The -ing

Photo by Keely Yount

Something noticeably different this week on the blog? Anything missing?

I've decided to ease up on some fashion-related posts in an effort to get back to the theme of this blog originally: randomness and from-the-heart writing.

Fashion and trend-related content will always have a place here, but I hope that 2013 will allow me to get back to my roots; get back to the reason that blogging was always so much fun for me. 

I was reminded of this when I re-opened Add More –ing to Your Life by Gabrielle Bernstein. I was packing up some of our winter décor this week and noticed the book sitting on a box in the closet. I picked it up and read a random chapter.

The genius of this book is that it compels you to let go of the things you aren’t passionate about, whether it be a job, a toxic person in your life or a bad habit you’ve never been able to break. Coincidentally, this is the very book that I read right before I decided to leave a career in bank marketing (it was as exciting as it sounds) and take a risk on being a real-live professional writer for a company of which I’d always wanted to work.

So, I opened the book and started reading the words. All of a sudden, I wanted to write. Writing makes me happy, it energizes my soul and it ignites the portions of my brain that cardigans and belts and stilettos never will. Writing is what lights me on fire. Because writing is my –ing.

The –ing. It’s the thing that gives flavor to food, turns sound into music and enriches the pigment in the paint colors. It’s not a person or a religion, (those are –ings in a completely different way), but an action. A hobby. A daily ritual. Something that you love deeply and fully.

Maybe for you, it’s running or dancing. Maybe it’s making music or singing. Maybe it’s teaching or healing. Maybe it’s your ability to speak to a group of people. Maybe it’s your talent for creating beautiful things from fabric or paint. Maybe it’s your ability to make people laugh.

Everyone has an –ing.

And it’s worth finding.

There will still be outfit posts and all the froo-froo fluff, (I’m incapable of breaking up with fashion), but I hope to connect with you guys on a deeper level this year. Through words. Through my -ing. Through real conversations and laughter and embracing the human experience. Together.

Let’s make 2013 an amazing adventure.

I leave you with one simple question: What is the –ing in your life?