On September 17th, 2012 I took the extremely hard decision to stop blogging altogether (to take an indefinite hiatus). The reason I did it was because I had a professional life that had taken a toll on my own health, and because I felt that blogging the way I did it and to the extent I was doing it was going to end up making me sick (which it did, more than a few times).
But this fall, many things happened. Newtown, the fiscal cliff, the Instagram Terms of Service debacle, Delhi’s unspeakable gang rape, all of them a number of debates that I normally would engage with on my blog. And each time I stopped myself because I felt that I would betray my promise to myself to stop blogging. I also traveled and experienced a number of restaurants, hotels, airline companies, etc. and I stopped myself from writing about them, because “I had promised I would stop blogging“.
But in an extremely enlightening conversation with my Dad a couple of days ago (my Dad has a TV show, very well seen by the way), I told him that I missed the superpowers that came with having an extremely widely read blog and a large following on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Using social media for good is not something I’m new to doing. In fact, in the past few months I have seen a number of local (Vancouver) bloggers take up the projects I left behind and run with them, and support the charities I used to, and do the kind of social media for social good I used to do.
And that’s fantastic. Because it leaves me with this, with the canvas where I continue to paint my life: my own blog. This time, a painting that will occur on my time, and on my terms. No more being stressed about publishing a blog post on a certain date, because otherwise X, Y or Z artistic production might be endangered, or ticket sales may be low, or a charitable event may not get exposure. Yes, I am resurrecting my blog. But I am doing so on my own terms, and on my own time. I may write a blog post here, or none at all.
As Monique and Arieanna said, this is MY blog. This is where I am supposed to tell my stories. And somewhere along the way, I lost myself. I lost view of what this blog was about and why I had it. Yes, I had it to support the arts and non-profits in Vancouver. I had it to tell the stories of my travels. But more than anything, this blog is MINE. And it’s for me.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am back!
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