Writers block?

Spring in Agia Marina

I have nothing more to write. I have nothing more to write that is important. What is important to write? Is there any thing important to write? These thoughts have been going on in my head for the last couple of weeks. I can’t find a subject for the blog. I don’t feel like writing for the blog. Is it worth writing this blog about a small island in Greece?

Why do I feel this way? I think that there is an overload of information coming towards us and surrounding us and when we absorb this information it changes us. When I was studying as an librarian we used to talk about this overload and how we have to use methods to find the right information. But what is the right information and how do we use this information to lead and effect our lives?

Most information that reaches you via television and the internet nowadays is bad and there is also fake news. The bad news is mostly about wars, about the environment, about politics. A method to not get that information is not watch television, not use the internet and your telephone. But then you are cut of from the world. Is that the way you want to live? I don’t want to live like this but I read about so many problems in the world and feel anxious about them and ask myself what can I do? How can I contribute?

There are media sources that focus on good, positive news and I follow some of these sources. A couple in the USA looks up children and adults who are handicapped/socially challenged. Their stories are sad but there is always something positive about it too. The love of their parents, spouses, siblings for them. The challenges they have overcome. Their future. A guy in New York who speaks to people who live there and he tells their stories. When he asks for help thousands help out for a good cause. This is what I have to focus on in order to go on. I will hear about the bad news but I will also keep in mind that there is also good news and people doing good.

What I do is enough and what others do is also enough. As long as you try. Next year I have been living on this island for 25 years. Not everything that happens on this island is good. Nothing is perfect, nowhere in the world but I take comfort in the good things that happen on this island without any ties to politics, money or premeditated strategies. The fact that others complain or are against what you do should not deter anybody and me neither.

A lot of information I gather is not via interviews with the people involved. The information is part of my life because I live with the people I write about. These people are the basis of this blog. The person in the town hall who wants to speak to me about somebody else who needs help and I can put something on the blog about it. The group of people cleaning up beaches or roads. Just because they care and want to do something. The shops that want to contribute with tools and materials. The group of women making Christmas decorations to sell so the scouts have money to go in field trips. Parents boards of schools trying to raise money for the schools so benches and sports material can be bought. All the people involved with sports on this island so kids have a chance to exercise and be healthy and not hang around on the streets. The couple who try and help the health center by bringing in materials from abroad. The woman who fights to have the cat and dog population neutered. The vets who voluntarily help out. The woman who exercises with foreigners and locals in the summer and tries to raise money for the care of strays. Foreigners donating clothes for those in need. They are all good people, trying to do good.

Money has come available to clean dry streams that have been build on or are blocked on the island. The forestry office has new personnel for eight months to clean parts of forests and land. There are ongoing talks about a private boat for the Sporades who can travel back and forth. There are people who think about the identity of this island for the future. There is more happening then you might think and I hope to give you that news in the following years.

Many readers also need to see their beloved Skopelos so photo’s are also important. It slips my mind sometimes and I cannot always imagine what it must mean to not be here but see a recent photo of the place you love. So here we go.

Milia yesterday afternoon

The forest behind Agia Maria. Photo from last week.

Glysteri a couple of days ago. The cement ramp is gone and the beach is better defined.

Hazy Skopelos, people are burning branches etc.

Stafylos beach, people are still swimming there.

I think I have cleared away the cobwebs that were in front of me and blocked the feeling of a purpose that I had in order to write this blog. Writing it takes up a lot of time and I don’t want disappoint the readers but sometimes it is too much….