Everyone Needs Rest
I made an (unannounced) decision back in the fall to stop writing and blogging for a while. I continued on Twitter, posting and commenting in a lowkey capacity, but as for this blog, it was pretty quiet.
This was primarily for three reasons.
One, my job as a soccer coach meant that I had exceedingly few hours to devote on the side for writing. Coaching full time occupies more hours in one’s day than you’d think. Between session planning, scouting, training, games, travel, learning, everything, it’s hard to then devote yourself mentally and emotionally in your writing. I like to give at least two hours for a post as a rule of thumb. At least. That was getting tough.
Two, I had been writing for about 5 years continuously and had amassed hundreds, if not close to a thousand pages, single spaced with narrow margins. I’m not trying to get into a comparison game. There are certainly plenty of people who have written more prolifically in that time (Stephen King, for instance) and some who wrote less (definitely my grandma). My point is that, to me, the author, the writer, the thinker, the creator of The Cultural Chronicles, it had been a lot. I needed a break. I’m not sure I reemerge with myriad more ideas; I do resurface though with some fresh air. That’s important
Three, I just don’t travel as much as I used to. I came home from working in China for two years, having traveled all over Asia in that time, as well as dual stints doing study abroad in Beijing and Paris in college, and numerous other personal trips and soccer-related ones. In the time since I came home, I’ve been to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, and numerous places in North America: New Orleans, Nashville, Louisville, national parks in West Virginia, Quebec City, as well as numerous mid-sized cities in the United States’ Northeast.
We’re Back!
I needed time, rest and material and now I’ve got all three. I’m back!
I have perspective from having spent two years in Asia and now two in North America. That perspective in conjunction with all my previous travels and reading is worth sharing.
They say you don’t know what you’re missing til it’s gone. I realized a chunk of my identity was missing without my writing. It’s cathartic. It’s educational. I needed it.
In years past, I had been writing about so much, both unreleased personal materials (read: diaries) as well as travel log and social commentary stuff for this here blog.
In the days and months to come, I will try to release multi-piece overviews about my experiences in those three Latin American countries, trying to tie some of those experiences together. I will highlight the numerous American cities I’ve visited and go into some depth about my New Years’ trip to Quebec.
Our Journeys
We all have our own long journeys. I recently have read Wild Swans, The Girl with Seven Names, and Long Walk to Freedom, all tales about arduous journeys with restrictions of human rights and threats of human life.
I draw few direct parallels between their lives and mine. In fact, the opposite. Their stories draw tears of sorrow from the listener; mine hopefully draw tears of laughter. Forced to travel, they were ceaselessly pressed with threats against their corporeal existence; my blogging existence was ceaselessly propped up by an ability to travel.
In wonderful, trying narratives like theirs, there is always a will to move forward. I read all three books more or less cover-to-cover in either one sitting or in just a few days. I was moved by their storytelling prowess and their ability to accomplish what they wanted even given time constraints in their lives.
If these incredible men and women in the stories forged ahead in the face of racial discrimination and a general lack of human dignity, I think I can push forward under the commitment of a nightly soccer practice.
What Now?
From now on, there will be twice weekly posts. (Biweekly is the most pointless word in the English language, having two completely different meanings.)
I hope you will all enjoy the rekindling of this blog, The Cultural Chronicles. And will do my best to share high quality content, social commentaries centering on Asia but really about any topic in my travels. Let me know if you’ve any requests.
😊
Thanks,
Mikey Choquette
