Image: This Rad Love
Hi my name is Bree and it’s been three weeks since my last blog post.
Guys. I don’t really even know where to begin. I’ve been trying for weeks to get back into the routine of blogging, but between a light submission intake (of the types of couples & posts I actually want to share), my focus being anywhere but this blog, and Andy traveling a lot for work, well, it’s been more bare bones than usual around this site. I know I always apologize and then promise to make it better (and I will try again) but there’s just SO MUCH going on right now outside of this blog, that I am really struggling, more than ever, to get off Twitter & Facebook, and get back to blogging.
Why does it feel harder lately? I don’t honestly know … but things just feel EXTRA right now between life, politics, and the news.
Personally, the day job has been a bit more demanding than usual, and the days it’s not, well I am struggling to focus and not just spend time devouring think piece after think piece, op-ed after op-ed, about everything going on in the world. My Secret Feminist Bookclub used to give me comfort & felt a bit like group therapy at first, but after reading Feminism Is Everyone, I feel less therapy and a lot more anger & frustration. Maybe that is what happens when you get enlightened & more educated … you start to see, feel, and live all of the injustice that is occurring beneath the capitalistic white supremacist patriarchy. And for me personally, it manifests itself in trying to fight every person on Facebook that I can handle.
The Hurricanes are another weight for me, as I digested so much of the coverage of the storms, including the desperate pleas for rescues and the onslaught of so much destruction. My coworkers’ mom lived through Harvey in Houston (her home luckily, somehow, did not flood), and my husband’s family mostly survived Irma in Florida (minus not having power since the storm …) but our dear friends moved to St. Thomas a few years ago and their island, their home, has been decimated. The destruction in the Virgin Islands & Caribbean is catastrophic (not a hyperbole) and this once lush, paradise, looks like an end-of-the-Lorax, post-war zone. My friend Mel set up a website to help with the clean-up efforts (please check it out:Â http://irmaaftermath.com/) but the amount of need and clean-up feels suffocating and I hate being so far away that I cannot do much more than donate.
Lastly (well, for this blog post anyway), there has been a slew of local violence in our community & area and it’s weighing on me greatly. A young, pregnant teacher was found murdered by her boyfriend, after going missing, the killer of the local DC yoga teacher that I shared some mutual friends with, was given a plea deal, a young black girl was found dead in a hotel freezer, and a construction worker in our neighborhood was recently murdered (his wife & two young children just recently having immigrated to America) & one identified suspect is 14. I don’t even know where to begin with all of these stories except for extreme sadness.
Let’s not even talk about Trump or all the regurgitated misogyny happening with HRC going on her book tour…
So yeah, there’s about 800 other things on my mind these days too, but these things have been weighing on me greatly as of late, and I don’t want to use them as an excuse for my lack of blogging, but more of an explanation. I’ve struggled before with seeing the value of a wedding blog, when there are so many other things that could use my time & talent, but I am constantly brought back to the love & joy that this site not only brings my clients, but me too. This business I’ve created & grown has given me a platform and an avenue to connect with so many amazing people and that is a GOOD thing. It is a necessary thing and it is one way to combat the ugly depicted here.
I already use my social media as much as possible to elevate causes and things I believe in, but I plan to spend some time these next few months using this blog or my networks I’ve built, to try and do more. I hope you’ll understand if we have some breaks in posting or if it’s a little less weddings, and a little more “hey this cause could use your help” – because I am driven by a sense to HELP and right now, this seems like the best way I know how.
