Bidding Farewell

Last updated on: December 29, 2015 at 9:40 am by Jen McConnel

Bidding Farewell 2015-12-29T09:40:58-04:00 Jen McConnel

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2015 has been a big year. There have been amazing, wonderful moments tempered by terrible things, but on the balance, for me at least, I would say it’s been a good year.

Maybe because I’m addicted to school (and because I’m teacher), I tend to set New Year’s resolutions throughout the year, particularly in the fall with the first crisp days of the school year, and in the past, I’ve somewhat ignored January 1st. As the wheel turns this year, however, and I leave behind 2015, many things are shifting and rearranging in my life, and there feels like a very definitive end point to one year as I wait on the threshold for another to begin.

As often happens in life, my path and responsibilities have fluctuated, and 2016 looks different in many ways than the years that have come before. My writing, which has been my primary focus for the last four years, is shifting to the back seat, while my teaching, which has held steady, is rising once more to the forefront of my mind. In the last year, I’ve really solidified that I’m not just a writer or a teacher, but that I am best described as a writer-teacher-scholar, and I’ve also begun to understand that just because I value these three facets of myself equally, I cannot expect them to take up equal time in my life. 2016 is, it would seem, the time for teaching and scholarship, while my writing muscles stretch and flex, maintaining rather than strengthening. With that in mind, I’m stepping away from blogging here at Patheos.

I’ve loved being part of this vibrant community since 2012, first on the Agora blog with a bi-monthly column, and then shifting this year to this dedicated blog space. I’ll continue to post on my various Facebook pages, and I will maintain my monthly newsletter, as well, but as the old year wanes, I bid farewell to this blog. I wish all of you the best and the brightest of all things, and I am so grateful we connected on our journey.

Namaste and bright blessings, dear ones.

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