Monday, January 12, 2009

To Longevity and Original Body Parts and Serenity

Over the last month, my creative juices slowed to a trickle. I came to my blog and was unable to write a word. While I recouped, I was hoping to fool around with the template a bit to see what I could come up with, but just haven't got to it. And I've only just peeped in on a few of my friends. All sorts of off line perplexities ambushed me, gagged and tied me down, leaving me unable to do anything but look helplessly, longingly at the computer.

It got me thinking about some of the bloggers I've met in my short stint. Some having been blogging for years. How do they do it? Do they ever feel like quitting? What sorts of things come between them and blogging? As a new blogger I am beginning to know the answers. And so, it is with humility that I say hats off to anyone who can blog consistently for a whole year. A toast to longevity.

I am not one for making New Year's resolutions. I just never keep them, for one, and for two, I like my thing kind of spontaneous. The germ for a life-changing, life-defining idea might come in April or November; for me, it rarely comes in January. But this year a pang of fear hit me on January 1. I am going to be 37 this year. Jesus Christ! That is nearly 40! So I made some resolutions this time round. This year I am going to do something about the slight paunch around my middle, do some execises with the hope of enabling those two to do battle with gravity, and visit the dentist to see what should be done about my wisdom teeth that have been growing on and off since I was 20. Youth is a wonderful backside, I don't ever want to give it up! Here's to mi own teeth and other body parts.

I once told a friend of mine that if we ask ourselves at regular intervals, "what will my life look like at 50?" it would help set a good tone for the way we spend our twenties and thirties (and dare I say forties!). He reminded me of it recently. He told me that since then he'd paid attention to 50-ish looking people. He'd seen some, tired and forlorn, wanting to be somewhere else doing something else. And he'd seen others; calm, self-possessed and settled. So, notwithstanding the restlessness inherent in my last point, I want to raise the last of my sorrel to serenity.

14 comments:

Geoffrey Philp said...

Cheers, Jack Mandora!
From a 50+ year old...

Daisy Soap Girl said...

Hey! I'm joining Geoffrey in that toast to 50 something. Just wait til you start looking 60 in the face. I thank God for all I've seen and done. I try to look at the humor and beauty in life and blog about that. I am just waiting for you to blog about Jamaican drinks and food my dear. I am a great fan of sorrel and even made it once with fresh flower petals that I bought from a West Indies Market. One day I must tell you of my adventures on Duns River Falls and how I gave up halfway. Too funny. So blog about your beautiful Island.

Anonymous said...

Too, too funny! This 62 year old can't even remember 37! But here I am, a new blogger just rounding up to nine months' worth of regular posting, and still having a blast.

By the way - pop over and see what I've done with the Arte y Pico award placement on the top of my sidebar. I hope you get some extra traffic from its prominence.

As for the other - instead of looking forward and asking, "What will my life look forward at 70?", I've reached the stage where I look at my life from the perspective of its end and say, "I've got 20, maybe 30 good years left. What am I going to do with it?"

Happy New Year!

Jdid said...

i drink to that.
nuh worry 37 is nice, i juss reach myself but is better than 36 so far lol

with 4 years under my belt now i guess i can speak on blogging with some sort of authority (yea right). is hard to keep the interest and be motivated. will be weeks where you dont want to write and you gotta look at blogging in the context of life happening roun ya too but if ya like writing and this is one of your outlets you will get in the posts in drips and drabs and the occasional flood. and then ya will say i dun wid dis an retire like me :-)

Unknown said...

Ah, aging, our eventuality, no matter what we do we will get old. I too look at my age climbing and dread the loss of my youth in the future. But treating your body good, which includes proper diet and exercise does slow the aging process a bit it seems.

As for blogging, as Jdid explains, we all have our down-times.

Abeni said...

Sniff..I turn 30 this year.Still wondering how that happened because I still feel 16 and Jdid says I look 19..lol. Seriously though, every age is beautiful.

Well with blogging you just write when you can. That's my creed. I just write.

J.M said...

Geoffery,
*clink*

Del,
Don't mention that number! lol. You're right, the only people who don't get older are the dead ones. I'm glad to be alive!

I started off blogging about books and writing, but I've wandered from pillow to bolster. We'll see what I come up with this year, it should include sights and sounds tastes of Jamaica.

Linda,
Heh, well you've added some perspective here! Every now and again something happens that causes me to do some quick calculations, like I might buck up a friend from high school and we'll be saying stuff like, it's been how long? 20 years! It can be a glorious thing to look back and talk about years in such large bundles like 20s.

I'm coming over right away!

Jdid,
Me in good company man! One of the nice things about 30 something is that you carry off that "it's my prerogative" air more convincingly, and you have fewer challengers!

You retire? Not fi now, you sounding fresh all the time even though you are my grandaddy at blogging.

Stunner,
And when we age climb some a we fret about we achievements, some about we libido, lol, I read Sunday's your doctor says, and there is a 44 year old bredren complaining that he can only have sex with his wife three times a week! True ting about taking care of the body.

Abeni,
Soon drop offa calendar.... just teasing, enjoy your sweet sixteen.

Your creed sums up nicely what those guys are saying, it makes good sense.

Anonymous said...

Fifty is the NEW THIRTY, and sixty is the new forty!! Life is for stop worrying about ageing.Enjoy the ride and the journey.By the way, there are good and bad roads. It is a question of how you negotiate,navigate and travel such roads in life.As to writing,everyone at some point experiences WRITERS' BLOCK. Guess what!? A respite is at times good, it lends or allows for a sense of renewal and rejuvenation.And with being re-energized, the creative juices start to flow again.Nuff respect!!

Anonymous said...

Please read life is just for living.

Louise | Italy said...

I wonder if an award could get you started again? Check out my blog post for today, because I'm sending you one! Best, Louise.

ruthibel said...

Wow!! This was a wonderful post!! Keeping a blog going for years with consistent posts is work!!

I raise my glass and toast with you to longevity, original body parts, and serenity. Hope you have/keep them all!!

@Abeni, I just made the resolution to feel 16 and look 19 at 30, lol!

LADY ROOTS said...

Sistren JM,

Fifty passed me by so long ago I have forgotten what it even looked like. My age is an issue for others to fret pon. Mi nuh bodda bodda worry, cuz while mi dere bout, mi a jus keep get older til JahJah call mi home to Zion.

My heart is young and I love my life! The frailty of the body is a fact of ageing, but good sex, good sleep, good food, and a forgiving heart help in keeping you young.

I have always felt that the true secret to happiness in life is to find your life's passion; find the thing you would do for free because your soul needs to do it. THEN FIND SOMEONE TO PAY YOU TO DO IT! For us, that would be my beadwork and my kingman's sound system.

When you love what you do, it isn't work!

I give thanks that there are sistren like yourself who are called to teach di yute dem.

Bless Up,
Lady Roots

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

I think the bloggers who blog for years love to interract with people. Well, c'est moi, I enjoy meeting, chatting with others. Not that I've been blogging for years.

Plus, blogging for me is a way of 'greasing' my writing tools. It's a warm up exercise.

Will said...

i totally identify... when i look at some of the bloggers i read - and their ability to stick to it - i am mesmerized... and i wonder if i'll ever have the fortitude...

i went nearly two months without blogging at the end of last year and, for some reason, i felt guilty... weird...

loving this... :-)