I'm about 10 steps behind everyone in the blogosphere at the moment. I completely missed that Karen Sue has her new header up on her blog. Karen Sue won the chance to have her blog header designed by illustrator Kat Whelan way back last year on my giveaway. Go check it out here - it's lovely!
I've been having an off couple of weeks, starting with a growing sense of darkness and unease which was swiftly made worse by a nasty cold, then sinusitis and now swollen glands and wisdom teeth problems. I've felt like this before many years ago and it preceeded an awakening that shook everything up. I'm a great believer in your mental state affecting your health, so it was no great surprise when I was struck down.
I think we have growing pains all of our life as we struggle to come to terms with our expectations of ourselves and others. It can lead to tremendous spiritual growth and there's no way round it if you want to explore what you're capable off. But it does hurt at the time. It's like your soul becomes sick in order to precipitate a purging of the old ways. Many people pull back when they feel these pains, which leads to unpleasant feeling of being stuck in a rut or have not having done the things they always thought they one day would.
I have a fairly good idea what is driving this change. Some of my relationships are changing (not with Martin by the way, that's fine!) because I'm torn between allowing people to pull me back to keep the status quo or risk losing them by saying enough is enough. I've never been someone who can go along with the status quo when I know damn well something is wrong. I have enough strength to resist the guilt and stay true to what I believe. If the choice is between losing something (or someone) and losing myself, I choose the former, not the latter, even it appears to cost me dearly. You are responsible for your own life - it is what you make it and you should let no-one take that away from you or force you to live a lesser life and be a lesser person through their own selfishness.
The road less traveled really is very quiet and quite peaceful.
Anyway, all of this means I've barely made it round to anyone's blog (I haven't tweeted for over a week). I was awake at 4:15am this morning for the third day on the trot, which was very annoying. However, it gave me a chance to clear the washing basket, which made me feel a bit better, and to start visiting your blogs to read what you had all been up to.
Also there are three blogs I haven't yet put on my blogroll and I thought I'd share them with you:
Gardening against the odds - this is Elspeth Thompson's newest blog where she discovers and marvels at gardens that are just that little bit different from the norm. She only started this at the beginning of this month so there are only a few things on there but I'm looking forward to reading more. I love surprise gardens. I love turning a corner and suddenly seeing a massive show of colour up the side of a building or in a bicycle basket or half way up a tower block.
Granny Miller - I've been following Kathrine Grossman for a couple of years now, but have no idea why she hasn't made it onto my blogroll. She married into a homesteading family many years ago and runs a smallholding in rural Pennsylvania. Everything from animal birthing to canning is on her blog and it's a source of inspiration to me.
Sally Lever - I was delighted when she set up her website and starting sharing her passion for downshifting, sustainable living and sustainable business with the world. I found out about Sally through a group on Ecademy a few years ago and started getting a newsletter she sends out. I also wrote an article many moons ago for her newsletter too.I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I have.
