Today Is The Day

Posted byFractured Faith BlogPosted inA Fractured FaithTags:, , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Halloween everybody. I’m currently on the edges of a chocolate coma so, if this blog post ends abruptly, then you’ll know why. No need to call an ambulance as I will have passed over with a smile on my face. They will have to prise the candy, as our American friends call it, from my cold, greying hands. If the trick & treaters don’t turn up soon, then it’s hard cheese, for all the good stuff will be well and truly gone.

We all love the good stuff, the treats that keep us going when the dull, drab routine of life threatens to get too much to bear. And, let’s face it, there’s not been a lot to look forward to these last two years. We’ve all been muddling along, hoping the world will become a better place to live when, deep down, we suspect that it probably won’t. The global pandemic has brought out the very best in some, but the very worst in others.

It’s one of the reasons I haven’t blogged in quite some time. I did feel somewhat like a voice in the wilderness, my timeline was overflowing with thoughts and ideals I didn’t agree with. There was so much anger, and a deep lack of understanding and empathy. I found it draining, far from the welcoming, supportive community I had stumbled across, four years ago. I started blogging to educate and inspire, but in recent months I’d become demotivated and disengaged.

A lot of bloggers I used to read and engage with drifted away, and WordPress seemed to be withering on the vine. I got out of the habit of writing every day, one of the few good habits I’ve ever nurtured in my life. As for the bad habits, well we won’t go there, but regular readers will know they were many. I felt adrift, didn’t know what the blog stood for anymore. Most days I woke up convinced today was the day I would blog but it never materialised.

I don’t know why today should be any different but, here I am, tapping away at my keyboard. This is a tentative post, reaching out to the WordPress community. Where have you been and what are you up to? Do you even remember this geeky Northern Irish writer who used to pop up on your timeline, come rain or shine. I’m looking forward to scanning my timeline again for a few familiar, friendly faces.

I’m determined to blog more regularly, although I’m not sure it will be every day. My work and family life are very busy and I’m also coming out the other side of a period of ill health. I’m fine, just some weird virus that proved difficult to shift. Numerous negative COVID tests by the way before someone asks. Blogging is important to me, it’s where I first started to write publicly. I don’t want to watch it fall by the way aside, it needs to spread its wing and soar again.

I’m not sure what I will write about, but I sense I will return to what I started penning on this blog. It was my safe place, where I could share my inner thoughts and feelings, knowing I wouldn’t be judged or demeaned. Blogging allows me an opportunity to experiment and grow as a writer. It’s a laboratory of words and ideas, somewhere I can try stuff out and throw concepts around. It’s my literary playground.

I hope you hang around for the ride, be you a once regular reader or a new recruit. I’ll be keeping the blog separate from my other social media platforms where I’ll continue to promote my fiction writing. This is not the place for that, I know that now. This is my safety valve, my sleepy hollow, away from the madding crowd, the endless hustle of promotions and deadlines. Here is my quiet place, today is the day.

Published by Fractured Faith Blog

We are Stephen and Fionnuala and this is our story. We live in Northern Ireland, have been married for 17 years and have three kids - Adam, Hannah and Rebecca. We hope that our story will inspire and encourage others. We have walked a rocky road yet here we are today, together and stronger than ever. We are far from perfect and our faith has been battered and bruised. But an untested faith is a pointless faith. Just as a fractured faith is better than none at all. We hope you enjoy the blog.

69 thoughts on “Today Is The Day”

  1. It’s wonderful to see you writing! I’ve missed your offerings very much! To be honest I have had very similar feelings these last many months and am also getting my bearings back, so to speak. Do take care, Hello to All around your humble abode, and maybe just one more piece of chocolate. 😄. Happy Halloween!

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  4. Welcome back. You have been missed. I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers stepping away to take care of life and many like me who have not had much time so we’re sporadic. I’m glad you are still kicking. Happy Halloween 🎃

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  6. I am glad to see you back in my email inbox! Welcome back. I have missed you… and I will remain a friendly face in the crowd. And I have to add, I don’t know if it is something external, like the polarized environment, or something internal, like a fit of depression from being in this pandemic so long, or a combination or something else altogether, but I can relate to the difficulty blogging. I have also had a very dry spell where I just cannot seem to put two words together. It is all I can do to get a sermon put together for Sunday worship! I am trusting it will pass eventually and I will get back my writing mojo, and I sure hope yours does too. I hope this post is the start of a new routine for you that is healthy and delights you. We’ll all benefit from that!

