On the weekend I attended a conference on blog writing: NaffNang Blogopolis.
It was both informative and inspiring.
It was also overwhelming…leaving me with a sense of urgency…to write better posts, to overhaul the design of my blog, create a better header for my blog, increase the ‘traffic’ flow to my blog…
It is my nature is to rush, to be hasty and bring about change quickly
Not to self: ‘Rome was not built in a day’
Sitting still with a sense of urgency is hard
It has made me realise that whilst design, ‘traffic flow’, graphics and photography are all important elements to any blog, the true joy of my blog writing journey so far is that it has enabled me to find MY VOICE
Since late 2009 I have been making conscious effort to be more engaged, more vocal, more present in this thing called LIFE….The weekend’s conference made me realise that my blog has played a vital role.
For in every post MY VOICE is present.
The conference made me realise just how far I had come.
Let me tell a story….
In October, 2009, I took a 5 week European vacation…
It was a magical time…a much longed for holiday….Time spent in France, Germany, Scotland, with England being my final stop.
I was blissfully unaware, that on my return to Australia, I would hit the ground with a thud. I would come crashing down, feel disconnected from the life I had left behind, disconnected from friends, family and myself.
There is always a period of adjustment after any holiday…it is common to suffer’ post holiday blues’….But this was different.
The feelings I felt were overwhelming, and the more I wished them gone, the more prevalent they became.
Depression set in….all too familiar…but this time I wanted to face it head on….understand it, challenge it, question its presence in my life….For the first time, I wanted to take control.
I had taken myself of the treadmill that is daily life, taken time out, and the result was that when it came home, and was forced to put on my running shoes again, I no longer wanted to run the same race….
It was during this holiday that I became fixated on the song by Beyonce ‘ Halo’…I listened to it on high rotation because I liked it.
I listen to it today, 3 years later, with a new appreciation and awareness, the girl Beyonce sings about is me, a song about a girl finally ready to acknowledge and accept the power of her voice, for it to have a presence her relationships, her workplace, and perhaps, most importantly, her writing.

Halo (Beyoncé)Photo credit:Wikipedia)
Remember those walls I built
Well baby they are tumbling down
They didn’t even put up a fight
They didn’t even make a sound
I found a way to let you in
But I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I’ve got my angel now
Its like I’ve been awakened
Every rule I had you breaking
It’s the risk that I’m taking
I ain’t never gonna shut you out
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