L is for Letters and Memories

Some of you blogging about history and genealogy might be familiar with this genre: A few years ago I started binge-reading published letters and diaries written by women who lived in turbulent times (WWI, WWII, 19th century revolutions and civil wars, etc.). They are a fascinating read, because they rarely focus on the large events of history - they tell us about the day to day life and struggles of individual, average people. These collections are a stunning testimony to RESILIENCE. Holding on to hope, taking care of each other, surviving against all odds. I am lucky enough to have some of these letters and diaries saved from my own grandparents who lived through WWII. They are precious, important stories that should not be forgotten.

Living in turbulent times, it is good to remember the people who lived through all kinds of hardships, and left their testimony, not as history texts, but as stories told in their own voice. They give us hope, teach us empathy, and tell us a lot about what resilience looks like.

If you have book or blog recommendations on this topic, please share in the comments! And don't forget: what you write now, might become similarly precious for people in a few decades... 

K is for Kintsugi

I was looking for an appropriate word for today, one that would fit well with our theme of Resilience, and came upon the word kintsugi, about which Wikipedia tells us is "the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum." The Blogger's Best Friend ™ goes on to say "As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise."

Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The bowl above has had more than its share of damage over the centuries, and each time it was repaired by using a mixture of gold and lacquer to stick the pieces back together. You'll notice it also had a number of chips around the edge of the bowl that have been patched with the gold lacquer. There was no reason to discard this piece of pottery because it was fractured, when it could be repaired in such an elegant fashion.

The principle of kintsugi, where nothing is discarded if it can be repaired, applies to everything, not just pottery. What are the things in your life that have been broken and repaired?

J's Jamboree #AtoZchallenge 2023

Howdy! J Lenni Dorner here, your April Blogging from A to Z Challenge team captian, with the letter j post. Time for

J's Jamboree!

(A celebration, possibly international in scope, with a party-like atmosphere.)

🥳🎉🎇🎈📣🎵

Jubilation is a jackpot when working on resilience. Stay jolly while being as flexible as jelly and your resilience in blogging will be justified. A joyful attitude can be felt by your audience.

Be sure to jump to the blogs of others who joined us. Jabber in comments may cause bloggers to dance a jig. Our master list is jam-packed with more than just journalized blogs. Jellyfish don’t have brains 🧠, but bloggers do, so use them to juggle some jim-dandy remarks.

I is for, well, I. #AtoZChallenge

 I is for, well, I.

We're now in the second full week of A to Z, and I want to encourage you all to not lose sight of why you're doing this challenge. I won't speak for you, but I will share with you the reasons I am participating.

1. I want to encourage others to challenge themselves.
2. I want to challenge myself to get back to writing again.
3. I want to share my blog with the world.
4. I want to find more blogs I love reading.

What are some of the reasons you are participating?

Hope Keeps Us Going ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

       Hope is like an essential nutrient that keeps us alive.  Water, air, and food are necessities without which we'd eventually die.  Without them, we would struggle on with the hope that we will find what we need until we give up our last dying breath.  Hope drives us.  Hope sustains us.

       Maybe the A to Z Challenge is not quite as vital as just staying alive, but it serves as a decent metaphor for our lives and the pursuits that keep us going.  As another April approaches, some of us hope there will be another April Challenge and then when we get word that it's on, we sign up with the hope that we will finish the blogging ordeal that lies ahead.  Once the Challenge starts we hope that we will complete a post for every letter.  We hope that we will write good content that will draw readers.  We hope some of those readers will leave a comment.  We hope it's a nice comment.

        Hope moves us forward in life as well as through the things we do in life.  Without hope, we are essentially aimless.  Hope is the expectation that tomorrow is going to come and that maybe it's going to be better than today.  The best hope is realistic hope because that is hoping for a goal that we are actually likely to attain.

        Hope is the fuel that burns inside of us to bring us success and satisfaction.   But remember:  Hope works best where there is intent.  Unguided hope is just an aimless dream if you don't intend to finish what you start.  Keep your hope on a true path guided by intent.

         We are hoping you will finish the Challenge and finish well.  Now, what is your intent?

G is for Giant #AtoZChallenge

G is for Giant

Sometimes things that we think are

GIANT

today turn out to be little tomorrow. 

Fun? Are We Having It Yet? ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

       Fun is what A to Z is about.  If you aren't having it then you might be doing something wrong.  I can relate to some stress, but only in a minor sense.  Come on folks!  This Challenge is writing, reading, writing, and reading some more.  It's up to you to decide how much work you put into it.   Just don't decide that it ain't fun!

        Sure, you want to finish the alphabet and end up with some reasonable blogging content on your site.  So just do it!  Keep it simple if you like.  Or do research and put great care into what you write.  That's good too.  It's all good.  It just depends on what your own personal goals are and how you intend to achieve them.

         Look at it this way:  April Challenge month is like any other month except maybe in hyper mode.  More writing than usual.  More posting.  More visiting.  Same but bigger than usual.  Next month you can slow down if you like and go back to blogging as normal.

         Are you having fun with your normal blogging?  Then have a good time with blogging during A to Z April.  Make new friends.  Learn new facts.  Enjoy new fictions.  Enjoy yourself.  The first week is behind us now and the rest should go as easy if not easier.

         Are you ready to have fun?  Fine!  Fantastic!  Fabulous!  Far out!

         It's all about fun so don't get overly stressed.  It's not like you're going to get fired from your blog.  You are free to have fun.  The A to Z Team is giving you permission.  To have fun.   Let's keep going!

