Welcome!
To get started, let me tell you a little bit about what I'm trying to accomplish with this new undertaking... In the last few months I have realized, upon careful self-reflection and patient insistence from my husband, that I have been slowly driving both myself and some of the people around me a little crazy (i.e. that "patiently insistent" husband). I am realizing that I have a tendency to constantly be searching for "the next best thing" and sometimes struggle to be content to just sit and ponder what is currently going on in my life. In this same vein, when I find something that I think I can "improve on" in my life, I tend to obesse over that thing, especially when there is some aspect of planning or organization that needs to occur. While this trait can be very positive (I tend to be very motivated and am constantly looking to improve my situation in life), my sometimes-idle mind has a tendency to turn to unnecessary topics to obsess over which, as I stated earlier, can get to be pretty obnoxious.
Take, for example, my quest to find a house. Jake (my husband) and I have agreed that we are not ready to buy a house quite yet. Despite this, I continue to enthusiastically scour real estate websites in order to find the perfect 4-bedroom house in Carlsbad that is within our (make believe) price-range so that I can dream about making big dinners in the beautiful kitchens and watch our kids frolic in the grassy backyards.... As if my constant internet searches aren't enough, I insist that Jake looks at the 25+ pictures of every "cute" house I find and give me his opinion on whether or not he could "see us living there". See? Kind of obnoxious...
In an effort to combat these boredom-induced mini obsessions, I have been spending the last few months trying to find a new suitable hobby. I have tried everything from renewing my interest in rock climbing (too frustrating right now) to yoga (too expensive) to hiking (feeling too lazy) to crafts (fun but very time consuming, and also expensive)... Fast forward to the days before Christmas when I was writing my novel (aka "Lauren and Jake's 2011 Holiday Letter") and I realized DUH! I NEED TO BE SPENDING MY TIME WRITING!!! I have always enjoyed writing and, while I can get carried away sometimes in terms of length, I would love an opportunity to hone my writing skills and regularly flex my creative brain.
Taking inspiration from a friend's "Photo a Day for 2011" project, as well and my own research and conversations I have had with friends, I decided to use New Years as an excuse to start a regular writing project. Since the thought of writing daily seemed mildly overwhelming, I decided to write weekly about what has been going on in my life that week and/or anything that tickles my fancy at the time. The point of this project is not necessarily to write about any one topic specifically, but more just to force myself to be writing at least once every week, to be a bit more introspective as a human being, and to improve as a writer in the process. As I have heard with the photo-a-day project, after a certain amount of time you run out of obvious things to photograph and have to really push yourself to find a good shot, which is when you become a better photographer. Likewise with writing, I imagine that there will be weeks where I'm tired on Sunday (which is my self-imposed deadline for the week) and I can't think of anything interesting or witty to say, but the fact that I need to write something will maybe, just maybe, push me to write something good. Lastly, I have chosen the blog format because, as one of my teachers said during my credential classes, "you write better when you have an audience and a purpose".
So with all that being said, let's wrap this thing up. Let me summarize the main points for you:
-The purpose of this blog: to give me something productive to do that forces me to be more reflective about my life.
-What I aim to accomplish: I hope to write at least a blog post a week (52+ posts by 2013 for all you non-math people) with the hope that it will improve my writing and maybe inspire some future writing adventure that I can't even dream of now.
I think those are the main points regarding this blogging project... Really quickly before I sign off, I am worried that I may be leaving some of you thinking that I am a bit more neurotic and obnoxious that I actually am... I want to assure you that I can tolerate certain levels of boredom and I can sit quietly for extended periods of time : ) I think that the following excerpt from a book by James Kavanaugh adequately sums up the sometimes "un-settled" aspects of my personality:
“I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains,, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter.
We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.
For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves.”
Here's to 2012 and the next 52 weeks of writing!
With Love,
Lauren
