Pop Quiz: What’s easier than updating a neglected blog?
A. Getting a root canal
B. Climbing to the top of Mt. Everest
C. Winning American Idol
D. All of the above
If you answered D, you’re my kind of person.
You know, the kind of person who tends to be a little overdramatic in their first-world problem suffering.
But really — it is so difficult to come back to blogging after months of silence. It’s much easier to start something new.
Starting a new blog is so easy and so tempting. It’s a blank canvas! Brand spanking new! Full of possibilities!
When you have an archive that goes back more than five years, however, things can feel a little heavier.
Especially when you come back and you don’t have news along the lines of:
“Sorry I was gone so long guys… I was busy winning the lottery!”
Or
“No time to blog… I’ve been secretly working to make an NSYNC reunion tour happen!”
Or
“I haven’t been blogging because my days have been filled with jetsetting around Europe on the back of a Vespa.”
All of those things are super exciting; I have no news to deliver on that level.
In some ways, I have the urge to just start blogging without talking about where I’ve been but that’s a little like ignoring the big old elephant in the room, right?
Especially since last we left off…
- I had just come home from a prolonged stay at the hospital due to a lupus flare-up
- And was living with my mom in California, who had been recently diagnosed with cancer
- Which meant being back in a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend Tyler
- All while trying to make the deadline to finish my master’s program, cramming months of work into a few short weeks…
So, I guess when I put it like that, my life does sound a little movie-esque and I totally stopped blogging during a cliffhanger moment.
Yeah, sorry about that. Yikes!
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll open up more about what’s been going on in the posts to come, but I guess for now I’ll give myself a little interview to answer some of the most common questions I get regarding this weird phase/season/period of my life.
Q. How is your health?
The short answer? It’s getting better each day. As my friend Cody says: It’s trending upwards!
I’m finally starting to feel more like my old self — and by that I mean, the before-grad-school Erika. The one who still had hopes and dreams!
Haha, but seriously, I’ve been trying to focus on healing and recovery these past few months and that process is both internal and external.
I feel like I’m in a good place with myself in terms of self-love and self-acceptance and self-care. And that feels awesome. And I feel like my body is beginning to reflect that, too. YAY!
Q. How is your mom doing?
She’s doing really well for her situation. She inspires me so much with how strong she is. Seeing her having to go through her stuff has shown me just how much illness and disease has to do with how you handle it.
Anyway, the treatment she has gotten so far has been going well and she refuses to let it slow her down much. It’s quite incredible actually. I think people’s positive thoughts and prayers are working, so keep ’em coming! 
Q. Did you finish your degree?
I did! I am now the holder of a Master’s degree in Journalism! It was a big push to get my final project done, but I did it and I’m glad! YAY! (This is something I want to talk about in more detail for sure!)
Q. Where are you living? And what about Tyler?
For the last several months, I have been living in California with my mom, which has meant that Tyler and I have been back in a long-distance relationship.
However, I am currently in Michigan for now (with plans to return to California in a few weeks) and it’s been so, so, so good to be around Tyler again. Being long-distance really helps you to appreciate a person’s presence and Tyler can make me laugh and smile in a way that no one else can. I’ve missed him so much, even though I am so thankful for the time I’ve had with my mom. Intense mother-daughter bonding for sure.
Anyway, it’s a weird situation right now but I’ve come to accept that for the foreseeable future, I have two homes: Michigan and California.
Q. Are you back? Like really back?
I think so! Deep down, I love blogging. I never really even meant to go away for so long…
To be honest, I accidentally deleted my blog and then took it as a sign that maybe I should back off for a while. And I think it was for the best because there were some weird emotional days I had that are probably better left to the pages of my diary and not the Internet, haha.
But I do enjoy having an outlet and the community that comes from having a blog. I do enjoy sharing about my life and I look at this blog as a project in thought-exploration.
It actually started off being about travel but honestly, travel is just a part of it. It’s about traveling through life; we’re all on a journey whether we’re booking a trip somewhere or not.
So while I do still want to share about places I’ve been and places I’m going, I’m also going to continue to talk about whatever interests me, whatever perplexes me, and whatever challenges me. And, as always, I hope you’ll come along for the journey, too.