I’ll admit it, I’ve been blog obsessed for about as far back as my internet memories go. Maybe not in the same way we conceive of blogs today, in 2014, but going online with the sole goal of taking a peek into someone else’s life has kinda been my jam for a minute. My first internet memory is going online at my Dad’s office, in Vienna, Austria no less, to look up autobiographical snippets written by famous people. In retrospect, I doubt it was ACTUALLY Devon Sawa waxing poetic about his dog and love of pizza but really some poor PR shmuck, whatevs…the sentiment was there. Fast forward a few years and discovering someone’s Livejournal could kill an entire afternoon of teenage boredom. I devoured them like a V.C. Andrew’s novel–hoping for something scandalous, excusing the use of passive voice until I got there. In college and the early days of my working world, blogs blossomed into escapism at it’s finest. Desperately and ridiculously poor, I could spend hours looking at all sorts of beautiful things I couldn’t have and probably didn’t even want. Look at lives I hoped someday I’d get it together enough to live. And if we’re being completely honest, I turned my financial struggles around (for the most part) with the help of a Christian-Mom blogger (weird, I know…but those gals know what’s up when it comes to money for some reason) and networked within the comments of a business blog to land a part-time gig…which offers me the opportunity to read MORE blogs on the clock.

I’ve wanted to launch my own blog for years now. I’ve made a lot of excuses: I don’t have enough time. I don’t have any fancy equipment. I’m not tech savvy–AT ALL. Yet, the more I daydream about blogging, I realize that those excuses run counter to how I really try to live my life. If something makes you happy then do it. Make the most out of what you have. Commit to lifelong learning. So, we’re gonna give it a go.

My name is Beth. I live in Lexington, KY. I’m in management at a not-for-profit cooperative. I like to read, go on adventures, marathon series of television, craft, play outside, and do yoga on my living room floor. I like to research all sorts of things for fun and then do nothing with that research–so I’m hoping this new platform for writing can offer a solution. I often say, I can see myself doing and pursuing 10,000 things a day…so I end up doing nothing. This is the one thing I am working the hardest on in my life.

I chose the name “Finding delight.” for this site in honor of the mantra I adopted several years ago which has really shaped my approach to life. FIND DELIGHT. I can not stress enough how much actively searching for things you delight in can alter your mood, situation, happiness, and quality of life. And I know “delight” seems like a strange choice of word. Why not “find the positive” or “find happiness” or “find cool shit”? For me, “delight” invokes something simpler, invokes laughter, life’s unexpected pleasures. When trying to pull myself out of a rut a few years ago, I employed this strategy at the smallest level. As I drove to work each day, I looked for things to make myself smile. I was amazed at the things you can see when you really look–dogs acting silly, humans acting like the weirdos we are, and nature blinging in all it’s glory. I found this exercise wildly helpful and still practice it on the daily. I rarely arrive at work not in a positive mood. This simple search can then progress: Find delight in all aspects of your life. What brings you joy to do? Do it.

This is sounding a bit preachy but that’s the story behind the name. I guess my intent, is that this blog will be a way for me to continue to find delight. And perhaps you will find some within these pages too. In the end, we’re all in this rough real-world together. ❤

Have you adopted a mantra that has impacted you in a positive way? My other two favorites right now are “Be brave”–for when I’m feeling like a social situation is about to be awksies or I’m gonna face some confrontation (something I desperately try to avoid) and “Don’t compare your beginning to somebody else’s middle”–for things I’m frustrated by because I’m not automatically the best (read: yoga and this blog.)

(Painting by T. Turner)