOL!)

In my mind, I see you out there.  The person reading this and saying, “I’m here!”  So I’ll tell you right back- I’m here, too.  I’ll press on.  And I know I’ll find my way back around this whole blogging thing eventually, but for a while it might take some getting used to.

That being said, from here on out, I have no plan.  No rhyme or reason for writing whatever it is I write.  It’s an all-encompassing blog.  Some days I’ll share my random thoughts.  Other days when I’m all sweaty after a good workout, I’ll share my favorite exercises that I do and try to encourage you to kick your own butt at being healthy, too.  If I find a good recipe, I’ll give it to you on here, cause why not?  I’ll post photographs that make me smile, and oh yes, scrapbook layouts and pages from my albums.  I’ll share my faith and any messages that I feel God putting on my heart during my quiet moments with the Lord.  And maybe some will even be in video format because there are days I can speak better than I can write.  😉  And if you love it, you love it.  And if you hate it, I’ll bid you farewell with a kind hug and a thank you for at least trying out my little corner of the internet.

But, really, this is all in good fun.  I don’t take myself too seriously, and I’m an open book.  So be forewarned- things are about to get a little weird.  😉

XOXO, Marybeth