Just over three months since I last posted on my blog and there is no single simple reason for that. When I started to reflect on why I have been quiet, the usual excuses come to mind – I was busy doing other things, I was too lazy, I was unsure if I had anything to say, I didn’t really want to! But then I started reflecting on the reason for writing on the blog and realised it’s not about frequency or building up achievements in posts, it’s about just being myself and expressing my thoughts when I need to say it.

It’s a combination of things that have encouraged me to come back to this site and do this piece, a combination that isn’t completely clear to me yet. I gained a lot of confidence from reactions to an event a writers group I am involved with started where I was in the role of chairing the event. It was an open mic night where writers were asked to read from their work and discuss it with an audience who turned up on the night. A very casual affair, small groups of people attended, but somehow it all worked and people who were quite anxious about speaking in front of an audience began to relax and shared personal stories of courage and hope. Reactions were positive and the event continues to grow in stature and size.

Then I started to read some books I had previously read by Brene Brown on vulnerability and belonging. I came across this statement in her book “Braving The Wilderness”:

“True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance”.

I decided I should once again brave the blogging wilderness and present my authentic, imperfect self. In that way we can connect and build that sense of belonging which makes us human. Then I looked at a re-write of a piece I wrote on this blog about why I write. I added this little poem:

The writer sees the bright bud of possibility growing on the trees,

The language of leaves fed by the mulch of past endeavour,

Discarded on the forest floor.

I listen to the wind of words

As I walk through the forest of feelings,

The bark of beauty,

The wood of wonder,

The trees of truth.

Then I discovered these two images online about trees:

Again I concluded – “it is the truth I want to share as a writer, the truth of my experience that when shared, connects us all. That is why I write”.

Join me on the journey: