xoagray ◾ ◾ And so the new year came and went.

I haven't really said anything about my December and New years so far. But there were a few different things going on in my head and my world.

First off and probably the most profound for me was it was the first year I celebrated Yule instead of Christmas. I was brought up Baptist, but walked away from that in my teens, largely due to an overbearing stepfather that wanted to go much harder on religion that I or my mother did. Between then and about a year or so ago I didn't really consider myself religious in the classical sense. I have felt the draw here and there of a few different things, but bad experiences just pushed me away from everything. So for the next 30 odd years I was somewhere between agnostic and atheist.

But as you probably figured out from my celebrating Yule this year, I have become a Norse Pagan. Largely brought on board by my boyfriend who converted about 2 years ago. So this has been my first year living as a Heathen. It's been interesting, and I'm still learning a lot.

It's just been strange. Partly because I'm still adjusting to the change, and partly because for the first time I'm seeing what it's like to be a religion that isn't Christian in the US. People seem to have less trouble with you being atheist than being a religion that isn't Christian here. So it's caused me a little confusion when someone would say things like "Merry Christmas" but that's not me anymore. But I would usually just say "Merry Chirstmas" back. Just to be polite. But it also kinda' feels isolating. I've found other Heathens but mostly online.

I'm hoping this year my boyfriend and I can get more involved in one of the good groups I've found, it's not exactly local, but it's not too far to go hang out once a month or so. And there are some really good folks in there. I've heard there's also a Heathen group in Furry, though I have yet to actually find / talk to any of them.

But yeah, December has just been kind of weird for me this year. Hopefully by next year it'll be better and I'll be in a better place around all this.

As far as the New Year, Honestly, I hadn't even had the chance to think about it when it was happening. And even now almost a month later I'm still not really sure what I'm going to do with this year. I have a bunch of things I'd LIKE to do, but actually having the resources and time to do them is the hard part. I've had things I want to do on my mind for years now that I haven't been able to get to, so I hate to say, "I'm doing X this year!" and then not be able to do any of it. So I just haven't really settled on anything. I'm just going to kind of go for a general, "I hope this year is better than the last" and hope I get there.

I'd like to do more traveling this year, more photography, and more writing. I'd also like to take some real steps towards getting out of Florida. I'd say getting out of the US, but that seems so impossible right now I don't know if it's even worth mentioning.

Anyway, that's about it from me for now.

Hail Oðin! Happy New Year! May we all find ourselves in better places!