For nearly four years I’ve been plugging away at this blog. I’ve covered a spectrum of topics from parenting to LEGO to life as an expat. Some posts do better than others. Some folks come for different reasons. Usually I follow a loose, self-imposed ‘rotation’ in terms of topics. Until recently….
If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll surely have noticed that for the past two months, the majority of my posts have been political in nature. Where I can, I’ve tried to find the humour in there, but I’m not going to lie…it’s hard out there for a gal. I’ve been posting more frequently, but the topics have been less varied.
I’ve spent the last week or so trying to figure out why. I mean, obviously the outcome of the U.S. election is important, not just to me, but to a lot of people. But really, what does one lone blogger sitting with a lap top on a couch with a sink-hole going to do about the outcome? And yet something keeps compelling me to write–perhaps it is merely to make sense of the craziness for myself.
Writing is like bread and butter to me. It’s both the way I sustain myself intellectually, but it’s also a luxury. And it’s the height of vanity to push my own ideas and ideals on anyone who happens to come across the page. Yet I keep doing it.
If nothing else, the last four years of regular blogging has taught me to trust my gut, and to trust my heart. To go on the page where my fingers take me. Right now, that is trying to untangle my own identity with that of my country, with that of myself as a woman, wife, mother. There’s been a lot of rage. There’s been a fair bit of swearing. There’s been a lot of angry keyboard sounds emanating from my sink hole couch.
I know I will get back to the regularly scheduled posting. The kids will go back to school and the middle school drama and life with boys will take over. New observations of a broad abroad will take precedence and my heart will once again slow down. I’ll walk away with a new sense of myself, of my country, and of how the two work together.
So, if you’re an expat follower, don’t give up on me. If you’ve come around to commiserate about finding LEGOs in the fold of your front loading washer, those posts will be back too. Normal programming will eventually resume…I mean, November’s not that far away, right?
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking around.
xDinax
Wine and Cheese (Doodles) 
Enjoy your blogging break. I think we all need one once in a while.
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Oh, I’m not sure I’ll be able to break as much as I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop…writing about politics! 😉
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Oh goodness! It’s a tricky business…you know what they say. I can’t wait til it’s over.
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Definitely!!
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Stick with your gut! I get it, even though I don’t write about it. A local friend (in China) reflected after a recent Trump “discussion” that I’m normally such a nice, calm person and he was surprised by my passion (anger). Some things are worth getting worked up about (though getting a little separation from it all is one great expat benefit). Your political and social issues posts are typically my favorites.
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Thank you, thank you. First of all, it’s just nice to know I’m not alone. And secondly, it makes it worth while if someone else can relate. I know I get a lot of feedback from people who relate to the parenting or the expat stuff, but it’s nice to hear that the social issue stuff hits home too.
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I’m new here. I have gone through similar things in different ways over the past 5 years in this strange alternate universe. Hitting reset is natural.
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I think a reboot is EXACTLY what I need. I’m just not sure I’m done with the discourse yet. Aye, there’s the rub.
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Sometimes, you just gotta scream. Or laugh. But it’s your blog. Do what you want. I’ll be around!
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Trust me, it’s been hard to restrain myself form tying in ALL CAPS these days.
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It’s a natural reaction to the insanity surrounding us. My Facebook page is a war zone and I’d rather engage the nut jobs than unfriend them…there is probably a mental illness explanation for my belief that people can think rationally.
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Ugh. I’ve had to hide a few people. I’m sure there are a few who have unfriended me. I’ve got from polite discourse to full out giving no fucks. Which, when you look at it, is just as bad. I just said to my husband earlier there are a lot of dumb ass people. I’m not talking about people who believe differently than me. I mean just DUMB.
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The 2016 American election is the topic of the year. Maybe of the decade to-date. The degree to which the public, globally, is fixated, is blowing my mind.
The Senate is up for grabs, which in fact is just as big of a deal as the Oval Office.
Dina not talking about it would be the weird path. Ignoring the proverbial Elephant in the room (la la la la legos).
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Thanks. I fear I’ve become a bit…well, obsessed. I’m also viewing the entire things through a massively feminist filter which is not helping my anxiety levels. I am, as I said to someone recently, truly understanding how radicalisation can work (and sorry about my spellcheck–it’s somehow stuck on UK Eng and it’s driving me crazy). Marginalise some folks…chip away here, chip away there, tell them they don’t know what they’re talking about, bit of gas lighting thrown in, and then all of a sudden, you feel like you have no choice but to join some radical organisation! Ok. A slight exaggeration. But only slight. There’s a massive elephant in the room. And it’s too big to shift on my own.
Believe it or not, what I worry about most is losing my ability to think logically about more than one side. I used to be able to celebrate differences. But right now, I’m having a really hard time with those shades of grey.
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Keep posting! I follow you because I like your writing style and your honesty, regardless of topic.
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Well that IS definitely good to hear, thanks! Because, frankly, if I don’t write, then I talk about it. And my husband has already got his bag packed and one foot out the door 😉
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Keep on keeping on, Dina! Your blog, your rules…
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Thank you. You know how sometimes you get sick of the sound of your own voice? I hit that point about 4 weeks ago!
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Oh yeah, very much so! But your voice is entertaining us in the meantime, so there’s that…
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It’s good, the ‘you’ is there despite, and needn’t the quotes even. Cheers, Bill
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Me at the moment seems to be very angry and slightly adrift. I need to tether the ‘me’ to the me I guess.
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Spool out, we are vast, gaseous and sometimes solid, sometimes liquid.
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