I blog for many reasons.
- To an idea out of my head.
- To share a feel-good story.
- To work on becoming a better writer.
- To celebrate success and catch people or companies doing good things.
- To promote a good cause.
- To inspire.
I sometimes get feedback and/or validation in the comments section. Other times, my dad will call me and tell me that my post was great (thanks, dad!). However, most of the time, it’s crickets. I continue to write though for the reasons above. Recently, I received an email from Kristen “Westy” Westfield. I’ve never met Westy face to face but have known her for years. In fact, we first connected over 5 years ago when I was in Sales at Bronto. We’ve stayed in touch in my transition to Blue Sky Factory mostly thanks to social media and Facebook.
Check out what Kristen wrote below, copied in it’s entirety with her permission. It was in reference to my Are You Having Fun? blog post.
This is why I blog.
Hey DJ,
Hope you’re well! I wanted to write you and tell you that you’re words of wisdom and insight are reaching across coasts! I read your “Are You Having Fun?” blog entry a couple weeks ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it but your one question, “Are you getting the most out of life?”, weeks later, keeps popping in my head. Am I getting the most out of life right now? NO! And I hate it!!! Most of my life I’ve viewed myself as an optimist. People would actually ask me if I was on speed because I was always SO excited about life…laughing, smiling, laughing, always having a glass half FULL kind of attitude, laughing, always wanting to be there for people when they needed anything to spread my joy, (did I mention laughing?!) and even in the worst of times I always had a smile on my face.
You may be asking yourself, “If she knows she’s not getting the most out of life, why doesn’t she fix it?” Well, in July I went through a really nasty break up with the guy I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. My world fell apart, shattered into about a billion pieces and I had no energy to pick up what was left to try to put my life back together. When we broke up, my head was in such a fog I thought I forgot how to smile. I was a robot! I didn’t think my life could ever go on without him. One morning I had a breakthrough and started enjoying life again…but, was it to the fullest? Absolutely not! I tried everything imaginable to get to a place where I was content enough to convince people nothing was wrong, but that just didn’t work. I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t the person who couldn’t stop smiling or laughing… and when I did let a smile or a laugh through the gates, it was all just for show. Two months went by and I was just settling back into a normal routine of not missing my ex, not having EVERY love song on the radio remind me of him and I was actually laughing again and it wasn’t fake! I was truly working on building myself back up because my desire really was and still is to get the most out of life. If not, what’s the point? Right?
I wish I could tell you that as time went on I realized exactly what I could do to get the most out of life and enjoy it…but, as fate would have it on September 11th, a day we all associate with tragedy, my ex got in touch with me. I couldn’t have been more scared, nervous, excited and shocked, to say the least. We talked, ‘worked’ things out and tried again…this time at a slow and steady pace. It always wins the race… Right? WRONG!!! We got back together for what seemed like a second, s*it hit the fan again and now he’s choosing to ignore me…which may be forever. 🙁 Devastation would be an understatement and everything I built back up over the last two months was knocked down in the blink of an eye. “Am I getting the most out of life?” was the first question I asked myself after we had ‘Round 876’ in the boxing ring of our relationship. I bet you know the answer to the question, so I’ll spare you!
I know you’re not a therapist or a counselor and I’m sure you could care less about my heart break/heartache, but I write this email to you because in all the soul searching I’ve been doing over the course of the last month, I’ve been asking myself what it REALLY REALLY means to ‘get the most out of life’ and if it wasn’t for your blog post I’d be wallowing in my own self pity with my head in the clouds of denial. Most people don’t realize it and I just recently had the epiphany that in order to ‘get the most out of life’, you have to go find it…it’s not going to come knock at your door while you watch sappy movies, cry your eyes out over a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and get lost down a windy road of nostalgia with a really really really long way home.
I’ve declared TODAY the day that I start getting (and enjoying!) the most out of life and I want to thank you for inspiring me!
Kristen Westfield
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
