The world has felt like a gloomy place lately - with ISIS beheading journalists, Ebola ravaging Africa (with a new, unrelated outbreak in the Congo), the shootings in Ferguson, and our wild climate change wreaking havoc in the form of drought and extreme seasons. Everything feels a bit dark and scary.
It feels wrong to blog about your life and style in the midst of our world roaring in pain, yet it feels like this one, very small, very private, reprieve. The way some people cook. Or some people run. Or some people have a glass of wine (I'm having that, too, trust me). Sitting back, leaning against the blog - a space where I can write something frivolous, or something deep, where I can watch fabrics blow by, or lacy skirts appear - feels quiet and safe.
Perhaps that's everything that's wrong with blogging, especially about beauty or style, perhaps we shouldn't be able to escape the world, even for a second. But I believe that there's only so much darkness one can ingest in a day. 8 hours of the day spent with ticker tape telling me the news, hashtags and feeds, text message alerts and news apps, and I am done with everything heavy and achy and painful at 5:30 p.m. I need to look out across the water, feel the concrete beneath my feet, watch the sunset, eat ripe, juicy tomatoes and mozzarella, hold hands with Ben. I can't end my day on a sad note, or sour note. I even have a hard time watching crime dramas full of blood and gore and killing and religious/political hatred when I am about to go to sleep. I want to dissolve into a space that has no greater meaning, no greater purpose, nothing, but to reflect on the way two colors look together on a body, the way freckles develop over summertime, the way sunglasses frame the face, the way a shoe fits.
How do you get away from all the sadness? Do you turn your back, dig a hole, read a fantasy novel, or do you face it head on to fix it?