Writing Revisited

I'm back to my regularly scheduled writing after a short break from writing-off-the-cuff. My most recent posts were written almost a year ago. I wrote the words, walked away and gave them time and distance. The words passed the test of time, then revisions and the go-ahead to post them by the person who inspired the thoughts.

"It's not my story to tell" are words I hold onto when sitting down to write. Thus? I have been writing an awful lot about robins and rabbits lately. No confidentiality breach. And should these critters have the ability to understand, I didn't write anything I wouldn't say in front of them (another "rule" I do my best to uphold).

Our lives interact with so very many others. What we see and take from a situation can vary vastly from what the only other person in the room gleans from the same interaction. I've been part of situations I barely recognize when the other person retells their version of the story. There can be a wide variance between each person's takeaway when people recall the same incident.

When I replay unpleasant interactions in my mind and try to make sense of how things went so terribly wrong, I do my best to try and see things from the other person's point of view. It calms me when I consider where the other party is coming from.

I can still see the expression on Mom's face and the sting in her words when I would make a comment about her, in front of her. She made no bones about the fact that she did not appreciate anyone else's interpretation on how she was feeling or about something concerning her. "Oh I do, do I?" was the essence of what I remember about those interactions.

It was in and around that time when I put the brakes on writing about anything that was not my story to tell. Since then, there have been countless times when I've walked through new and uncomfortable situations involving other people's stories. Confidentiality is everything. I questioned the wisdom of writing out loud, then simply stopped writing. Period.

As I wrote these words, they felt familiar. I searched my own blog to find exactly what I was trying to say. I wrote this six months ago:

"My story is how I navigated my side of other people's stories. If I write about my journey, not theirs ... to tell a story without telling ALL ... I think that is the key. My side of the story. Learning as I go. Love and loss and parenting and change and acceptance and curiosity ... and the never ending goal of seeking JOY."

The path I have walked has been mine alone but the other side of the story is still a privacy I want to respect. There have been lessons learned, perspectives gained, a broader understanding and a lot of learning. 

Life teaches us everything we need to learn and so much more than we want to learn, as we make our way through one life-event to the next. It has always been my goal to tell a little story and wind it up with a life lesson. Sometimes I succeed. Other times? I just need to write about rabbits.