Welcome! “Where Bloggers Live” started out kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! We all like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives, so every month this wonderful family of amazing women shares their work-spaces, homes, towns, and thoughts, with posts based on specific prompts. It’s been so interesting over the years to see the different ways each of us interpret the topics.
Oh no…I have to talk about ME??? That’s my favorite thing to talk about!!! Ha ha.
I have three points.
One: Indomitable Spirit
Thirty years ago I got a Dear John letter from my high school boyfriend with whom I’d briefly re-met in my 30s…and there was A Spark and it seemed for a moment like maybe, maybe we were going to give us another try. Then I got a letter from him. Yes, a letter on paper in the mail. It was the loveliest letter I’ve ever receieved, all about how wonderful our love story was, blah blah blah…BUT. We were not going to give it another try because (insert multiple reasons here). However, in spite of the fact that we were not going to give it another go…he said such nice things about us, about me…that it was okay. In the letter, he said I had “an indomitable spirit.” I didn’t even really know what that meant. He was a smarty smart smarty pants (and ended up as a judge in VA – SO PROUD). But when I looked it up…
An indomitable spirit is an unyielding, courageous, and unconquerable nature, characterized by relentless resilience in the face of adversity, preventing someone from ever giving up or admitting defeat. It is the unique human capacity to find hope, strength, and joy while overcoming obstacles, often described as a long-term commitment to perseverance.
Wow. At that point in my life I don’t know how much I believed that to describe myself…but I’ve held those words in my heart ever since and…yes. I finally feel it to be true. Especially in the past 10ish years.
And I love that for me 🙂
Two: Never-ending Interests
I have a friend who always used to wonder what her interests were, what hobbies she might enjoy, how she should spend her time. I am the exact opposite. I have so many interests, can hardly curtail them to fit them all in, and have way more time-sending things to do than time to spend doing them. I didn’t really realize all that til she pointed it out.
Over my life I’ve had so many interests, passions, hobbies…and they just continue to grow.
At this time just six years ago I had no idea that BTS, korean music, k-dramas, learning Korean, moving to Korea, traveling around the world would be a thing…and yet, here we are. Content creation, language learning…now I’m looking for sketching classes while I’m in the US, and maybe a sewing class. It never ends. Before this there was gardening, photography, desktop publishing, horses, riding, dogs, obedience training, dog showing, reading historical fiction, music – always new music, ebay. all the different collectibles I collected: transferware, vintage clothing, American pottery, tea sets, vintage post-cards – the list just goes on and on and on.
I never run out of interests…and I am always being drawn to something new.
And I love that for me.
Three: Idealistic Realist
I think I am an idealistic realist. I’m neither a Suzy Sunshine (unwarranted optimism) or a Debbie Downer (everything is bad, worse, the worst; nothing is good). I think I’m good at seeing both sides to the coin – the good and the bad – and I firmly believe that everything has both.
I want to hear/embrace the good and the bad, the happy, the sad. I don’t like hiding from any emotion. I will never refuse to read a book or watch a movie because it doesn’t have a happy ending. I want all the feelings, all the experiences.
I’m not skipping an experience in my life cuz it’s not happy. I want all my life.
And I love that for me.
These traits don’t necessarily make life simpler, but they make it full. Sometimes messy, sometimes overwhelming, but never small. And if I have to live this one life as myself, I love that it’s with this combination: resilient, curious, and all-in on the experience.
Please visit my friends’ blogs to see how wonderful they all are!
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own