Hello World!
What’s this blog all about? I started blogging in 2014 and had my own domain – thewalkingreader. For various reasons, not least cost and time, I ran that down a few years ago. So a few weeks ago, yearning to find my voice again, I decided to start one up again.
I’ve gone for the name “Warrior Princess” this time and my reasons are manifold. Not least, one reason is that I know myself to be a Princess. I am the daughter of a King – the Lord God is my Heavenly Father. You might not share my Christian faith, and you may have no faith at all, but it’s a part of my life that defines me. My hope for today and tomorrow is in Him. Religion has been given a very bad press, with good reason, so I can quite understand that folk get completely turned off by anything to do with God or Jesus or Church. I’m not here in this space to persuade you otherwise. Much of what I write is not about my faith anyway, but obviously it’s a thread running through who I am so there’s often something in there that speaks of my beliefs. I just hope that you’ll find something worth reflecting on in my writing – whatever it’s about.
Another reason for the name is that I feel I’ve had to become something of a warrior. There is much that needs fighting for – many who need us to fight for them. I’ve come to realise that I can’t be quiet about things that rouse my passion – the injustices of this world. Something that I’m fighting now is my own attitude towards my incurable cancer. (More on that in other blogs). I’m not fighting the cancer though – that would definitely defeat me. I’m fighting to keep my head up in the middle of this exhausting journey.
I’m really excited about starting this journey again – not entirely sure why. But maybe it’s about just having my very own platform, to share my own thoughts with no one being able to butt in and interrupt me! Oh I know folk will be able to comment and contradict etc, but not while I’m actually talking! I can finally have my say on something I care about without being able to see anyone pulling their face, or going “Well, that’s all very well, but.....” or “You can’t honestly believe....” – you know the sort of thing – all the stuff that can put you off your stride and make you trip up on your words or mess up your thoughts and stop you being that eloquent, erudite speaker that you know you truly are. At least deep down in your dreams anyway.
‘Blog about your passions’ is what they tell you. I am passionate about justice. It angers me that we live in such an unfair world – where 1% of the population hold more than 95% of its wealth (or something like that). I feel passionate about that. But there are so many excellent websites and organisations that write in a very informed way, with advice and guidance for those of us who want to actually do something about bringing about more justice and equality for all. This particular passion has led me to care more deeply in recent years about the environment – about the climate emergency we’re facing. About the fact that our sort of country has wrecked other poorer countries – stripping them off resources; making their land uninhabitable; causing harm to the planet through global warming – because we want more ‘things’ for less money. I’ll probably talk about the environment quite a bit when I blog.
I’m also very passionate about reading – anything! Historical (such as Hilary Mantel), or contemporary, I enjoy both. I don’t have a favourite author of this age – although at any one time I will be delighting in a particular author. (Andrea Levy and Sarita Mandanna and Jenny Diski and Jeanette Winterson and Sebastian Faulks are just a few who immediately spring to mind among my memorable greats – but there are so many more who have moved me, enriched my life and stretched my mind). Trying to imagine not being able to read, or being prevented from reading, fills me with terror. I couldn’t bear not to have books around me; not to know what I’ll be reading next. When I’m reading something I have to know there is another book waiting for me; it helps alleviate the feeling of bereavement that comes over me as one book comes to an end. When I’m reading, if it’s a good book that is, I feel sometimes as if I am living with those characters. So much so that I have found myself wondering what they are doing when I’m not actually reading the book! Reading takes us to places we may never visit; it helps us find places within ourselves that have been hidden even from us and where the most fabulous thoughts are birthed – thoughts we have never even knew we could think. Reading helps us find a voice for our fears, our longings, our fantasies, and all we cannot articulate. Reading can brighten the most miserable of days. It gives us a place to run to when the world feels frightening, boring, irritating or disturbing. Without reading, the world, for me, would be a more dismal, dark and joyless place. Yet, so many people have not discovered the joys reading for themselves or, through the busy-ness of life and work, have lost the knack of reading.
So, I’ll often blog about something I’ve read. Essentially though, I’ll just be blogging thoughts on life – and death and dying. I’ve come to accept that my life is going to be much shorter than I had expected it to be. This wretched cancer will likely make my final days of life uncomfortable and possibly painful. Even the palliative treatments have horrible side effects. They make you ill. It’s quite frightening really. So I guess I’ll be blogging about that – a lot!
But I want to celebrate life! In all its fullness – to bring some light and joy to our days. To have an outlet for my frustrations – to find a place that will make us laugh together and share something of what it is to be human. To live – to love – to yearn – to laugh – to cry – to scream – to share.
I am Warrior Princess and I invite you to journey with me.
I would be honoured to journey with you. X