My poor, neglected blog.
It’s been a long time between visits.
I could defend myself and say that I’ve been busy, and this is certainly true. Between my day job, ghostwriting, freelance admin work, virtual assistance work, and my essential oil business… life is quite full.
But I could easily have made time to update my blog. I even wrote some draft blogs that never saw the light of day.
The crux of it is that I got distracted from my reason for starting this blog. And without that reason, the inspiration to post was missing. And the perfectionism stepped in.
My reason for starting this blog was, and still is, to help people. I know that there are others going through bits and pieces of what I have struggled with – and in some cases, still struggle with. I think sharing both the wins and the ‘still-learnings’ can be useful for us all. Then I got distracted by my own standards. I’d write something and think it wasn’t good enough, and that I couldn’t post it unless i was 100% happy with it.
But it’s not about me.
Yes, writing is therapeutic for me. But this blog isn’t about me. It’s about sharing with others. It’s about saying, ‘hey – you’re not alone in what you’re going through’. It’s about easing the suffering of others wherever I can.
‘Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.’
(His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama)
So what was it that reminded me of this?
Many of my readers know that for the last two years I have attended the Happiness and Its Causes conference. And it’s that time of year again. The main conference kicks off tomorrow, so today we had a pre-conference masterclass with Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu is an author, scientist, and Buddhist Monk. He spoke for a full day on ‘Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill’. His class covered a lot of ground around meditation, compassion, and altruism. A light bulb went on for me as he spoke about a key aspect of happiness – the desire to ease the suffering of others. It reminded me what is at my core. It reminded me that my own suffering has not been in vain – it’s made me more resilient, but has also taught me things that I want to pass on to others.
I make no promises – I’d love to say that I’ll blog every week, but the fact is that I am still growing and working through my own perfectionism issues. I don’t make promises that I can’t keep, but I will endeavour to push through and not get bogged down in my own unrelenting high standards. Getting the content out is more important than getting the content ‘just right’.
Thanks for hanging in there, and I look forward to bringing you more very soon!