For the record, the above video may or may not have anything to do with the subjects covered. But it's what I've been listening to on repeat for the last few days, and I'm absolutely enthralled. So I'll share it wherever I can.
These last couple of weeks have been very eventful. I have been busy, way more busy than just about any time in my life since college and especially since May. But I haven't gained enough distance from the events of May 5th to really dig into the full extent of what that day has done to my life. Except for it led to the current busy state of my life, albeit indirectly. Mostly because, when your life is ripped away for a time and then handed back in a pile of tatters, where do you really have to go besides up?
Recover, rebuild, heal, whatever you want to call it, I've been doing it, since I managed to get my butt off the ground again. So now I'm doing this awesome thing at church, Nikao School of Leadership. Nikao is Greek for overcome, victory. Because really, isn't the whole point of leadership to lead people into victory and help them overcome, whatever that may look like? Minor detail: you first have to learn to do it yourself. Thus, the School. It marks one of the reasons I'm now busy 5 nights a week, accounting for two nights. And two nights that I already look forward to, even though we're only in the third week.
Leadership is an interesting concept to me. I've always been a somewhat natural leader, being halfway an oldest child. In many ways it was thrust upon me as something I had to learn to do, whether or not I wanted to. But most of the time I wanted to, because let's be honest, being a leader tends to mean people are listening to you. And that was what I craved above all else.
Now, I just write (though sometimes I forget to finish a thought on the same day that I started it). Which leads to the latest fun development in my life! NaNoWriMo!!!!!! (NaNoWriMo Home) This isn't exactly a new thing, seeing as this is my third year doing NaNo. But I will be trying something new this time around, and actually writing something that will be more serious than tongue-in-cheek. The last couple of years were fantasy novels that tended very heavily towards dry humor and satire. This year though, I'm attempting a contemporary, New Adult (which is the term for Young Adult-style but for audiences over 18) story about a highly contested subject.... SEX! (Yes, I realize I internet-yelled that word. Don't ask me why.)
Seriously, I'm going to try and work out a way to write about a group of new adults (probably ages 17-19) trying to work out what it means to be pure in a society that is decidedly not pure. I'm working on coming up with different religious and cultural backgrounds for the characters, so that I can draw from as many viewpoints as possible. For the record, I'm going to skip the characters actually having sex part, and mostly just talk about it a lot. And mostly, learning how to make healthy decisions in this one highly important area of life when there are so many different messages coming at them from sources that do not agree AT ALL.
Why attempt such a huge thing in just a month? Well, because I'm crazy. But we already knew that, because this is the third time I'm choosing to willingly put myself through the madness that is NaNo. Also, because I think it's something that needs to be written about with a solid dose of grace and mercy thrown in. It may or may not be overtly Christian in message, but you can sure bet Jesus will be there guiding the conclusions they come to. Additionally, this topic about how different cultures, particularly the Christian sub-culture, view sex and teach about it has been on my heart and mind a lot for years now, because it gets to be such a hot topic with so much division stemming from this one area of life. And I don't think anyone really gets it right all the time, when it comes to the healthiest way to treat your body. And make relationship decisions. And learn that ever important fruit of the Spirit, Self-Control.
So yeah. I'm being pretty open when I say that part of the reason I'm writing this is as a form of therapy and getting myself to a place where I have a better, more healthy understanding of this whole area of life where, frankly, my education was sorely lacking.
AND on that note. I would like to put it out there, for anyone who might have a different perspective on the issue than I do (which is probably most of the people who read this), I'd love to collect thoughts and opinions and resources that you know of supporting your views. It would be a great help. Thanks muchly, in advance!
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