Remember Me?

I haven’t posted to this damn blog since 2009. I don’t even think there was an Instagram back then. That’s terrible. I should probably just start a whole new blog and pretend this one never existed but I read over this stuff sometimes and its pretty good if I may say so myself, so I’m just going to  pick up where I left off.

Blogs are great. They are angsty responses to life. And while most blogs go completely unread by anyone else but their writers (this one included), they are good. They force you to be critical, and not in the kind of way your family is critical when you come home for the holidays alone…again (insert emotionless emoji face). Blogs allow you to look at life and analyze what’s going on around you, but more importantly, inside of you. They force you to have opinions and support those opinions. They make you have a deeper respect for your convictions and your values.

I stopped writing this blog 4 years ago because I thought I was too busy. My last post was December of 2009. In January 2010 I started my last semester of graduate school and I was writing my thesis. I remember feeling like anytime I was spending in front of a computer should be strictly for thesis writing activities (or social media). In May of 2010, literally the Monday after my graduation, I started a new job. All these changes in my life made me think I didn't have time to write anymore. I started to think I had grown out of it. Flash forward about 2 years later, I quit that job and I found myself packing up and leaving Los Angeles to return to my hometown of Urbana, Illinois. This move was likely foreshadowed by an earlier post (http://dionneclifton.blogspot.com/2009/05/home-sweet-home.html). Didn't have much of a plan when I did that- I just knew I needed to come home. When I got here I had plenty of time. I felt like a housewife minus the kids and the husband. My mornings were filled with endless pots of coffee, long walks and job searching. I’d lunch with my friends and hit the gym in the afternoon and frequent local bars once the sun went down. Even then, I still didn't find time to write. Eventually I started working part-time for one of my best friends in real estate. That brings me to where I am today. Full of mental energy too few outlets for that energy.

I started reading my blog by accident at work today when I was Googling myself (if you don’t do that you should give it a try). I was reading each post and remembering the circumstances that surrounded each blog. I remembered that when I wrote that post about President Obama I wasn't jaded politically. I remembered that my apple rant was before I had “bitten the apple” and gotten a Mac myself. I remembered what my life was like when I was writing more often- be it for this blog, class, or whatever. I began to miss the satisfaction I would feel whenever I would complete something I had written. The pure release it provides is pretty cool, so I thought I’d give it another shot- if for nothing else, for old time sake. A lot has happened in 4 years. I have learned a lot about myself and the world and become ever more certain that I am indeed living the life I love.