Sometimes, for whatever reason, we stop doing certain things that we enjoy in life. Maybe we stopped because of school or work or parenthood. Maybe we stopped because we were depressed or anxious or heartbroken or discouraged. Many of us have stopped because there's a global pandemic going on outside, and she's bringing all her 'variant villains' to ruin our good time at the expense of death and/or suffering.
I feel like there's a certain amount of shame (however small) attached to no longer doing certain things we used to do. Sometimes it's associated with quitting or weakness or worth or even age (mortality). I'm here to declare that shame does not live here; it's okay. It's okay to float away from things. It's also okay to return to things that we've drifted away from. It's natural; the ocean does it all the time. The tides always leave the shore, but they come back just as often.
Think about some things you used to do that you really enjoyed. Were you an avid reader? Did you play a sport? What about the shows and movies that you used to watch? Just because those things lost their place doesn't mean they lost their value. If those things brought you joy before, why not test the waters to see if they'll bring you joy now? There is a chance it may not feel the same way it did before, but what if it does? What if you dive back into those things and they excite you, give you peace, remind you of another part of yourself again?
I've definitely had some recent cases of returning to things that used to bring me joy. One of them is blogging.
For those of y'all who remember, I first started blogging in 2015 when I moved to Chicago for grad school. My first blog was built by blogger.com and I called it The Spark Plug. Oh, the memories! I used it as an outlet for the things that were going on in my life but slowly floated away from it as life got more challenging. A good three years passed before I regained the confidence, courage, and inspiration to start blogging again, this time with an emphasis on both my experience AND community with others. Care{Free}Bri was officially born and it began to meet a need I did not realize I needed to be met even after I left my platform—the need to be heard, understood, and no longer alone.
This is why I'm back here again to begin with, because even after taking a break from this form of expression, the need to express myself never went away.
Returning is a necessary part of life. Drifting away from things—good or bad—is natural, and coming back to them shows how cyclical our paths can be. Choose to return to the things that serve you.
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