Sisters of Synergy

It’s 15 October and I’ve reached the halfway point of Blogtober or Blahtober, depending on your perspective. Thanks for coming along on the ride so far. This whole thing started 15 days ago when friend and fellow blogger, Kristina Garla decided to join me in a challenge to write 31 posts over 31 days on each of our blogs. We’ve each had fun and difficulties along the way but we’ve been struck by how many of our posts contain synergies. This despite the fact that we live 700kms/450miles apart and we don’t talk to each other about what we’re going to write in advance. In fact, Kristina often posts in the morning and I resist reading her posts until after I’ve posted (which often turns into after 11pm at night). Anyway, we thought we’d shake things up today at our halfway mark and try writing a blog post together. We decided that she’d write one paragraph, send it to me, I’d write a paragraph, send it back to her, and so on and we wouldn’t talk on the phone to each other while we wrote. This is the result of that experiment. It’s an exercise in synergy.

KG: When Lisa came up with the brilliant idea to not only do Blogtober, but at the midpoint, if we were both still at it, to celebrate by doing a post together, I loved it. It gave me something to work towards as we came up with our blogs each day to reach day 15. And here we are. Lisa and I have really different lives, but despite this we are sisters of synergy. Often sharing similar experiences and stories, thoughts and ideas. Lisa was born in America. I was born in Australia. She is one of two children. I am one of four. She has two daughters. I have a son and a daughter. We live in different cities. She has travelled to many places I haven’t. She has trained as a death doula. I haven’t. And yet, I feel like weirdly we could be the same person from a former life. Separated by sorcery and sent on our separate ways only to collide in lifetimes to follow. We have so many similarities. The main one, we both love to write.

LW: Writing for me comes naturally. It feels like the thing I was put here on this earth to do. And blog writing helps me get my thoughts in order. Since I started my blog a few years ago I have spent many a day thinking that I could write a post every day to help me make sense of the world as I traverse my way through it. But I’ve been scared to write too much, to offer too many opinions, to clog up people’s inboxes with my thoughts and opinions. So Blogtober was a way to stretch my brain and put me firmly in an uncomfortable position – one where I wondered if I was good enough. Good enough to write every day, good enough to have people read what I write. Wondering if they are good enough is a theme in many people’s lives. And both Kristina and I write about things that affect not only ourselves, but our readers as well.

KG: I also feel like writing is the purpose of my very being. I was born to write. We were born to write. What I find funny, no, hilarious actually, is how similar our blog posts are. So often, even before Blogtober, our blogs would have the same theme. I had an idea yesterday to write about community and friendships. ‘A little help from my friends’ is the working title. I started to write it for a future post. That evening, I read Lisa’s latest, and it is all about friendship and how her community has supported her. Synergy again. Worth a read! Lisa is off to Peru, she is selling her possessions and off to start a new adventure. To work in for a company specialising in, exactly as their name says, Travel and Healing. Synergistically, I have been thinking a lot lately about selling all my possessions and moving overseas, being possession free. I have also been learning Spanish, which Lisa is now doing (so thrilled as now I have someone else to practise with – and we both now know how to say ‘I eat apples’. So, thankfully we won’t starve).

LW: Synergies abound in each of our lives, we just have to be aware and willing to see them. People are always astounded by the stories of synergies I tell on my blog or in person, but all of us have access to synergistic events all the time. It’s just that we’re usually too busy and too mentally occupied with daily life to notice.

KG: I feel so fortunate to have noticed the synergies. What I love about our friendship is there are no rules. Exactly like writing this blog post together for the midpoint of Blogtober. It is relaxed. It is free. We simply bounce off each other. I write, send it to Lisa. She writes, sends it to me. Wherever the other person takes it, is OK. Our friendship has always been like this. We support each other. We laugh with (and at) each other. We frustrate each other. We have been jealous of each other. But we own it. Own our insecurities. Share the frustrations and work through it. In a respectful and kind way. And because of this, our friendship is deeper. Because we are honest. We are honest like sisters. We know there is a deep respect and bond, and so we are not afraid to tell the truth. We are sisters of synergy.

LW: It’s funny. I can go for months without speaking to Kristina and hardly even thinking of her. Then, something will happen – it could be anything – and I will know without a doubt that I need to talk to her. And oddly, whenever something huge is going on in my life, that’s when she shows up. It isn’t coincidence that caused me to ring her on 1 October and fess up to a bout of jealousy. It was synergy. And that synergy led to us starting this Blogtober project together. I had no idea on 1 October that my life was going to change so drastically within two weeks. Two weeks ago I had no idea that I was about to be offered a job that will take me to Peru, leaving behind my life here in Australia that I’ve worked so hard to build. I had no idea that my emotions would be so ripped to shreds as I’m pulled between heart and head and soul. I had no idea then that I would have so much content for these blog posts each day. And I had no idea the role Kristina was to play in helping me sort my thoughts, my emotions and my feelings about this move. We have literally talked each night of the last two weeks. And it’s been one of the craziest two weeks of my life. I’ve needed her and she showed up for me.

KG: The beauty lies in the fact we have no idea the role others will play in our lives. Sorcery can separate us sister. But we will always be here for each other. As you have been for me many times.

LW: That’s just what sisters of synergy do.