During the past few days I've been thinking a lot about Blogtober and how it feels coming out the other side after thirty one days of daily posting. It was a very spontaneous decision to embark on a month of blogging, and I didn't give it a lot of thought to be honest. I simply decided it would do me some good to show up each day and be present in my own little patch of cyber space. I wanted to renew my commitment to this precious online journal that I've created and the friendships and connections that are made here. It's the connectedness (is that even a word?*) that means so much to me, and the thing that first drew me to start a blog almost thirteen years ago. Blogging allows me to feel that I belong somewhere, a small part of a bigger community of creative people sharing their passions.
*I just had to look up the word 'connectedness' as I wasn't sure if I'd made it up or not....turns out it's a real word, and it sums up being a blogger perfectly : "a feeling of belonging to or having affinity with a particular person or group". YES! Exactly that. When I publish a blog I feel like I belong, and I feel a profound sense of purpose. And when you leave me a comment here, you also belong. That connection, no matter how much it may feel intangible at times is very, very real. We are connected, you and I, and doesn't it feel wonderful?!
So I thought that as this was my first ever attempt at Blogtober, I would perform a little monthly review if you'd like to join me?
Creatively I felt as if I faffed around a lot throughout October. But looking back at photos I see that there was a definite plan in place and as stop-start as it was, I did make progress. I set out to breathe new life into a neglected project, digging out my pile of Summer Garden granny squares in an attempt to turn them into a bag. I had the squares and the handles already made, and I had even purchased the lining fabric. I just needed to pull it all together.
I didn't quite manage to complete the bag by the end of October, but the Ta-dah moment came very close. I am so very nearly there!
The other project I wanted to bring over the finishing line was these socks for J which I cast on in the middle of September.
I finished them on the 27th October, much to J's delight. I really enjoyed knitting them, especially as it had been over a year since I knit a pair of socks. I've got it into my head that I want to learn how to knit colourwork next, you know where you knit two different colours at once and follow a chart? Christine says she'll help me (she has some really lovely simple colourwork socks for me to have a go at) but right now when I'm still in a floofy head phase I don't think it's a good idea. I need to wait for the hormones to settle a bit I think.
On the home front, October was all about embracing the change in seasons and welcoming in autumn. I faffed my mantel with all my autumn guff, and we lit our first fire of the season.
I celebrated my 52nd birthday with prosecco and cake.....
....we celebrated Little B's fantastic achievement when he successfully passed the 11+ grammar school entrance exam....
....and on the very last day of October we celebrated Halloween.
Committing to Blogtober meant that I had Attic24 on my mind an awful lot of the time. Every day I would wonder what on earth I might find to blog about - I didn't plan anything in advance, simply allowing the days to naturally unfold and taking photographs whenever I felt inspired. I found that by thinking about my blog as I went about my daily life it really helped me focus on all the many small things that make me happy each day. It also reminded me to actively practice gratitude for these things and not just letting them slip by.
I am a great believer in the power of mindfulness - I don't meditate or practice anything spiritual in my life, but I think simple mindfulness can be a wonderful tool for reducing stress and anxiety and creating a genuine sense of contentment. Mindfulness to me means being fully present in the moment with all of your senses engaged and having a true appreciation for that particular moment in time. I can highly recommend it - there is lots of info online about practicing mindfulness, but in its simplest form it means stopping every once in a while and really taking note of your emotions and your senses. Allow the feelings to surface and flow (even if they aren't the best kind of feelings it's important to give them space) and acknowledge the simple fact that you are alive and that this moment in time is a gift. Happiness can be found in the smallest of details and the simplest of things, we just need to slow ourselves down enough to seek them out and appreciate them. Blogging encourages me to actively do this on a daily basis, although it's something that I've always done, it's just part of who I am I guess.
During October I really enjoyed taking photos that showed something of my ordinary daily life, capturing the local places that I regularly walk and the way my days gently pass by.
I often walked into town to visit the shops and the market....
.....as well as through the park to the farm shop.....
....and many times I stood at the top of this hill after a walk in the woods.
We didn't venture very far away from home during October, but we did drive out into the Yorkshire countryside to walk.
We walked around Grimwith reservoir on Day 1
Day 12 was my Birthday and we had a beautiful (if wet) walk at Malham Cove.
Day 19 was a day I felt quite low after a week of not feeling great and having poor sleep. A walk on the wild and windy moors helped to blow away the cobwebs.
We walked along the river at Linton Falls on Day 25 .....
....and walked twice at Bolton Abbey on Day 4 and Day 29.
Most of the time I was sharing photos of my walks in the local woodland which has become part of our daily routine since the pandemic began in March. October saw a real colour change in the woods as it was still pretty green at the start of the month. I shared our woodland walk on 11 different days during Blogtober (it felt like more!), I hope you didn't get fed up of seeing leaves, leaves, trees and more leaves?!
Blogging every day meant that there was bound to be a lot of repetition and I worried about this as I really didn't want to bore you. But you assured me that you didn't mind the sameyness of my daily routines so I continued to take photos of the ordinary bits of my days. I shared 19 cups of coffee with you during the month (which really felt like way more!), haha, I don't know whether this is funny or ridiculous, but there you have it. I love coffee. LOVE it. I absolutely adore the comfort and pleasure of my daily cup, whether it be in a cosy café, a takeout or a home brew.
When I first started blogging back in 2008 I had a very definite routine with it and posted five days a week Monday-Friday. J was out at work all day and the Little People were aged 5 and 3 at the time (Little Man was at school and Little Lady spent 4 hours every morning at nursery). Those weekday mornings were lonely times for me, living in a brand new town with no friends close by, but once I began to fill them with photographs and words, well my life was transformed. I loved it from the offset (you can read my very first blog here - I wrote very short blogs back then!).
I have always enjoyed writing about my days - I wrote diaries as well as a huge volume of letters to a good many distant friends throughout my teens and twenties. I started taking and sharing photographs in the summer of 2007 when I first discovered the Flickr community (in the olden days before smart phones and Instagram existed), and starting my blog gave me a platform to string those photos together with words to create a daily narrative of my life. I loved that blogging provided a creative outlet for me, and that it felt so natural too. I also really enjoyed being a part of the blogging community, and that connectedness that I mentioned earlier was a game changer for me. It made a fundamental difference to my life at a time when I was pretty lonely and feeling very adrift, and I am forever grateful for all that it has given me.
I could talk all day about blogging and what it means to me, but I think I've probably said enough for now. Incidentally, if you ever have any questions you'd like to ask me about blogging, or my creative/design journey, my arts/textiles background, crochet, photography - anything really - do feel free to ask in the comments. I think it would be fun to do a Q&A thingy perhaps? Let me know if that appeals.
In the meantime - back to Blogtober. Have you enjoyed it? I certainly have and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be. There were only one or two days where I found it hard to write and that was purely down to being so tired at the end of the day, not through any lack of things to actually say. I am never short of content because I have a solid habit of taking photographs every single day. There are always high points in every day, always things to inspire, bring a smile, make me stop and take note.
I want to thank you so very much for keeping me company during a month of daily blogging, and an especially warm welcome to those of you who are new here to the Attic. I thought you might enjoy a few October 2020 blog statistics to finish with, just for fun.....
Number of daily blogs completed : 31
Total number of photographs shared : 332
Total number of beautiful comments : 1002, thank you, thank you!
Total number of blog views : 757,617 (!!)
Total number of words written by me : 25,444 (yes, I added them all up. Yes, I am nuts)
Will I do it again next year? : absolutely, #blogtober2021 is on.
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