A writer friend asked me last week, "Why are you ending the blog?"
I gave my standard answer: "It's becoming more of a drain than something productive. I want to open up space for the next thing."
He nodded. "Another phase."
"Right!"
"Well," he said as he walked away, "maybe we can look forward to the Third Set of Baby Steps."
I can't honestly say that the second set is over, that I'm done figuring out how to be "grown up" in this wild world. I am infinitely more comfortable in my new adult skin than I was three years ago, or even two... And if I've figured out anything it's to let it roll, to not try to control the forces that are beyond my control but make the best of them, to approach everything with a sense of humor, and to make an effort to keep people I like in my life.
If I am entering a "new phase," it may be one where things don't change as much, or I just don't notice it... And I like it! It's predictable and not exhausting. The other day I said, "Everything that happened used to be so much more earth-shattering."
And my soon-to-be sister-in-law laughed and said, "Welcome to adulthood."
At the same time, things are starting to change in a big way. We are running out of room on our fridge for all the engagement announcements, save-the-dates, wedding invitations, and birth announcements.
J and I are looking forward to three weddings this year, and one of us is in the wedding party for every one of them. I've got at least one friend looking to buy a house within the next year, and I have at least two cousins whose babies are due in October alone. Some of my friends are starting to finish grad programs (an old friend of mine is actually walking today for her master's) and beginning some serious long-anticipated professional careers. I've started getting LinkedIn notifications for friends changing jobs or getting promotions at a faster pace, and each notification has more people listed in it.
So the third set of baby steps must be marriage and babies and houses and pets and the white picket fence (or our generation's version of it). This is the beginning of a whole new learning curve for me, a new kind of interaction with my family, my friends, my job, with J... and with the greater world. If life in general, and "the new adult experience," now turns up fewer earth-shattering moments, fewer curveballs, fewer issues that need working through, then this blog is about to take a different turn.
Maybe I'll be back online someday, and maybe not. But for now, I'll be busy watching where I'm walking, and taking notes.
I gave my standard answer: "It's becoming more of a drain than something productive. I want to open up space for the next thing."
He nodded. "Another phase."
"Right!"
"Well," he said as he walked away, "maybe we can look forward to the Third Set of Baby Steps."
I can't honestly say that the second set is over, that I'm done figuring out how to be "grown up" in this wild world. I am infinitely more comfortable in my new adult skin than I was three years ago, or even two... And if I've figured out anything it's to let it roll, to not try to control the forces that are beyond my control but make the best of them, to approach everything with a sense of humor, and to make an effort to keep people I like in my life.
If I am entering a "new phase," it may be one where things don't change as much, or I just don't notice it... And I like it! It's predictable and not exhausting. The other day I said, "Everything that happened used to be so much more earth-shattering."
And my soon-to-be sister-in-law laughed and said, "Welcome to adulthood."
At the same time, things are starting to change in a big way. We are running out of room on our fridge for all the engagement announcements, save-the-dates, wedding invitations, and birth announcements.
J and I are looking forward to three weddings this year, and one of us is in the wedding party for every one of them. I've got at least one friend looking to buy a house within the next year, and I have at least two cousins whose babies are due in October alone. Some of my friends are starting to finish grad programs (an old friend of mine is actually walking today for her master's) and beginning some serious long-anticipated professional careers. I've started getting LinkedIn notifications for friends changing jobs or getting promotions at a faster pace, and each notification has more people listed in it.
So the third set of baby steps must be marriage and babies and houses and pets and the white picket fence (or our generation's version of it). This is the beginning of a whole new learning curve for me, a new kind of interaction with my family, my friends, my job, with J... and with the greater world. If life in general, and "the new adult experience," now turns up fewer earth-shattering moments, fewer curveballs, fewer issues that need working through, then this blog is about to take a different turn.
Maybe I'll be back online someday, and maybe not. But for now, I'll be busy watching where I'm walking, and taking notes.
posted from Bloggeroid
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