Hold On ...

whatever it is that sustains you ... and I pray I might be counted as one of those things ...

Blogging for me has always been about the outreach. My work has always been about the outreach. People matter to me.

I have never cared much for money, or acclaim. I don't really care if anyone else thinks I am swell or where people rank me. What matters to me are the connections, the one on one's ...

If I can make someone smile, lift a spirit, encourage, empower ... then I have had a good day. I am always blessed by my interactions with others - be they good or unpleasant ... I always benefit from the lessons gained.

For some time now I have blogged as my avatar, then moved to a crossover with my real identity and am now moving to me. It is easier to explain my real life to Second Life than it is to explain Second Life to the real world. It is an interesting transition - in Second Life people friend everyone. Some people actually want to know you, others just want to hang, and some want to be where everyone else seems to be. In real life people hesitate, are cautious, are fearful. We don't want to share ourselves nearly as quickly and certainly not as easily.

Like many in SL I have lots of people who follow me on Facebook. I have followers on my blogs. The invitation is out to all of them to make the transition with me. It is an open offering of friendship with all the walls down. You don't have to reveal a single thing more about yourself to me ... avatars are lovingly accepted and welcomed ... I never have been able to see much of a difference between whether it is you in a pixelated body or you in your own body. People are just people.

I hope people will make the leap across to the new websites and they will follow me on twitter, facebook or Google + as Aria E. Appleford. I hope they will join my blog Intertwingled for all my writings or choose one of the other 3 blogs that splits it into humour, social commentary and spiritual. These blogs are all networked on Facebook and they have their own pages. I will keep my Blissimo as the fashion blog for Second Life and will remain in Second Life but I have lots of new projects, and things I hope those of you who have supported me and been my friends will continue to be interested in and support.

Lots of people slip words onto the page and maybe they mean them and maybe they don't. I can only tell you that YOU matter to me and I really would like you to feel invited to join me. I love the comments and the sharing - on the blog, emails and chats. I think that people helping one another is important. Empowering people to be the best they can be, to find their own strengths, their own talents, and spreading their wings and flying ... is its own reward. I am as imperfect as they come, have found my way by crawling and bleeding through the tragedies of my life. There are only two things I know for sure about myself ... I am a survivor and I am worth it ...

And so are you!