In the spring of my freshmen year, I applied for a job as a columnist at The University Daily Kansan. During the interview, the editors asked what I hoped to write about. At that time, I was ambitiously double majoring in journalism and political science, so I proposed writing about politics.
A week, an editor called and said I got the job — under one condition: There were already two senior political writers and the editors wanted some variety. Was there another topic I could cover?
Under pressure, I quickly brainstormed: I ran. I generally ate healthy foods. I guessed I was pretty qualified to write about — uhm? — health?
Bingo. The position was mine.
With the job set to start in the fall, I spent the whole summer researching. When I wasn’t reading up on the latest policies, I was wading my way through the new-to-me world of blogs. My first find was Eat Like Me, a nutritionist’s daily food journal and commentary. (At that time, it was written by a different nutritionist.) From there, I discovered other healthy living blogs.
Within the span of a couple of months, I went from being a casual healthy eater and runner to a downright fanatic. By the time the school year started, I forgot that I even had other passions. All I cared about were column ideas, what I’d eat for dinner and when I would run.
And, with that much “passion,” a biweekly column wasn’t enough to satiate my desire to write. So, I did the natural thing: I created a blog.
I originally started Pursuit of Healthfulness on Blogspot. I posted recipes, preached about the importance of eating well and shared my Kansan columns. If you wanted to learn a little more about me, my About Me section said, “Almost all of the free time I have away from my studies is consumed by my passion for food.”
Sounds balanced, right?
By the end of the semester, there was no denying that I needed help — and continuing to pose as a “role model” on my blog wasn’t doing anyone favors. So, I wrote a farewell post and called it quits…
I could explain my lack of posts by saying I’ve been enjoying winter break, or haven’t made anything good to eat, or any other fill-in-the-blank excuse…
But, no, this is my truthful explanation for why I haven’t been writing.
Essentially, I don’t feel as though I am in any position to offer advice, serve as an example, or even comment on the best food choices. In fact, for the past few weeks I’ve been forced to face, in a difficult and personal way, the downfalls of pursing too much healthfulness.
The following semester, I addressed the habits that had become my eating disorder. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fun, but I slowly began to get better.
That summer, I decided that I wanted to reestablish my blog. Although I wasn’t totally recovered, I was much healthier and — more importantly — I wanted the blog to focus on my own experiences rather than my presumptuous advice. That’s when this little reincarnation came into being.
When I started Pursuit of Healthfulness back up (in May 2010, if you feel like scanning the archives), it was primarily a food/workout journal with commentary. Now, as I look back, I can identify some still-disordered talk in my early posts — but I was much, much more self-aware than during my first go at blogging. (I’m also grateful that I had the blog at that time, because it was a great chronicle of my time in Germany.)
In the time since then, my blog, my message and my passions have evolved. Rather than post about my breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, I write about life events, recipes and ideas. In many ways, this has caused me to love blogging even more.
Much of this evolution was natural; with the changes in my life, I simply have different priorities. However, some of the changes I’ve made — specifically those to distance myself from certain blogging practices — have been deliberate.
More on that in tomorrow’s post…