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  7. Good to see your post. I, too, am in a place where I simply caanot write. I have tried to quick-start the blog, but just can’t find the motivation. I am in college, though, in my first semester of a two-year course in Religious Studies. It’s like I woke up one day and had nothing more to say. Praying about it, but it is what it is. Give my regards to your sweet wife and your kids. I hope your fiction writing is still going well.

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  8. Glad to hear that you are okay and on the mend. I think it’s hard but not impossible to stay positive in this crazy time. One thing my husband and I do is we listen to the headlines on the news and then we look at each other and say, “Not interested in listening to that.” Then we watch a show. We usually watch an old show from the 80’s or 90’s. Right now, it’s something called Highway to Heaven. We also sometimes like to watch British shows that are on our public broadcasting station. Hang in there! Find something pleasant to think about. 🙂

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  9. Glad to see your post. Look forward to reading more. I am teaching full time and don’t have as much time for writing as I would like. But I am trying to keep up with my blog and the WordPress community.

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  11. Indeed, I remember you quite well, and I empathize with your blogging troubles — I’ve been having a period of wordlessness myself. I’m sorry to hear you were sick; and I hope most of the busyness with your family is of the good and fun (and preferably the chocolate eating) kind.

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  13. Welcome back-I’ve wondered what happened. I’m not sure how I connected with your blog originally but it wasn’t the books you’ve written which I’ve yet to purchase…
    It was your heart, your honesty and open struggle to understand yourself and daily life.

    Faith concerns, addiction mindset struggles and running all caught my attention and I began to follow along. So glad you are back.

    I’m not a huge blogger but have written some-but my day to day living hasn’t lent itself to much recent writing either.

    I think you may have motivated me to keep plugging away at my own projects and revive my little corner of the blogging life.
    Valerie

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  14. Welcome back! I had wondered where you’d gone. I’m very happy to see you back! 😀

    I recently returned to blogging a bit and found myself in a similar predicament; my earliest friends and followers from 5 years ago when I started blogging on WordPress have moved on and I’m struggling to find new bloggers to connect with. But I literally did wonder, “Where has Stephen gone?” as I was scrolling through my reader.

    Ill health and a toddler have kept me from blogging, but I’m trying to get back to it. My main problem is that my current health issue causes intense pain and brain fog and I can’t write like I used to anymore. I read my old posts and can’t recognize that it was me who wrote them.

    I hope your good health returns soon and I look forward to reading your blog again!

    Laura

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  15. Welcome back from me too! I miss when you post about nothing in particular, like the candy bit at the beginning of this post.

    I shared your first novel with an elderly friend who reads voraciously. Charlotte liked it a lot, saying it was very different (in the best way) and demanded that I share the second book with her ASAP! I took a picture if you’d like to see it.

    I also tried to send Skelly to my nephew who is in jail for the usual. I think the book illustrates the mental / psychological / interpersonal battles we need to face up to if we are going to have any success in life. The book wasn’t delivered so I sent it again.

    I’m desperately awaiting book 3! Please let us know when it is available. I don’t really participate in social media so this is the only way I’ll be able to find out about it. I’ll also have to re-read book 2, after I get it back from Charlotte.

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    1. Thank you Eric. Your words have been so encouraging to me. Yes, I’d love a photo. Did your nephew get the book? Book 3 is complete and currently with my publisher. I also have a short story coming out next month in a Quill & Crow Publishing House anthology called ‘Grimm & Dread.’ So keep an eye out for that 😊

