Having a blank slate is sometimes as daunting as it is exciting. -Joe Madureira
Since I had taken such a long time away from my blog, lost all but a very
precious few my regular readers (when I had precious few to begin with), and thinking about my last post of my
daughter's visualization of a garden in need of tending, I am again
playing around in the background with new themes for my blog. In all the years I have had this blog, I have not change its theme, partly because it took quite a bit of coding to make it appear the way it had, but mostly because I just never made anything I liked better. However, it has looked dated to me for the past three years and maybe that is in part why I have not been posting, it nags at me that I want and should change it. I have been identifying things in my life that work like obstacles for me and this feels like one of them.
There are three things I decide to do when met with one of my mental/emotional obstacles: remove it, change it, or not deal with it now because other things have higher priority at the time. I took out ignore it on my list, because I am trying to change my ways and not only recognize an obstacle for what it is, but take time to examine and identify why it is an obstacle. Still, I tend to choose the delaying one too much of the time, because I have previous ignored too many of the obstacles I had. The obstacle list is whittling down though as I am making myself familiarize with the obstacle before deciding to put it off, so it will then nag me until I do something about it which is usually sooner than later.
At first I planned on the blank slate approach for my new blog style. I looked at other blogs and have seen some I dearly loved. They have a fresh,
smooth, clean style, but when it came down to choosing colors, layout,
font, and all the other extras--well, the new theme would be all those
things that I liked in the other, but it just felt like it was it was designed by someone else for someone else; it was not me...not at all me.
Then I thought about what I still like about my blog style, what seems ageless and classic to me and what does not. Being real with myself does not mean that I have to toss out everything I already like, but changing what I do not.
So as much as I like other smooth, clean, fresh blog styles, I really do not like smooth as much as I love textures. I like a clean style with personality, not sterile, boring, and white. I love the colors and textures I currently have in my backgrounds--that could change as I work on a new style, but for now I think will use what I have in new ways, freshening up my style but not tossing it completely.
Some of those old widgets have to go too. Some are not working and others need to be updated or replaced with better ones.
It will be a process. Hopefully, a therapeutic one rather than something I wish I had not started.
There are three things I decide to do when met with one of my mental/emotional obstacles: remove it, change it, or not deal with it now because other things have higher priority at the time. I took out ignore it on my list, because I am trying to change my ways and not only recognize an obstacle for what it is, but take time to examine and identify why it is an obstacle. Still, I tend to choose the delaying one too much of the time, because I have previous ignored too many of the obstacles I had. The obstacle list is whittling down though as I am making myself familiarize with the obstacle before deciding to put it off, so it will then nag me until I do something about it which is usually sooner than later.
Then I thought about what I still like about my blog style, what seems ageless and classic to me and what does not. Being real with myself does not mean that I have to toss out everything I already like, but changing what I do not.
So as much as I like other smooth, clean, fresh blog styles, I really do not like smooth as much as I love textures. I like a clean style with personality, not sterile, boring, and white. I love the colors and textures I currently have in my backgrounds--that could change as I work on a new style, but for now I think will use what I have in new ways, freshening up my style but not tossing it completely.
Some of those old widgets have to go too. Some are not working and others need to be updated or replaced with better ones.
It will be a process. Hopefully, a therapeutic one rather than something I wish I had not started.
Thank you, my Lord, for allowing us to be renewed each day, each moment, in Your love and forgiveness, yet still be ourselves.
