What serves me?

Two posts brought the question What serves me?, a notion that's been on my mind for a while, strongly to the fore today. Boxing yourself off for a while by the Communcatrix and Shifting by Sizzle.

There's a light beige sweater in my closet that I haven't worn in at least five years, could easily be seven or much longer. Actually, at least five years pretty well applies to most everything behind the right sliding door of my closet, but that's for a different reason. Back to the sweater. It's simple, plain except for a sort of rope that weaves along the shoulder and side seams. I wore it to my grandmother's funeral 17 years ago with black silk pants. My mom assured me that my grandma didn't believe young people should eschew* wearing any color for funerals.

*Neither my mom nor grandma would have phrased it that way.

I don't even look good in beige, it makes me appear sickly pale. So why do I keep it? Clearly lots of associations. On the surface they seem negative, the stress of what to wear to a funeral when you have to grab something you have with you at college, the funeral itself, a chilly January day in Virginia, my cousin's birthday the same day. It feels neutral, just like the sweater.

And then there's everything else. All the things that take my attention, particularly via the internet. An ever growing list in my feed reader, new blogs, new resources. However, no matter how good the information is, when there's too much it becomes a distraction. I'm learning which is good but it often thwarts me from doing.

I haven't been writing as much as I used to in the early days of TTaT. It's been like a hiatus with pictures. I miss the interaction that words more often inspire though. Here's to retrieving my writing mojo once I figure out how better to balance my online life with getting things done.

Thanks to Sizz and Colleen for coaxing some words out of me with their posts.


A year ago on TTaT: From my bedroom window

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