An unexpected compliment

I received a surprising compliment from my dear friend and fellow blogger, Kate Swaffer, this week. She very kindly awarded me a "Very Inspiring Blogger" Award. Thank you, Kate! Kate discusses a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on her experiences as a person with younger onset dementia.  

This award comes with rules of acceptance that I will address in a separate post .

Kate's blog has grown into an online community for people living with dementia, either because they have the disease or someone they love does. Her writing evokes different things on different days; it is delightful, confronting, honest, brave and inspiring. Having known Kate for almost 10 years now, it does not surprise me that she has so cleverly found a way to create much a positive and dynamic space that people are drawn to. 

I'm so grateful for this award but I'm not entirely certain I'm deserving. I created this blog because I love to write. After I finished my Bachelor of Arts I was afraid that, with my studies moving toward sciences, I wouldn't have a space to challenge myself to continue to improve the quality of my writing. 

What I have enjoyed most about writing this blog thus far has been sharing. As human beings I think we are all far more alike than different. We all have our doubts, worries, struggles, challenges and weaknesses. I think we can all be a great resource to one another when we share and make ourselves available rather than soldier on alone in times of trouble. 

Blogging has also become a useful tool in my quest to become a more self-aware person. Writing in a self-created public forum has helped me to get a whole lot better at being honest. Writing about yourself can be a bit like looking at your personality in the mirror or under a microscope. Looking at my thoughts, published on the screen, helps me evaluate them. Is what I'm thinking realistic? Am I being too harsh? Am I not being harsh enough? Are there other points of view I need to consider?

What has surprised me most is that practicing this thought evaluation process through writing has helped me change my mentality day to day. Positivity and honesty can be learned and practiced. It is not just a matter of "shutting out negativity" (whatever that pop-psychology phrase actually means), for me it is about choosing to think in a different way, practicing it and surround myself with influences that make it easier.

I think my blog is inherently a self-indulgent exercise. I do it because I want to and because I like to. I find it cathartic, relaxing, challenging and fun. I like to think that sharing my thoughts might entertain, amuse, be thought provoking and make people feel less isolated. 

"Inspiring" is a word that gets bandied around the place these days. The world seems to be becoming a more hyperbolic place by the second. It is lovely to think that my writing might inspire people, but this little blog is hardly providing a social network of support like Kate's does or working toward a great and noble cause. 

I just like writing. And for now, that's reason enough.