Back from the Abyss

Afternoon, readers.  Have you forgotten me? 

I've been away for about a month now.  This is for a few reasons I thought I'd explain:

1) I started a new job in August.  I love this job and it's going great!  But I'm working a lot of hours and I work for a beauty retailer, so by the time I have a free moment I'm often unmotivated or tired of thinking about fabuolosity. 

2) I hit a bit of a writer's block wall.  This could be connected to the aforementioned lack of motivation; I'm not really sure.  But I've had a little trouble coming up with new ideas that everyone hasn't already read about 400 times. 

Right now I'm brainstorming some ideas for new posts and trying to crack the whip on myself to get back to writing.  My plan is to get back to updating at least twice a week with maybe a "quickie" post with some fun links once a week on top of it.  But I am sorry for the sudden prolonged absence and I hope to be back up and running consistently soon. 

In the meantime, please check out Scrangies's blog on Depression Awareness Month.  October gets a lot of attention for being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but Depression also needs a lot of attention.  The chances are good that you or someone you know is affected by depression – and it might be the last person you'd expect.  A lot of stigma is still attached to mental illness, so talking about it is important. 

I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder about five years ago.  Right now I'm in the best shape I've been since then, but I'm still learning how to compensate and adjust for my ups and downs.  Sometimes that makes it really hard to motivate myself to write, which is part of the reason I started this blog in the first place: I wanted to give myself something I had to keep up with.  In fact part of the length of my absence is due to the fact that once I hit a pitfall, I can tend to get overwhelmed and let it snowball.  So once I hadn't updated for a week I wasn't sure how to fix it and then that week stretched out into two, then three... etc.  This blog is part of my self-rehab, so to speak.  I love to write, and I love fashion, so it made sense that I should start this project to keep myself working on something all the time.  But sometimes I'll hit a wall like I did this past month.  All I can ask is that you stick around while I work to keep myself consistent. 

Actually, I can ask one more thing:  read that blog entry.  If any of it sounds familiar, if any of the symptoms of depression hit home for you or someone you know, please don't ignore it.  It's better to ask and be told that you were worried about nothing than to let something like this tear you apart because you think you have to go it alone.