I like blog posts that make me laugh, or make me nod along with empathy, or just make me think. I like writing posts that make others do all of that as well. But sometimes I just have an overload of blogging. That happens to everyone, right? I had to close the blog door for a while over the holidays and have a think on my own, take stock and work out how I wanted to go forward, starting out fresh and full of yee-haw! and air punches for the New Year.
Sometimes yee-haw exhausts me though and I need to just have a quiet think. Without any extra go-gettem and gung ho helping me forward. And then, like letting the water sit still for long enough that all the little particles in it settle and the water is clear, I can at last make sense of everything through the stillness. And I made a decision. For me, a very brave decision. You can read more about that leap of faith in myself in Exhausted by yee-haw.
After my decision, slowly I emerged from my holiday hibernation and began trawling the blog world again. My BritMums expat round-up is always a great exercise for getting me back into the swing of things. Although I like to add old favourites to these round-ups, I also love finding new blogs to highlight.
Below I’ve got a mix of both, but the theme this month is posts that make you think. Check them out, get inspired and join the conversation by leaving comments on their blogs! And if you have a post that you feel will make others think, no matter when it was published, leave it below in the linky.
Iota, blogging on The Iota Quota is a repatriate, an expat who has returned home. Sort of–home country, new house. She has all the usual symptoms she expected of repatriation but a few new ones she didn’t count on. Thank goodness she’s observant…! Read all about it in A very narrow escape.
And moving nicely on from Iota’s linguistic near miss is Lynneguist, an exceptionally erudite and entertaining American Reader of Linguistics & English Language at the University of Sussex. Lynneguist blogs at Separated by a common language and rather than highlight any one post, just go make a cup of tea and have a nice long browse through all her posts (don’t forget to check out her archive). You’ll learn things that will make you say ‘ah-ha!’ or ‘so that’s why…‘
Moving on from language and linguistics to what happens when the expat dream isn’t what you hoped it would be, when you’re trying to do all the right things, trying to network, trying to get out there and make the most of your new home and the exciting adventure you should be believing it is… but it’s just not happening. Chicken Ruby blogged about it and got an amazing response–and learned that she certainly isn’t the only one feeling like this.
One thing I love about the Internet is the great outpouring of support that we often see if someone asks for help–like the many comments on Chicken Ruby’s post, above. A blogger who positively encourages this kindness, and encourages us to learn about ourselves through what happens to us each day, is Susie, over at New day new lesson. In her words, Susie’s blog is her attempt at putting her personal insights about things she learns each day into words, in the hope that they will help or inspire someone else. They are indeed inspiring and I love that she does this as both a personal as well as shared journey–a great example of using the internet for good!
And from one inspiring blogger to another, I said I was taking a big leap of faith in myself in 2013, but Lou who moved from Essex to Canada with her family for a better work life balance made a massive jump–very brave and very exciting. And completely inspiring. For anyone who is thinking of making major changes in their lives, you should read blogs like this to be reminded that other’s do it, and so can you. Introduce yourself to Lou on her About page here: Lou’s Lake Views and carry on reading about her very Grand Adventure.
Now over to you readers! After you’ve checked out these blogs above, leave a link to a thought provoking post of your own in the linky below.
About Michelle Garrett
Michelle Garrett is the author of The American Resident, where she blogs about making a life overseas, raising a blended family, herding cats, chasing chickens and attempting the Good Life in Essex. Michelle is a freelance writer and BritMums editor.
I’ve submitted a post in which I found out I was wrong to dread the long hot summer holidays in Israel. Each year brings a new reality as my daughter changes so much as she grows older.