Welcome to my new blog!

For years I posted on my blog, Clearing the Space, One Woman’s Spirituality in the Wisdom Years (www.clearingthespace.blogspot.com), but this summer I encountered a technical difficulty I was unable to solve, and I decided to take a sabbatical from the blog. My goal over the summer was to revise the current revision of my spiritual memoir, and figuring out what to do with the blog seemed like just too much. Instead, I took the Scarlet O’Hara “I’ll think about it tomorrow” approach.

At the end of summer, revised memoir in hand, I tackled the next issue: a new laptop. I was living on borrowed time with my ten year old laptop. I considered hiring someone to help me select my next laptop, but then I remembered how I had purchased my first computer from Radio Shack in the 80’s all by myself and later a Dell and after that a Mac. Of course, I could do this on my own once again, and off I went to Best Buy.

My new MacBook Air is now perched on my desk in the garret, but, of course, that has meant learning the in’s and out’s of my new office companion. New skills. In addition, I purchased WORD for the first time–more new skills to learn.

At the same time I agreed to present an adult forum on “sacred space” at my church. I enjoy preparing for and giving forums, and this topic is one that interests me and is especially relevant right now because our congregation is undergoing a renovation of our sanctuary space. Because of COVID, the forum was offered in a hybrid fashion–both in-person (wearing masks, of course) and also via Zoom. How grateful I was that others figured out how to make that work, but presenting content and attempting to relate to two different audiences at the same time was challenging. New skills.

So here I am now figuring out how to post on this new site–and how to bring along you, my faithful readers, and how to reach out to new followers, as well. All I really want to do is write and reflect and respond to your thoughts. I could be quite content without the need to learn these new skills, couldn’t I? I guess my answer is “no,” or I wouldn’t be watching YouTube videos about how to blog on WordPress. Nor would I be preparing for the next stage of writing the memoir–a stage that includes writing a book proposal and researching potential publishers. A scary and challenging stage and something I have never done before. A stage that will require developing and using new skills; even perhaps unused parts of myself.

Walking life’s labyrinth involves opening to new perspectives, meeting new challenges, and developing new skills.

One step at a time.

An Invitation: What new skills are challenging you right now? I would love to know