2015 was a kind of crazy year for me. WordPress was kind enough to do the 2015 blogging report for this blog, because I have Jetpack enabled, and I found it reminded me to actually post something here.
If you want to see Everyday Magic’s blogging year in review, you can do so here.
What happened in 2015? Well, I got married, and there’s probably a lot I could say about that in particular on this blog. We had a religious-secular ceremony, written by my good friend Mary, who was our priestess. She did an incredible job and I’m so happy I asked her to help us with our big, momentous day.
There are a lot of thoughts I have swirling in my head about marriage and the mystery of it and life now that I’m married, which shouldn’t be all that different but it is, somehow; thoughts on marriage and what’s considered women’s work, even in egalitarian relationships, because so much of our culture is unquestioned even by the most progressive among us; thoughts on the gods and my relationships with them, and how those relationships alter now that I’m married.
As well, the act of planning my wedding gave me a lot to think about regarding friendships, and loyalty, and stress, and what I can handle and what I’m willing to accept. It was sort of a trial by fire, and I’m still smouldering.
Another thing that happened in 2015 is I had a brief stint with a part time full time because they misrepresented themselves to me, out of the house job. This added to the stress, and I actually ended up in the hospital at one point with what I was dead sure was a heart attack. It turned out to be an anxiety attack, but the fact that I thought it was a heart attack should say something as to how bad it was; I get anxiety attacks on the regular. They’ve never been like that.
I ended up quitting the job, though not before it gave me tendonitis, and now I am stuck looking for an actual part time job, as I can’t handle full time. Never could, never said I could. I’d love to not have to search for a part time job, but it’s kind of required right now. My self-employment is not enough to make rent consistently.
My last post on this blog last year was in September, which was right around when work stress started to slowly kill me, along with upcoming wedding stress (we got married October 16th). I wanted to get back to writing — here, on my books, anywhere — so much after the wedding. I’d been on fiction writing hiatus since July and was desperate to dive back into it; I brought my laptop along on our honeymoon so when I got up before Mr. Morag I could write for a bit. (I usually get up before he does.)
I still haven’t. Part of me wonders if I forgot how. I suffered a depressive episode for the rest of October, all of November and December, and I did very little writing for the rest of 2015 — none of it on my fiction. So far this year I’ve written quite a bit, but all on creative non-fiction, blogging, and one poem.
I’m going to write a story today. I’m going to do it.
One other thing that happened in 2015 that I want to mention here is that I started to veil, and I joined the Otherfaith. These things are connected. the Ophelia is the first god I felt a connection to in the Otherfaith, and I got the distinct impression that she wanted me to start veiling when I went out in public. So I started doing that in August and have been doing it most of the time.
I’m not going to go into too much more detail here because I have a post in mind about veiling and want to save it for that. I will say it’s been a great decision on my part. I’m very happy I started veiling.
I celebrated my first Otherfaith holiday at the end of 2015 — Reunion. I’m also going to post a bit about that.
I’m still pretty new in the Otherfaith, so my posts about it might not be as plentiful for the short term, but I’m learning more as much and as often as I can. I hope that at some point I can help contribute to the body of work being built by the Other people. But learning comes first for me.
The long and short of 2015 was that it was a stressful year with some very bright points but a lot more low points. I am honestly so glad it’s over, because the stress levels were killing me. I am so happy to be married but I never want to have another wedding, and I’m so happy that 2016 is wedding free. (Aside from possibly attending friends’, but as far as I know there aren’t any upcoming. I could be wrong, though.) (Also, aside from sending out thank-you notes, which I haven’t had the spoons to tackle until now. BUT AFTER THAT my life will be our-wedding-free.)
Basically, I’m super excited for 2016, even considering I’ve spent the first 9 days of it with a cold that I caught from my darling husband who of course is not feeling half as bad as I am because he’s a freak of nature BUT I DIGRESS, where was I? Right. 2016. It’s going to be a great year. I feel like I’ve finally figured out some stuff about myself, about my life, and while implementing the changes I want to implement is not going to be easy, I think I’m going to be so much happier when I’m successful in it. And I will be successful. 2016 is the year of success for me.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sneeze a bunch and rummage around for some sort of magic cure for this blasted illness.
Happy new year, everyone. I hope 2016 is bright and beautiful for us all.
~Morag