a whispering return
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Category
Fashion & Style
{Photo Credit: Rachel Sutherland}
About six weeks ago, I announced some big changes on Sugarlaws for 2016. And then a few weeks passed, and I looked down at my calendar and realized that the month of January is almost over (what??) and I haven't written a word.
And on one hand, that's sort of ok. I've had some time to sit with my decision and I'm feeling better than ever about it. I've received so many incredibly kind words from readers, other bloggers, and friends, and it sounds like you guys are willing to stick with me on this new adventure. Thank you. I may not say it often enough, but know that I'm thinking it, every single day.
But I also didn't mean for this silence to be quite as long as it was. With every day that passed, it felt to me like it got louder and louder. And eventually, weeks later, I had to admit to myself that something unexpected had happened.
Announcing those big changes had a side effect... suddenly, I felt self-conscious about this site.
What would my next post be? If it's not about fashion, then what? Law? Politics? Entertainment? Science? Whatever it was, I felt myself thinking, it needs to be great.
I've always been a bit of a perfectionist, and I felt that rise up in spades in the last month. The next post I wrote had to be that pitch-perfect, incisive, compelling, magical set of words that would sum up everything I want from this blog.
(And if I couldn't do that, I might as well just not write anything, right?)
But in thirty-four years on this planet, I've realized that that little voice of perfectionism isn't there to help. It never helps. It makes things harder, every single time.
I realized that so viscerally when I became a mother. It took me a while to realize that Bear didn't care if I was perfect. He just wanted me to be his mom.
And, you know what? I don't have to be so darn perfect here either. This post isn't great. I can already tell! You probably can too. It's about what's going on in my mind right at this moment, which is a mix of some lofty ideals and some stress about my ability to accomplish them.
You know... life.
But when I started thinking about it, I realized that's exactly what I wanted to write about. It doesn't have to be perfect. I don't have to solve modern physics or explain the First Amendment. I just have to be honest and open and here. If I can do that, I'm satisfied.
This post isn't anything special. It's a little more scattered and a little less eloquent than I hoped it would be when I started writing.
But it's something.
And that's the first step.