I wonder if the uninitiated realizes how much effort a sustained kind of approach to blogging really takes? The fact is that under certain circumstances it can be a weighty kind of experience, the kind that leads to neglect, and ultimately to abandonment. I had more or less reached that point – considerations of permanent abandonment – when physical circumstances in the form of major health issues removed the chore from my hands.
I had a stroke, the third and most catastrophic in just over a year. For a short time it left me paralyzed on my right side and partially paralyzed on my left. I made a partial recovery in relatively short order, but that pace of recovery did not continue. As a result I am hemiplegic now – my left side has healed completely, but on the right I am still mostly paralyzed. I make my way around mostly by wheelchair, but am able to use a cane for short distances.
It’s been two years since the stroke (and the heart attack which followed a year later) and I’ve regained a lot of strength. I feel inordinately lucky to have survived it all, and am beginning to approach the future with a fair amount of optimism – tempered of course by the reality of who I am and what I have endured. All that being the case, I’ve decided to put a little bit of my remaining energy into the maintenance of WatershedEvents, the blog I started in 2007.
I began writing the blog primarily to support a book that I was writing at the time. Titled Up Fanno Creek, the book was an exploration of creek’s natural history and my emergence as the biggest fan and advocate. When I was finished with that project I continued working from time to time on the blog, partially to support some writing and research projects, but mostly just to keep my hand in. Blogging had become a part of my life, more or less, and I was using it mainly to stay in touch with a few close friends.
I’ll probably work the blog the same way this time around, using it as an informal sort of communication/introspection kind of outlet for my natural tendency towards gregariousness. One thing is certain, however – I’ll try to keep politics (other than local) at bay. I’ll also try to focus as much as possible on the natural history of things around me, and will do my best to keep it light. Goodness knows the world on our phones and pads is heavy enough!
I think the main reason why I have decided to return to the task is self-care related. Recovering from a major setback of any kind – physical, professional, or psychological – requires a great deal of commitment and self-affirmation. It’s hard work, and you need all the help you can get, especially from yourself. Writing in the blog is, in many ways, just another form of the inner conversation that people tend to engage in everyday. Or maybe it’s just a way of thinking out loud. Whatever the case, I have always found it to be quite satisfying.