Sometimes we don't give a lot of thought to the pauses in our lives. Things change. Today moves into tomorrow. The current season slowly gives way to the next. But if we pay attention, we realize how much of the familiar stays with us.
One thing I find interesting about the seasons, especially here in New England, is that they don't usually arrive or depart all at once. If the calendar didn't tell us otherwise, how would we know exactly when one ended and another began?
I've been thinking about some of those transitions lately. Often, when I take an intentional pause, I end up noticing things that have been right in front of me all along. Sound familiar?
For nearly a year, I've spent a lot of time building another site, The South Coast Journal. My goal was to create a space for my writing and photography to celebrate the places, people, and ordinary moments of life here on the South Coast.
And that's exactly what I did.
Along the way, I began to notice that I was spending more time deciding whether something fit into the publication and less time enjoying the experience of creating and sharing it.
I had to think about whether a story actually connected to the South Coast. Did my photograph fit? What about all the other things I enjoy writing about? I've also been creating a lot of prints. And often something entirely unexpected captures my attention. I want to be able to share those things too.
These were all reasonable questions for a publication with its own identity. But together they raised another question. What did I want my writing and creative life to be?
So I began to wonder whether I had made something that was once very simple a little more complicated than it needed to be. At least for me.
And that's when I started thinking about my personal website again.
I built it with the freedom to write about whatever interested me. I could share a photograph simply because I liked it. I could explore something without wondering whether it belonged.
All of those things were still there. I had simply stopped looking at them in quite the same way.
Sometimes we become so occupied with thoughts of doing something differently that we overlook the simpler things that are already working.
I try to write and create, and go about my days, in a way that makes the most sense to me. Sometimes it doesn't. I can change my mind. But even more importantly, I can change it back again.
And I don't think I need to be hard on myself in the process.
Maybe that's what these little pauses are for. Not necessarily to make another change, but to recognize how much we've learned from the changes we've already made.
I know my interests haven't changed much. I still enjoy writing, photography, printmaking, and discovering things I didn't know the day before. I still find a lot of pleasure in the ordinary moments connected to each day.
The South Coast Journal will continue to have its own place. I'm glad I created it. But I also want a place where I can share everything else without giving so much thought to where it belongs.
So bear with me as I tidy up to make room for more of the familiar.
And yeah, all of the same things, just a different view.
Talk soon...
G