Jumping over the hurdle

View from a rock on a restful, pleasant  September Sunday afternoon

It was the time and the season.  For some reason, I don’t go dormant in the winter as some folks do, instead I become dull, listless, and inactive in the dog days of summer.

Summer’s heat and humidity always catch up with me, drag me down in a wilting, simpering heap, and toss me around like the wet dishrag that I feel like. My sweet Southern friends, I do NOT know how you stand it.

A muggy, oppressive July and August devoured my energy like a ravenous hot-breathed wolf scarfing down its prey. And apparently, it also consumed my words and thoughts because I just…could. not. write. And I didn’t want to spend the time it took nor the motivation.

I needed a respite. I needed a sojourn.  I needed a rest away from the computer, away from my blog, away from the feeling of letting readers (and myself) down with the scanty schedule of posting I was doing.

To put it succinctly, I was just plain tired. Tired of heat. Tired of humidity. Tired of hunkering down in my air-conditioned but stuffy house instead of breathing in clean, fresh air. Tired of being imprisoned inside instead of enjoying the summer day’s sunshine on the backyard deck, the front porch swing, or anywhere outside at all. Tired of staring at a computer screen and frantically trying to think of something….something…anything(!!) to write about.

This blog became my chore. And there weren’t enough cute stickers in the world to adhere to my chore chart to make me want to accomplish the task of writing. Frankly, I didn’t want to even be online at all. Social media just perturbed and annoyed me. My email inboxes filled up with stuff I had no desire to read, so I embarked on a delete and purge mission and called it quits except for reading emails from family and one beloved far away friend who totally understands me.

Hence, a few weeks ago, I informed those of you who still click on your email notifications when my blog posts are published or those who click on my Mama’s Empty Nest Facebook fan page or on my personal page links that I was taking a sojourn from writing.

And I did. I managed to rest physically when I could get a good night’s sleep and launched myself into a mental vacation by reading several books just for enjoyment and not taxing my brain with anything that required deep thinking. However, I didn’t necessarily rest emotionally because life and its situations don’t go on sabbaticals and challenges keep popping up in front of me like roadblocks causing detours for unsuspecting drivers.

As I ran around this track of life that I’m on, (sweltering and sweating like crazy), I just got too weary to vault over the hurdles and writing became one of those barriers.  So instead of attempting to sail over it, I knocked it down. I may have kicked it a few times too just for good measure to make sure it stayed down.

But then, a freshening gust of air blew in. September arrived and that meant one thing – fall’s coming. Autumn.  My favorite season of all. Warm but balmy days of sunshine and Crayola crayon shades of blue skies sandwiched in between evenings of falling temperatures and a bit of a nip in the air. Delightful weather that causes me to throw the windows open wide and inhale that freshness that I love and air out my stale house.

This coming season invigorates and revitalizes me. I don’t know why I relish it so much, but I welcome fall with arms stretched outward as far as I can spread. With the promise of autumn, my creative juices start to flow again, words swirl around my mind once more. It’s like I awaken from a heat-induced coma.

So I’m back. I’m not sure I’ll return to my regular posting schedule as before (T, W, Th) because I’m adjusting to some life changes which require much of my time, but I am feeling renewed enough to write again.

There may be days, however, when I just share some photos with you.  Earlier this summer, I wanted to take part in “Developing Your Eye,” a WordPress photography challenge, but I just didn’t have the energy to pursue it. So you know what they say, ‘better late than never.’

The themes for the 10-day challenge encouraged amateur photographers like me to think differently about how we capture what we see with the camera lens, and even though the challenge is long over, I may decide to share my interpretations with you.

Whatever transpires, I’m grateful that I had the good sense to take some time off and indulge in a sojourn from the blogging/internet world. And now that I’ve returned, I hope you come along with me as I continue this journey in Mama’s Empty Nest. No road map needed. I’ll just go where life and the good Lord take me.

“Most of the things we need to be most fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.”  ― Mark Buchanan, The Holy Wild: Trusting in the Character of God

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