With that submission, I am officially closing OtherSpeak. Thanks to each of you who shared a post (or engaged with one through a comment)! I enjoyed hearing from each of you contributors – those whose work I published, and those I did not. I liked your courage and your voices.
Sharing my platform was harder than I thought it would be. Super fun. But I felt professional jealousy in my own space. :-0 That was good for me to realize and to repent of. It grew easier and easier as I went on.
OtherSpeak bought me some valuable mental energy and time to give to other things in my life. Thank you for helping, and bearing with me. I am ready to be back in my spot alone. Not alone, because you lovely people are here (more or less).
My single regret is that I suspect OtherSpeak lost me ground in your easy flow of words. I might be wrong on this, because there are obvious exceptions, but it was harder for you to talk to people you were meeting for the first time, wasn’t it? And then even when I was writing, it felt a little too open, less homey and personal? You’re certainly entitled to silence and feelings of insecurity, and far be it from me to try to influence you in this matter, so all I want to say is, “Stop it!”
I like to hear from you. Even when it wasn’t me writing, it was me listening. (If that matters to you.) And this isn’t as public a place as you think. I prefer to think of it, even in my own posting, as an “I and Thou” room. People don’t connect with people. They connect person to person. And I am here.
For your reference, here’s a full list of OtherSpeak posts (not counting my explanations and bluffs).
- 2020 Reading Challenge – Cristina Loewen
- How to Bless a Young Widow – Martha Hess
- The Emmaus of In-Between – Rachael Lofgren
- How One Timid Mennonite Lost Her Fear of College – Sarah Yoder Beiler
- How I Gained More Weight Than I Intended – Anna L. Martin
- Becoming Mennonite – Regina Shea
- How a Pro-Family Church Gives Singles a Place – Anita Yoder
- Cabin Fever – Bethany Engbretson
- Fifth Year Lament – Evelyn Hershberger
- Infertility Support – Rachel Zimmerman
- To the Adult Child of a Remarrying Parent – Danette Martin
- Homesteading in Alaska – Tabitha Stoltzfus
Thanks again for joining me in that diversion. It did me good.
I enjoyed and was encouraged by all the Otherspeak stories. Thank you for allowing all of us to share our lives here.
Shari, I appreciate the way you make your blog a space for “I and thou” and everyone ????but especially I enjoy something showing up in my inbox that is honest, wholesome, and relatable reading. Many times I read a post and say “Amen”, or , “that was an excellent writing”. But it gets no further than my mind. So here’s to all the times I have silently applauded your posts. And all the Otherspeaks.
PS. I knew that once I start commenting, I would get too long-winded, trying to say what I mean and trying to clarify what I didn’t mean????