A work in progress.

When I first envisaged this blog, I was full of ideas and opinions and thought that maybe I could string together enough material for a monthly blog to last perhaps a year.   Once I began writing and the words began to flow onto the page, I quickly realised that I had more to say.  I had maybe 6 or 7 works near completion by the time I was ready to launch, and a month seemed too long between gigs.  I changed my plan to running for 6 months or so with a weekly offering, and then reviewing things to see how I felt.

In the 8 months since my first entry, this will be my 36th weekly blog, and I still have a couple more in the pipeline.  Judging from the mainly positive responses to my writing, I guess it hits a chord with many of my readers and that gives me the motivation to keep going.

Immediately after posting on a Friday morning (NZ time), I get a pang of anxiety about what I am going to say next week.  I have several blogs at various stages of completion, and often need time to reflect and tweak the wording until I am happy to present the writing to those who have been kind enough to subscribe.

Sometimes, I will look at the pipeline of work in progress and have a slight panic about the lack of coherent blogs ready to go and when I will run out of things to say.

The universe works in mysterious ways, and occasionally I will read something, or a reader will comment, and suddenly I will have a burst of creativity and lay down the bones of future articles.

Several times I have had a couple of hundred words sitting in draft form, without a clear path to adding anything more.  Sometimes these half-completed ideas will be used to complement or support other works in progress.  Other times there will be a news item or a conversation that will trigger a thought process removing a previous block and letting the creativity flow.

Interestingly, this very blog started as an introductory paragraph for an entirely different topic and partway through morphed into a stand-alone entry in its own right.  A single thought turned into two blogs and keeps the workflow going.  Unfortunately, I can't plan these insights or bursts of creativity, so I am at the mercy of the universe to provide inspiration.  That and the feedback of my readers, which I really do value.

While we are often alone in our thoughts, it can be really beneficial to look outside ourselves for other opinions and views to help shape our belief system, otherwise, we risk becoming insular and isolated.

I guess there is a parallel to my journey through naturism.  I began with an idea that I was more comfortable when I wasn’t wearing clothes, and over the years a number of conversations, publications and events have shaped and maybe even guided my thinking on the topic, to get to where I am today.

Sometimes there are responses to my blogs that make me reflect and possibly reconsider my views on issues, and for the most part, I see this as a healthy and evolutionary step in my journey of self-discovery.

There have been a couple of responses that I have found challenging, and I need to take time to reflect before replying to them.  These confronting replies remind me that there are many different attitudes out there in the big world and that not everyone is paddling in the same direction.

Some of the views and comments received are simply against my core beliefs.  This doesn’t mean that they are wrong, just that they are wrong from my experience.  I am sure that they are deeply held by the person responding, and maybe it is my ideas that are out of touch.

We often exist in our own bubble and believe that our worldview is the correct one.  We wonder why everyone else doesn’t just agree with us as the world would be easier to live in.

The reality is that there are over 8 billion people in the world, and however well-travelled or well-read we are, ours is a very narrow and blinkered view shaped by our unique experiences.   None of us likes to have our worldview challenged or criticised, but chances are, most of the world will disagree with us on many things.

I guess my message this week, is to take time to pause and reflect.  Stop and smell the flowers, enjoy the sunshine and the little things that give us joy.  Taking time to reflect is often where our next inspiration and burst of energy comes from.

We are all a work in progress.

Thank you for reading, have a comfortable day.