The curse, and blessing, of being eclectic

The hours is late as I pen these words. Dawn has not yet broke as gossamer threads of moonlight bounce off the barren branches of our neighbour's stately tree right outside our front door. There are several posts of time sensitive nature I could be writing at the moment, but I am tired and know that they can all wait until later in the day/week, after I've nabbed a little sleep. Not this one though.

I've been blogging long enough (very nearly seven years on this blog alone, several more if we reach back further in time to sites that no longer exist) to know that sometimes when the spark of inspiration for a strikes one must set about composing immediately or risk being left with the lingering feeling that something great, important or poignant has passed you by. Like realizing you missed seeing someone you cared about for the first time in years by a matter of minutes.

I'm the sort of person who does a great deal of introspective thinking. I analyze my thoughts, my actions, my emotions, my conversations, my passions, my relationships, my dreams, my fears, and just about anything else that I experience. Not obsessively, of course, but certainly with a heavy hand and for the most part, I'm grateful that I operate this way. I think that it stems in part from being a shy, quiet introvert, but know that there are many roots of such and have always found it a comforting trait to possess.

Last year in particular, I thought very frequently about who I am at this present stage in my life, what I like, what defines me, and how I portray myself to the world. I have known since early childhood that my tastes were powerfully eclectic and am generally a-okay with that.

Having a wide array of loves, interests, and (if one can find the time) hobbies keeps life fresh and fun. It means you always have an answer at the ready for what you want to do, buy, see, experience, and even taste next. It ensures I'm never bored, can reply to the question of "what would you like for your birthday/anniversary/Christmas gift" at the speed of light, and has helped me to move with relative ease amongst numerous specific interest groups and subcultures throughout my life.

Yet being eclectic can also have its downsides in a sense. For one, because I have so many likes and interests (some of which I've never even so much as mentioned on this site), it is often easier to stick largely with one and let it define you in so many different ways.

This isn't a negative per se at all, and I don't mean to paint it has such, but rather I wish to speak to the fact that when one is so largely focused on a certain topic, it can, at times, feel like some of the others in your life fall to the wayside or, worse, get left (unintentionally) in the dust all together. It is easy to lose yourself when you are consumed by love, be that for a person, a thing, a timeframe, a place, a way of life or just about anything else.

Or, if not lose entirely, than start to appear rather one-sided. Back in the summer of 2014, on the eve of my birthday, I wrote a post called Thoughts on who I am as I turn 30. This entry has stood out for me ever sense and was a catalyst for further thoughts pertaining to who, in fact, I am, what I love, how the world sees me (online, at least), and some of the way in which I might want to change various things.

The simple truth of the matter is, once you've perceived a certain way - even when that way is wonderfully positive - it can be hard to change or to let other sides of your personality and spectrum of interests shine through, and at times it is even illogical and/or detrimental to do so.



{Being eclectic means that at almost all times, you are only able to show a portion, be it large or small, of who you are and what you love to world. There are perks and downsides to this, as touched on in today's post, but in the end, I'm grateful to have a plethora of passions and enjoy continuing to add new ones to the roster as time goes on. Vintage woman with a hand mirror photo source.}


If I could go back in time to the birth of this blog in April 2009, there are numerous things I would do differently - not the least of which is to include a wider array of my interests and hobbies as part of it. There's nothing to say I still can't, but just as one would be perplexed if they showed up at the Great Wall of China and saw Sphinx of Eiffel Tower themed souvenirs being sold, so too does one have a certain natural path to follow once they've been running a successful blog on a given topic for a long time.

Yet that is easy to say - hindsight and all that jazz. For, eclectic though I may be, I am not the same person I was nearly seven years ago. A staggering number of things, many for the better, have changed in my life since then. I'm older and bolder alike. I've grown in innumerable ways and some of the interests I had then are now just pleasant memories or things that are touched on once in a blue moon. Others are with me still, naturally, and it should go without saying that vintage and all that it encompasses is certainly one of them.

I can't fathom that I would ever stop loving vintage, antiques, history and genealogy. These are embedded passions that have been with me since my earliest days. Yet they are not all of who I am and what I love, and I often struggle with ways to let some of those other parts of my eclectic soul shine through, be it on my blog, in my wardrobe, through my decor choices, and in other areas of my world alike.

Perhaps, to a degree, many of us do. I don't claim to be alone here and am not leading this post in the direction of some great epiphany on the subject, for none has been forthcoming, no matter how much I've thought, reflected and even meditated on the topic.

The focus of this blog is, and always be, vintage, and I love that. However, at the same time, I also sincerely hope that as the years continue to roll on, I can find ways to weave more and more of my interests, my passions, my beliefs, and my soul itself into my posts here, too.

There are, as with so much in this world, pros and cons alike to being eclectic - to loving a great many things with a huge part of your heart/mind/spirit. Ultimately though, I have always felt, at the end of the day, the blessings outweigh the negatives and I think, no, I know, that having such a wide breadth of interests is a huge part of why I've been able to keep this blog going strong for the better part of seven years now.

So if that means certain sides of myself remain under wraps or aren’t overly represented here, ultimately, I have come to realize, so be it. They're still with me, still shaping my life, and who knows, perhaps some of them are even waiting just around the corner to be blogged about in the wee hours of another sleepy, moonlit night.