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  17. FINALLY!!! A GOOD word from a long-lost friend!
    Stephen, I have sincerely missed sharing in your life – however vicariously- and considering your thoughtful reflections that arrived on a regular basis – keeping my mind in a better place. I even looked for you – making sure I wasn’t missing your posts because of some technical mishap…
    It is a breath of light to read your words again.
    It is very hard to believe that today is November 1 – how is that possible? Another year almost lost to the fog of a pandemic – and yet there have been snippets of light – beams from a far away lighthouse reminding me that whether we ever return to ways we once knew (we won’t) we will be ok and I use that the word “we” purposefully. Life is going on – even as I sometimes fail to see how it can. Similar to how life just “went on” after my parent’s back to back deaths, the end of my marriage, and my broken foot – life just went on and somehow I found my way. We will do the same now – it is human nature. How we go about “getting on with life” for some will be distasteful to others – but hasn’t it always been that way? All we can do is our best and to be a good neighbor and a good friend. Goodness how we all need a good friend – thank you for being one!
    Like you, I too needed a break from the negativity and a filled up on the one certainly good thing I could grasp – the most beautiful autumn we have had in a very long time in NW Montana. Mountain top views overlooking Larch forests in their brilliant gold have a way of grounding one in awe instead of woe.
    I hope that you get to feeling fully well – illness that has no definition other than you knowing you are sick is draining on the spirit as well as the body. I look forward to hearing from and conversing with you – hopefully more regularly again!
    Thank you for adding a bit of Ireland’s best to my coffee break this morning.

    Cheers!
    Erika

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      1. For my RROS open source omg love , many payer kartihu – hamasa karungaa like from beginning janttu , u r my addiction skuw N, part 〽️ poch poch life , Pichu pichi, poroteporte , pasapas , pies samna , puraitai , porsi-parsi abye year that’s means PS MY DREAM

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  19. I relate to this post on so many levels. I am back from a seven-month-long hiatus. This is where it all began for me four years ago as well, however, I am not a published author. You touched on many ways that I feel about my blog but didn’t realize I do. Thanks for this post and welcome back; whenever you chose to do so.

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  21. Well, hello, Mr. Popular. Who left whom first once he was all big and mighty -huh? 😀

    The divisive, mean politics just after an eerie worldwide shutdown stifled my creativity as well. Unlike you, I don’t feel fully prepared to open up again.

    (And, it’s “cold, dead fingers.”)

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        1. Ohh sister
          Wanted to enjoy more
          I did it from my heart
          Never I thought
          As ur like eyes .
          I respect it
          I like it
          I love it
          I enjoy it
          Everytime I feeling its feeling better than yesterday
          Want more from my vagant

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        2. And thanks to feel free Asliked
          I am cool and sensitive directly open source (RROS) my happy ness if possible
          Under our boundary

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  24. This Halloween was very different for me. For the last two years I had a pizza party via Facetime with my boyfriend. But this year, I had a crockpot meal with my husband. 🙂 We were married the day before Halloween.

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  26. May you be led by the Holy Spirit in all you do, say, think and feel – in the name of Jesus Christ our precious Savior and Lord Amen!
    I would encourage you to check out the “Wilderness” series by Pastor Jeff Wickwire on lifetalkradio.us
    Don’t allow Satan to steal your voice or your Joy. Instead, seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and He will make straight your paths! The enemy wants us to be busy busy busy and distracted and discouraged and lured by all that’s going on in the world. Tune him out and tune into God instead 🙂

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  27. Pingback: Today Is The Day – dailyblinsnation

  31. Welcome back! Blogging is cool because you can write serious stuff, just mess about, or write silly tidbits, and it all counts because it’s YOUR blog.

    We live in a rural area and only got six trick-or-treaters. We had way too many Snickers left over. I made myself sick, seriously. Next year I’m tossing the leftovers before I get a chance to eat them!

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  34. Living and learning are two things my grandad reminds me to do every day. Trying new things is a great way of doing this, so I’m delighted to read your intention of using your blog for this.

    Me? I’ve been on holiday for the past month (summer here in New Zealand). Up the east coast of the North Island, visiting my girlfriend’s family at the beach, and my grandad and aunt a little bit further south. It was time away from electronic signals, to spend time breathing deeply, listening to the ocean’s tides, and letting my mind wander with all the thoughts of writing to undertake this year. I’m still working on my book, honing in slowly to what the final product will be for readers!

    Thank you for your courage, and sharing where you are at. It is great encouragement for me, and I’m sure many others. 😊

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