2010 marked the end of graduate school, and the end of writing by committee for a while. In 2011, I planned to write for self. And I did. Sort of. But not as much as I envisioned.
In 2012, I wrote more often than years past. And I wrote about things that were intellectually and/or emotionally fulfilling. This was especially true in August, when I participated in Tayari’s WriteLikeCrazy and Aliya’s 30 in 30 (30 blogs in 30 days) challenge. As a category, my 30-in-30 posts were the most rewarding to write and many of them ranked among the highest views for the year.
Creating time to write, and mustering courage to share my writing were two challenges I battled for nearly every post this year. But I did create the time. And I did share. And so did you…
Thanks so much for reading and sharing my rants, confessions, mini essays, declarations and lessons this year. Here are the ones that seemed to resonate most:
- At the very end of 2011, I realized I needed to exercise more. This post, on listening to your body and getting it moving again, inspired a few of you to start building your temple this year.
- The difficulty of sustaining faith during challenging times was something I thought and wrote about quite a bit. I also wrote about the dangers of lamenting too much, and the importance of being gentle with ourselves.
- When we are not gentle with ourselves, we risk sabotaging our own efforts at change. I encouraged you to cultivate inner discipline through small steps and praise instead.
- Despite all of my writing about perseverance this year, guess who almost gave up anyway?
- And the most popular post of 2012, was the one that broke your hearts. It was the story of my college sweetheart and something being amiss.
2012 was a great journey, with milestones on many fronts. I hope to write my way through more of them in 2013, and share them with all of you.
In love,
Nicole, the LadyBuddha
