First off, I'd like to acknowledge that I am halfway through my time in Ecuador and this is my first blog. Sorry to all of you who have been patiently awaiting a blog post and haven't received one yet. Let me explain.
I have been meaning to write one but all the time with the fear that it would define my experience. I have had this worry that once I share an experience with everybody, it would shape how I see it looking back. Then that would somehow prevent me from living my life freely if all the time I am thinking of how I will authentically convey what the experience was like to other people. That stems from a deeply held belief of mine that putting something on paper runs the severe risk of diminishing it's value. It's why I am incredibly critical of poetry. If a poem does not absolutely nail whatever it is trying to get across, then that poem is potentially destructive and not worth sharing publicly before editing. I know that sounds harsh but it's what I firmly believe. I remember reading a passage from Stephen King's book 'The Body', the book that the movie 'Stand by Me' was based on, in which the narrator describes locking eyes with a deer but neglects to explain how he felt because some things are just too beautiful to be put into words and to try to do so would somehow diminish their value or disrespect the beauty of the experience. That's the feeling I have been having every time I am about to write a blog. A poem worth sharing to the world would defy all odds and somehow manage to accurately convey part of an experience to the audience. That is what poetry is. Anything short of that is at best just a bunch of words. Fear of not doing justice to my experience here in Ecuador is the reason this is my first blog post since arriving to Ecuador.
So now comes the hard part. How will I share what's been happening in my blog from here on out? That's something I'm still working on but I have some ideas. I have thought of a few blogging formats that allow me to share experiences while still maintaining some degree of objectivity. Full disclosure: I'm still a little bit nervous about defining my experience but it should be a lot easier now that I have broken the ice by writing this blog. Thank you all for your understanding and I will at least let you know right now that I am doing quite well and have been learning a lot of new things here in Ecuador. Please stay tuned because there are definitely more blogs to come!
