The Beginning

Everybody has a blog.  And, like most blogs, this one was born in transition.

Come to think of it, this is my fourth personal blog and with every single one of them, they were made right before I began some kind of "new life" - graduate school in Boston (The American Scholar, now archived), married life in Oregon (Pinto's Beans), travel life in Europe (The Hunns Invade Europe), and now this, Live Life Forwards, as I begin a new chapter in Savannah, Georgia with a husband and kid and as a very, very normal person.  Normal with air quotes.  Normal with air quotes perhaps signifying that what I'm afraid I really mean is boring.

Which, actually, of all the transitions I listed before, has proven to be the hands-down most terrifying one I've faced so far.  When this blog will go live, I'll be coming off a two month vacation through the Alps and Northern England for heaven's sake - and suddenly I'll go from tramping along Hadrian's Wall to...I don't know...biscuit...making?

Not that I never made biscuits before.  It's just that I always made biscuits as something interesting - the ambitious PhD student, the adventurous newlywed, the travel-savvy expat.  What will I be next?  What will I be?

See, that's the trouble.  I don't have a lively label ready-made for me in Georgia.  No template already laid out in front of me to keep my eyes wide open and chin up.

So, that's the challenge of this transition, of this blog, of this project.  

Every month, I will chose some theme or topic to focus on some aspect of living beautifully and with purpose.

I realize how easy it is to set oneself up for failure in these kind of things, so I've decided to have a clear scope and structure.

The first week of the month will be reserved for research into the selected theme and how it relates to living well.  Afterwards, I will set three goals: one for every day, one for every week, and one large monthly project.  The structure of the blog will include three posts each week; identifying the goals and research, reporting on progress and results, and any life-ish experiences or thoughts that may need some airing.

I've given this project a lot of thought and hope that my monthly themes will have a broad range: anything from ... say ..."Hands" (perhaps where I focus on keeping my eczema under control, having my nails stay manicured for more than two days, and developing a better typing posture to help with some mild carpal tunnel symptoms...just as a brainstormed example) to "Optimism" (well, this could go anywhere!).

Regardless, I hope that it will help me focus more on what it means to actively create a meaningful life and help me focus on the details of my day in a way that takes me somewhere positive and productive.

So that's the goal!  So that's the blog!  So it begins!