Blogging: It's a bit like bank statements

While speaking to my mother the other night she gently chided that I had not posted anything on this site since 27 May and she was left to tracking me through my twitter feed and the photographs of what I ate.  I proffered such excuses as "been really busy", "never quite got back into the rhythm after injuring my foot" and my killer "well I am trying to relocate myself and Mr Lapin to the other side of the world in four weeks time".  All of which are true but it got me thinking about why something I started (running and writing) as a way of relaxing and opening up my horizons has become quite quickly the first thing I drop when life piles up.

In some ways I relate blogging to bank statements.  The bank statements pile up unopened and the guilt increases with each new statement*.  You know you should have opened the first one but you put it off and now the thought of opening any of them is a tad scary.  Blogging provides a similar feeling; you don't write anything one week - well you didn't run, nothing much happened - and then before you know it, it is six weeks later and your mother is asking what is going on and you don't actually have an answer.

So what has been going on?  The main reason I have not been posting (or running) recently is that I have been overwhelmed with moving logistics. Mr Lapin and I are relocating to the USA in early August.  I have a new position and so after 8 years and 10 months living in Thailand we are moving to Atlanta, GA.  All of which is actually pretty daunting.  Mr Lapin is very excited, being half American he is experiencing a nice symmetry; his father moved to the UK over fifty years ago and now one of his sons is moving back.  Me?  Well I'm not sure what I am feeling.  I am pleased to have a new position.  I am thrilled to be moving to the HQ.  I am glad to be leaving Thailand however, I am ambivalent about moving to the states; but then that is not entirely correct. Perhaps it is better to say I am too busy moving to think about where it is I am moving to. 

And that is where the running should have kicked in.  The activity that should have given me space to think about what it I am doing, what it is I need to do and to think about something other than moving.  But I have not managed to achieve that.  So I don't run because I have too much going on.  Because I have too much going on I get stressed so I don't go running.  I think it is time to start opening those bank statements.

* To clarify I am actually a very financially responsible individual who balances her her budget each month.