E is for Energy

People who are especially enthusiastic and dedicated to what they do (whether it is work, a hobby, a cause) tend to overlook the fact that your energy is a finite resource. Some of these things sound self-explanatory, but they are worth repeating:

1. Just because you technically have the TIME to take on another task, doesn't mean you have the ENERGY to do more.

2. The best way to be prepared for unexpected situations life throws at us is to have RESERVES we can use to problem-solve. That means, even if you can't prepare for everything (I know, my anxiety hates this too), you'll be prepared to have the ENERGY to deal with stuff.

3. This also means that REPLENISHING your ENERGY is not laziness. Rest, recharging, and self-care are vital.

4. Sadly, replenishing energy takes more time than you think. And since many of us work in situations where taking days off is not easy or even always possible, this makes ENERGY an even more precious resource. To have, and to spend.

What does all this have to do with resilience? The better you learn to spend your ENERGY, the more resilient you become in the face of unexpected challenges. And also, knowing what you are willing to spend it on makes you better at drawing boundaries, and valuing yourself. And that is very important.

Which is why it is especially awesome that you decided to spend so much energy this month on participating in the Challenge! Posting and visiting. Don't stress about numbers. You're doing great. Just have fun :)

D is for Durability

I was working with synonyms for resilience (since that's our theme this year) and I realized that durability was one. Saying that something is resilient means that, when it's folded, spindled, mutilated, and otherwise abused, it comes back as good as new. That's pretty much the same as durable, except, when something's durable, it might not come back as good as new, but it'll come back just as useful as it was before.

Think of luggage: when you take it on a trip, the chances are good that it'll be roughed up pretty badly by everyone who handles it. The test of a good suitcase is whether it can endure all that punishment and still be used again. Not exactly resilient, because it'll accumulate scratches and dents and maybe even have a hole or two knocked into it, but you won't have to find time during your trip to replace it. It'll work just fine, it just won't look as good as it did when you bought it.

There are times that we're resilient and bounce back good as new from physical or emotional injury, but more frequently injuries prove our durability. We're still left with broken hearts and scars and bones that have repaired themselves, and maybe with challenges that we didn't have before, but we find our way through them, around them, under or over them, and manage to survive, even thrive. That's durability!

C is for Candy #AtoZChallenge 2023

Resilient candy. 

My area of the world is near the Just Born candy factory in Bethlehem, PA. Local stores are flooded with Peeps. What can these marshmallow candies endure?

"Peeperiments" (Peep experiments) include various acids, water, and microwaving. (💥 I don't suggest trying the microwaving test. It's fun to watch, but not to clean.) Could Peeps "survive nuclear fallout"? Probably not. If they are kept in an airtight container they will last for up to two years.

Sources:

tastingtable.com

ajc.com/news
candyblog.net/blog/
peepresearch.org

📚
On a personal note, as evidence of my own resilience, the second book in my Existence series was released TODAY!
Proof of Existence is on Amazon- amzn.to/3ZZ1WM6. There's a giveaway for a blanket or character name on my blog.



Will you celebrate #PeepsDay tomorrow, April 5?
What candy do you think is the most resilient? 

 B is for Beauty

There is beauty in resilience, don't you think?

Whenever I see a rainbow after a storm, I'm reminded of the resilience of nature. The beauty that is encapsulated in this simple act of nature makes me think of other beautiful and resilient things in nature. I always think of all the animals who had to literally weather the storm. There is beauty in imagining the emerging of the animals from their shelters as the storm lets up and the sun begins to shine again.

As we embark on Day 2 of our A to Z Challenge, let's all remember the beauty in our resilience as writers, as bloggers, as people. 

Tell us about the beauty you find in resilience!

Copy of the MASTER LIST 2023 #AtoZchallenge

Here's something new we're testing in 2023

Jayden has created a way for the spreadsheet FOR THE MASTER LIST 2023 to be visible here on the site.





This is not your personal copy. You won't be able to reorganize the entries. You can't change "no" to "yes" as you leave comments for others. 
You CAN see if anyone noted "other" with their theme category, and see which sites are "adult," by scrolling left and right. (see the image pointing out where the bottom scrollbar is located). 

Depending on feedback, if this method is popular with our blog-hopping participants, we will make a post like this for the other forms too. The form will update until April 9. (It can take Google up to five hours to refresh. If you sign up and don't see your info on the list on this post by then, please contact a team member. We're locked to the top of the list for your convenience.) 

Please, let us know if you enjoy having the completed list on a post on our site.

Get your own copy of The 2023 OFFICIAL MASTER LIST: https://tinyurl.com/3we8aa84 (File, make a copy -- be sure to keep it updated!)

Arrival! A to Z is Here! ( #AtoZChallenge )

 

All Aboard!

                         (Charlesbridge)

     The A to Z train has pulled into the station once again.  The train has arrived, but this is just the beginning of a great journey.   Many of you have climbed onto the train to start off another trek through the alphabet.  It might be a first for some or just another journey with which you're familiar.

      This year promises to be another wild ride with all sorts of sites to see and ideas to entertain us.  The trip tickets are free and all that is required from those riding with us is a bit of work that is hopefully more like play.  If you've got your mind set in the right place then you're going to have a great time.  But many of you have been down this way before and know pretty much what's going to be happening this April.

       Whether you're a new traveler on this journey or a veteran of this train trip, you've got what it takes.  Resilience and creativity.  Hang it there.   The trip might seem a bit wild and grueling, but don't let it overwhelm you.  It's all about fun!

        Are we ready?   Then let's go!