Merge my old loves and new? Accepting change.
I know for a fact you’re reading that title and saying, “Umm…what?” And that is a totally valid response. Because I was confused myself. For almost 10 years now K-pop and K-drama have consumed my life. Whether it was binge watching old dramas, getting frustrated I had to wait another week for new episodes, or ordering my five copies of the same album to get every photobook and PC I wanted, or rewatching music videos to get my group it’s first or tenth win. Going to concerts as both a fan and press to cover the shows and put a spotlight on the smaller groups who may not get the recognition they deserve.
My life for the last several years has been just that. It has helped me cross off some amazing goals. Like an Amazon #1 BEST SELLER!! All because I wanted people to be able to learn Korean in a fun new way. I got to travel to Korea and experience places I had written about. I’ve been featured on Forbes, this very website was featured in a college presentation IN KOREA and I’ve had book signings where I’ve sold a bunch of books to people who never thought learning Korean through a romance novel would be on their bookshelf.
Where am I going with this?
I have been able to accept a lot of change very well. It’s part of growing up. Moving out, getting a job, leaving the job, starting a new one, making new friends, losing some, dating, marriage, parenthood. I have gone through a lot of change in my 34 years on this Earth and believe I have handled most of them pretty well.
The last couple of years have been pretty hectic in the life department. I’ve mentioned previously I traveled to Korea for the first time, my husband had a stroke, my grandmother passed, I’m currently pregnant, and I’ve just released my fourth book. All of that PLUS trying to keep up with social media promotions, my day job, and life in general have put K-pop and K-dramas and other things I love on the back burner for me.
And with all the life changes I have had and am currently having, I know one thing I want to do/change is bringing this blog back to life. I haven’t been active in over a year! That is crazy to me considering I used to post almost weekly.
But I’ve realized in order for me to want to bring it back to life, my content will have to change. And I think the reason I am so scared to make these changes is because for the last few years you, my amazing friends, fans, and casual readers, have grown accustomed to what I wrote. You enjoyed the topics I covered, the ideas I shared, and all that, and I am frightened that I will disappoint you with my somewhat new direction, but I hope you give me and the new direction a chance.
One of the first big changes is, I am hanging up my concert photography hat. And there are a lot of reasons for this decision, but the biggest one is time. With a child on the way and like I mentioned all the other things I have on my plate, the time it takes to go to the concert, shoot the concert, go back, edit photos, AND write up an article is simply too much to add to my plate. Another reason, I rarely got accepted in the first place lol. I was and always will be extremely grateful for the opportunities I had and will never take them for granted. The final reason, my photos weren’t all that good. They just weren’t where other people were and I would be disappointed in myself when comparing to others. So for my own mental health stepping back is better than feeling inferior.
The next change is about this website. Don’t worry Korean From Context isn’t going anywhere but I want it to be more than Korean From Context. I want to use it as my author website. Which means things on the site need to change. Like this blog section. While I do plan to still talk lots about a ton of things Korean, I want to talk about other loves of mine. Aka: the merging of my old and new like the title mentions. Those ‘new’ loves aren’t exactly new but not something I initially wrote about on a strictly Korean From Context site. I now want to talk about my writing, my life, and basically anything I feel like writing about.
Those are probably the “major” changes to this site. Which, at the end of the day, aren’t crazy but something I wanted to address for people who notice/care.
