Doing The Thing

This is a thing I'm doing. It's a thing I'm doing because it's been a thing I've been thinking about doing and sometimes you need to stop thinking about doing the thing and do the thing. There's this badass quote in Amy Poehler's book, Yes Please, that I just ate up: "We did the thing. Because remember, the talking about the thing isn't the thing. The doing of the thing is the thing." So that's what I'm doing. The thing.

What's the thing, you ask? This. Writing. For myself. Not for a paycheck, not for a resumé, not for someone else. Writing about my life used to be a huge part of my identity, and then I made the horrible mistake of listening to people who told me to turn my hobbies into a career. The next time someone starts spouting that nonsense-- get a job doing what you love and you'll never work a day in your life!-- I need you to do me a favor and back away slowly, hissing. It's a great idea in theory, but it doesn't pan out in real life. What actually ends up happening is you a) work just as much as everyone else does, b) lose all sight of the passion you had for those hobbies before they became your daily obligations, and c) feel embittered, used, and like you're selling yourself short. All the time. It took just over a year of being a full-time, professional writer for me to learn that I... don't want to be one. At least not in the way that I always imagined. At least not for now.

And that's why I'm here! Months ago, I had the idea to start a new blog ("sometime in the near future," I told myself, which essentially means like, never) that would sort of be a combination of all the things I actually enjoy writing about. Like, occasional posts about my life and ~*feelings*~, occasional posts about issues in the news that I care about, occasional recipes and food reviews. I loved the idea of having somewhere to go that would remind me that writing is My Thing and not just the skill I use from 9 to 5 every weekday. I even got as far as setting this up and throwing a few things on it, but I wasn't ready to commit to it. I don't know for sure that I'm ready to commit now, either, but I have a better feeling about it than I did before.

So here I am, giving it a shot. Doing the thing.