Last month I abruptly stopped writing in this blog. I knew I'd be back, but I didn't know when. This is me saying, Good Morning (well... afternoon), again, from Vietnam!
I was stressed and I wasn't acclimating to Vietnam very well. The Gout thing happened, and I discovered that if I kept 'talking' to my friends and family back home every morning (literally, since I was posting at 6am, you were always the first thing I thought of, and the last thing I thought of before going to sleep) I was never going to be able to let go and plunge in feet first. I was finding myself obsessing over stats and page views, wondering who'd read it and who hadn't, and generally getting stupid anxious and taking myself out of the Vietnam-experience along the way. So, like a smoker going cold turkey, I cut myself off (without an explanation, which was dodgy, but I honestly didn't know what I was doing, only that I needed it. Sorry!).
Well, I did that. And in the last few weeks, I've started traveling the country, I know my roommates better, I learned how to ride and then got a motorbike, I started two jobs and started tutoring even more students, and I've allowed myself to immerse myself in the language, even getting so far as to be able to speak and write some (mostly) coherent sentences. I let go of my safety blanket, but I knew it would still be there when I chose to pick it up once more. But I found that when I came back, it was no longer a safety blanket - it was now a storybook near a blazing hearth, a way to tell the Internetz about my world without needing to get validation in return (although your compliments and suggestions are still nice, and I'll still try to respond to each and every comment you post!).
Today's that day. I'm back, and I've got a backlog of adventures I want to tell you all about!
I previously had been posting every single day - that schedule is no longer feasible for me (which is a GREAT thing, really!). But I will plan to post Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and one on the weekend. Four times/week seems good for me, and I don't think I'll burn out this way. There's MORE than enough to keep us all entertained for months this way!
So, if you're still following, welcome back. Or, more aptly, welcome back to both of us - I hope you can forgive my absence and that you find this blog just as engaging, exciting, interesting, and delicious as ever. :)
I can't wait to hear from you!
Enjoy!
Love,
Ben
I fell behind on reading your blog, and this was an excellent post to come back to. I really liked the storybook analogy. Glad you're getting a fuller experience of your surroundings. Keep writing and I'll keep reading.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're back!! Living here is the only way to be - visiting is fine, but there's nothing like soaking up each individual atom of a new culture and letting it mingle with your Self. Who knows what strange chemistry takes place at that stage?
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