I didn’t really mean to quit blogging.
But here we are more than 6 months between blog posts and I realize that maybe I have actually quit blogging.
A lot of things were cancelled in 2020. Like you, I spent most of the year riding the wild wave of the pandemic and holding on for dear life. Keeping my head above water mentally, keeping my family safe and trusting God to keep Mercy House going– took every ounce of strength. My blog was hacked and the fight to recover it was exhausting. Social media became of toxic hotbed of political opinions. My heart broke over race issues and the ongoing tension and denial that remains.
I simply didn’t know what to say anymore. And the last thing I wanted was for my voice to add to the mounting noise.
After a dozen years, 3000 blog posts, 5 books and a non-profit, I guess I decided to be still.
Quiet.
I was talking to my oldest daughter who will start her senior year of college soon, finishing with a Fine Arts degree before heading off to Grad School to pursue a career as an Art Therapist (what?!). She said of social media, “Mom, I just don’t want to be a content creator. I don’t want to turn my art into “a product.”
Her words really hit me. (I love adult children.) Somewhere along the way, blogging and social media became about a platform for content creation and branding, marketing and feed aesthetic. Like my daughter’s art, which is holy and precious, I didn’t want to turn myself, the stories from the non-profit I love, or this blog into another product for consumption.
I didn’t want to be a content creator and the best way to stop the merry go round and how it made me feel, was to simply, get off.
Last week, I received a sweet email from an older lady, someone I’ve never met in person, and the email subject simply stated, “I miss you.”
She asked me to come back to this blog occasionally. “You have been vulnerable with us, which is not only endearing, but has taught me so much. Your ability to put things in words helps those of us who have more difficulty expressing ourselves. But if you just need the extra time for yourself that is OK. I understand. I pray for God’s strength, courage, wisdom, and other blessings to be given to you and your family,” -Charlotte.
I wanted to reply and say that I continue to live the most incredible story through my work at Mercy House Global. My written storytelling has morphed into almost daily storytelling on the Mercy House Global App and that community has become so dear.
Instead, I decided to “pick up my pen” for Charlotte and maybe for you, and put my answer here.
Maybe I’ll do that a little more often. You (I) never know.
