My New Community

At the risk of admitting this, I was never interested in reading blogs before I decided to start my own. My brother (my life hero and my blog inspiration) has had a blog for some years now, though he took a sabbatical from writing in it for a while. I’d always read his, given him my likes and occasional comments. But that was where it stopped.

Until I started writing. When you use the Word Press software (which is free, by the way!), signing on shows you the community of bloggers also using the same software. I looked at a few blogs and decided to follow quite a few of them. The blogs I follow are an eccentric bunch – some blogs are short, some are long. Some stay on the course of a central topic, some (like me) ramble on with whatever crosses their mind. Some add photos throughout their blog posts, some do not.

The people who write blogs are just as eccentric as their topics. There are young bloggers and old bloggers, some male, some female, of differing religions and races. I follow one person who has a Ph.D. in psychology and offers some great insights into the human psyche. I follow one who is a ‘cat lady’, but she also writes about antics at the gym where she goes. One is a young lady who, based on what she’s shared, hasn’t had the easiest life so far but somehow remains without an ounce of cynicism in her stories. And there is one, a woman twice-divorced, who offers great tips for anyone in any stage of divorce in their own lives. In addition, a former colleague with whom I’ve remained friends is off traveling through Italy and started a blog of her adventure which I now follow.

We are as diverse as any group of people can be. But we are all bound by this need to express ourselves to others – our stories, our thoughts, our fears – and to share with others the lessons of life that we have learned.

So, what about you? Do you feel you have something you want to say? Are there stories in your life so rich that they ought to be shared to enrich others with them? Maybe you’ve experienced a tough time (or two) in your life and want to offer tips and insights to anyone facing a similar circumstance. Whatever your reason, if you want to write, I encourage you to join our community! What are you waiting for?

Meanwhile, check out the blogs I follow: commonsensiblyspeaking.wordpress.com, makeitultrapsychology.wordpress.com, damseldivorcee.com, coffeekatblog.com, rachelmankowitz.com and thegreatadventure.blog.

Friday’s 5 Takeaways – 5/24/19

Since last we met here, I have taken the plunge into believing that, although we never really had a spring season, summer is definitely on its way!

#1 – Now that I’m ready to believe that, I finally put away all of my cool weather coats and jackets this week. I’d put away my really heavy winter coat back in early April, but only in this past week or so am I willing to believe I no longer need the jackets as well.

#2 – In celebration of the approaching summer, I spent several hours cleaning all of my porch furniture, hanging plants on hooks and sweeping away the debris of late fall and winter. I’ve been able to enjoy a cup of coffee (usually some or all of my 3rd cup) on the porch, once full daylight has just settled in, and just vegetate while watching traffic and people starting off their day. Mine is the only one of six apartments that has this outdoor space, and because of it, I chose this apartment over another available apartment that had a kitchen at least twice as big as mine.

#3 – Living alone, my place doesn’t really get dirty, except for dust and road dirt coming in that I can’t control. Nonetheless, just like I did last month in the days before visiting my brother a month ago, I cleaned the entire place. There is this idea in my head that, if something should happen to me while I’m away, I don’t want whomever has to enter here on my behalf (even though it would most likely be my brother or my bestie) should find things looking sloppy.

#4 – I could write oodles about the success of my visit with my brother this week. It was, as always, an awesome time filled with hours of conversation. As a fellow blogger (also my inspiration and mentor when it comes to my blog), we’d be chatting and often, one or the other of us would stop and say, “Oh, that could be a future blog post!” It’s fun to have that in common together! Of course, now if he writes about any of them (he jotted down a few of the topics), I’ll get to take credit in the comments of helping spark the idea!

#5 – I had a planned opportunity this week to “pay it forward” and it was successful. Along with it, however, I had an unplanned opportunity to “pay it forward” to someone else, which was also successful. There is so much joy in giving!

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day, everyone! To those of you who served to protect this country and its freedoms, thank you! You are the reason we celebrate!