Reflections on something glorious

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 When I last wrote, I was on the eve of an adventure of a lifetime. The anticipation of returning to a place that I hold dear in my heart and the thrilling thought of seeing new places that have only lived in my imagination, fuelled my enjoyment of preparation. This adventure was fanning the embers of excitement and delight that had long lain dormant within me; there is a purity of joy that comes with feeling free, being curious, and beholding beauty. Childlike energy, fascination and wonder are hard to capture as an adult. The inevitable progression of growing up is taking responsibility and handling life pressures. Throw on top of that, other peoples expectations and circumstances you never planned for can make for heavy life loads that steal your joy and put you on the treadmill of mundane but necessary adulting. This is a reality of being an adult, but it doesn’t mean circuit breakers aren’t possible. I’ve come to appreciate that being intentional about making space for time to...
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New Beginnings

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 It’s been too long since I put my thoughts to paper, so to speak, and sent them out into the world with the hope that by sharing I would somehow encourage others also. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to say, it’s been quite the reverse in fact. However, I feel like I’ve suffered from a writers paralysis. There are so many things I want to write about, and yet so much of it is complicated, that I haven’t known how to best express my private voice more publicly. So I stopped for a season, as I haven’t known where to begin, or even if it’s worth beginning again. 

After expressing some of the challenges that have made up the current season of life, I was encouraged by someone who knows me well to start writing again. While I’ve been busy offline writing for myself, I thought I’d be brave and start sharing my writing with others again too. It may sound self indulgent, but I do take enjoyment in the act of writing for an audience. 

Looking back at what I was writing a year ago, I laboured so long on a piece that I didn’t end up publishing, because by the time I’d completed it I felt like the moment had passed. So I want to publish it now in retrospect, not because it’s anything special or pertinent, but because it was true for that time, and it is helpful now to be reminded of what was good for me then. It’s always sobering to reflect on where one was a year ago, both physically and mentally. So much happens in a year; life is never static. Yet, in every season there is beauty to be seen and enjoyed, pain to be felt and broken by, lessons to be relearned and more of God to be understood and appreciated. 

As I look back on the times when I’ve been more motivated as a writer it was in a season of life when I had mental capacity and a sense of freedom to express myself. However these past 6 years have been punctuated by trauma and deep loss, illness and seismic change. It has felt like my life has been sliced in two. The before and after of Joanna Myers. It has taken me time to understand and accept what has happened, and to bravely embrace this new version of me. 

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