( A salsa judge at the World Championship
Chili Cook-off in 2010. )
There are fewer words here than there used to be. I'd
bet on that continuing. And this is not a surprise
to me.
In April of 2010 when I gave my 18 month old winemaker's
journal (blog) a shot in the arm I was full of ideas and energy. It was a
birthday present to myself. "Go do something", was the idea. And I
did. Over three plus years I have achieved some of what I initially set out to
do. I tasted, sampled, wrote, took photos, networked, laughed, sighed, sponged
up information, provided education to others and did a fair bit of traveling. I
changed courses many times and for many different reasons. I still do most of
these things and with gusto! The early goals I didn't achieve have been superseded
by so many others, some I have nailed, some I haven't; and some just not yet. Some
weeks I wrote a lot and some weeks I wrote less. I wrote, shared, read, shared,
commented, debated (argued), shared and along the way I have learned so much!
I continue to enjoy all of the experiences this journey
affords me, and most of all I genuinely appreciate the many people I continue
to "meet" along the way. I have never met some of these people in
person (yet), but there are things we have in common so we get each other
enough that we have a great dynamic in a networking context. I continue to carry
on relationships with some of the people I've met while others are more often a friendly face in
the more business-y realm of food & beverage events. All of them are part
of the "family" however weird that ends up being in one city or
another. I still look forward to these days.
But I just don't write about this stuff anymore and I don't
spend much time on social media plugging my work and keeping tabs on the
beverage media. Why? Well, it's complicated I guess.
Late last year (2012) I felt my drive to write about and
share my experiences waning. I reformulated my approach, a natural and not
unexpected reaction given the 2+ prior years, and kept plugging away. But I
wasn't digging it. The idea of throwing a bunch of words together, using a euphemism
here, and sharing them as a way of expressing my experiences secondhand just
wasn't resonating anymore. Things change and I know myself well enough to know
that when I lose interest in something there is nothing good in trying to keep
it going. So I won't.
From some reflection I came to realize that my goal of "go
do something" was never intended solely to mean blog about my life nor that it should necessarily create something new and permanent. So setting aside some of the
activities I picked up while out "doing something" when they no
longer interest me is not a crime. It isn't even failure. It is quite the
opposite actually. Here is what I am keeping:
- I have more time for dates with friends (yes this is you Margot) where we get to sit around the table eating, drinking and socializing. We all want to do this and we all love it.
- I still make a shit-ton (I saw a joke this week that in the UK that is shite-tonne, he he!) of beer, mead, cider and wine and I share it with friends, all the time!
- When I travel I can strike a better balance of food/beverage visits with other things of interest. Some of it is just baked in. Portland, Oregon and the Oregon Brewer's Festival anyone? Week after next.
- With other aspects of my life (work, family, community) being as dynamic as they are for anyone else my life isn't as harried. I know I can't do everything and I can balance all of what I am doing better now.
- I am less structured and more open to just exploring things. That is what I get out of bed for.
- When I see you I'll have stories. They weren't on the blog so we'll have something to talk about for sure!
It is OK to miss the words. I'll miss my words too, but not
because I regret changing my priorities but because when blogging was my
priority I really had fun sharing my days with all of you. It is good to have
memories that make you smile. I have fun doing lots of different things and
following my interests is keeping things plenty exciting so I am sure to keep
racking up good memories. See you on the trail!
Cheers!
Jason
