Holiday Thoughts

Hello Everyone:

Now that Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's are upon us, I want to take a minute and thank all of you out there for reading this blog throughout the year.  Your support of this blog is reward enough for me.  It tells me that I have a place to air out my issues and hopefully gain some clarity.  I know I often come off as some whiny, high maintenance, self-centered brat, I don't mean to.  I'm just a post-grad school person trying to make my way in this world.  I use this space as a way to air out my frustrations and grievance with the world and the people that inhabit my life.  Like right now, I'm trying to apply for health insurance and it's become an exercise in frustration.  What can I expect from a federal government program, right? Anyway, I'll just keep trying, I have until tomorrow.  This is the beauty of this blog.  I sit here and vent, then feel better. I best part is I can admit to things that I ordinarily wouldn't tell anyone.  Anonymity does have its advantages.  I suppose if anyone or anything inspired me to start journaling on a regular basis it would be a one of my favorite musicians-turned bestselling writer.  In his autobiography, he wrote that he needed to learn to start writing and performing for himself after he left the band he helped formed.  In doing so, he rediscovered the joys of standing in front of an audience and playing every night, treating each gig like it was the best one.  He also found the confidence to open his mouth and sing.  For the record, he does have a great voice.  When I read about that period in his life, I was at point where I was so burnt out from academic research and writing, making deadlines, producing high-quality work that writing even a grocery list was too much effort.  In the past year, writing for myself, I'm rediscovering how much pleasure I take in putting my own unfiltered thoughts out for the world to see.  I'm not embarrassed by anything I've written, regardless of the content.  They are what they are.  It's also lead me to do other things for myself that I would never have done in the past.  It's a good thing.  So, enjoy your holiday, be well, spend time with the people you love, and we'll talk some more.