Either can serve a purpose, succeed or fail. Either can be shared or trashed. I see Blogging as a business, educational, or entertainment tool where you, the reader, get something of value. I see Blabbing as sharing my suffering with unsuspecting readers. So, if you ever catch me blabbing, call me on it. Thunder will roll, and lightening will set the heavens ablaze with admonition.
On my website (barb@barbtooker.com) I pledged to capture the beauty of community and what it means to live in a good one. Sometimes I’ll be able to illustrate that by comparing it to a not-so-good one. What does it mean to live in a stable environment – in a home, community, city or county, state or country? How did you choose to live where you are now? What do you like about it? What do you wish you could improve? Who do you know that you can compliment or talk to about suggestions for change? How do you find out about volunteering to help make improvements? “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. It is one of the hardest to define. A human being has roots by virtue of his real, active, and natural participation in the life of a community,” writes Simone Weil.
The pandemic has made it crystal clear to so many of us that life isn’t about “things.” It’s about people and connections and exploring our world. Yes, it’s been about survival, too. Some 20,000 businesses in CA no longer exist. Schools are struggling to find ways to engage students. Parents are juggling budgets, trying to teach, working from home, learning new platforms for online delivery, ordering more and more goods online and diligently watching their porch for delivery before theft, and entertaining the kids.
Out of this period of confusion and instability, we have had an opportunity to crash and burn or become resilient (flexible). Resilience is a great gift to give those around you. It is positive, energizing, and even lifesaving. If you want to discuss it further, we can. For now, I’ll just mention the research of Steven and Sybil Wolin as presented in their book The Resilient Self. They define “Seven Strengths of Resilience” in you as an adult and as traits to model and teach to your children.
- Insight – ask the tough questions, don’t shy away from the truth, be a careful observer
- Initiative – be the master of your fate; set realistic goals, focus
- Independence (and I would add Interdependence) – Independence is about achievement on your own; being free from physical or emotional survival through other people’s problems. Interdependence means understanding connections with others and sharing talents, and working for a common good.
- Creativity – make order out of confusion; develop a rich imagination, find artistic outlets
- Humor – laugh at self and others harmlessly; break tensions; don’t sweat the small stuff
- Morality – exhibit genuine compassion and concern for others; clearly define a sense of right and wrong; maintain personal integrity
- Connectedness – develop close-knit relationships, networks, and lifetime relationships
I know you’ve got a question: what does this blog have to do with a traveling writer or a travel writer? I’m going to let you chew on that for a while. That about says it for now.
