The end of an era, and the beginning of something new

To everything, there is a season.

♥

Breaking up is hard to do...  It's not you, it's me...

Oh, friends. I can't even tell you how many times I've written this blog post. I've saved drafts and deleted them, I've written lengthy explanations and brief little farewell posts.

I even wrote a really long post that I planned to publish yesterday, but here I am re-writing it one more time.

I have talked about moving away from blogging for a few years now – closing up shop, no more PaperTurtle, trading morning blogging for morning yoga… I’ve mentioned it in conversation to my friends and family only to have them scoff, “I’ll believe it when I see it” – probably because I’ve threatened to do it so many times.

I published my first blog post in November 2008. Since then I have published 1,513 posts that have included sewing projects, baking cupcakes, growing sunflowers, raising turtles, losing my mom, drawing mandalas, teaching yoga and remodeling houses. For eight years I have shared our day-to-day life, weekend recaps, stories about my past, contemplating human nature, being vulnerable and speaking from my heart. For eight years I have been finding my own voice, making new friends, being inspired and inspiring others. And for eight years I have been photographing and writing about it all.

I believe that the success of a blog depends solely on the goals of the blogger. The success is directly tied to the outcomes the blogger hopes to realize. And since I never set out to "gain" anything from keeping this blog in the first place, the benefits have far exceeded anything I could have imagined to begin with. I just know that my focus has changed and there are other things I want to fill my time with and pay attention to.

When I think of the many ways PaperTurtle has served me, it feels like an immeasurable personal success! It really has been. And now it’s time for me to move in a new direction. I will still be writing, but not for this space. I will still be photographing, but also not for this space. Will I ever come back here? To PaperTurtle? Will I ever post more photos and/or stories? I don’t know. I doubt it, but stepping away from an eight-year-way-of-life is going to be strange. I won’t know until I try it.

In the meantime, you can “like” my yoga page on Facebook, MyYoga Friend Deb. I post quotes and links to articles/stories there and eventually, when my yoga blog is up and running, I’ll include links to my new blog posts there as well. I think I'll even come back here to PaperTurtle and post a link for my yoga blog when I'm ready to fly with that. For photos, you can follow my photos on Instagram. I’m PaperTurtle in that realm.

Sigh. So, yeah. That's that. I can hardly believe it myself. Maybe I won't fully believe it until I click that "publish" button and let this post fly. Just thinking about putting this out there gives me a sinking feeling in my belly. Silly as that sounds, I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around closing my beloved PaperTurtle blog. I think this will be a tough habit to break... There's also part of me that feels a little giddy and excited for being able to focus more of my attention on my mandala and yoga path.
 

I would like to express my very sincere appreciation to those who have followed my blog and have continued to read my words. I feel so much gratitude for everyone who has ever left a lovely comment to validate me, lift me, inspire me, bless me.

Looking back over the past eight years, PaperTurtle feels like such a great accomplishment and precious gift. I’m so very proud of what I’ve done here, and now I’m excited to do something new.

Onward and upward, my friends.
With so much love and gratitude,
♥ ~ Deb