Today marks the sixth anniversary of my blog The Kessel Runway. This year has been awful for a lot of us, but for me, it was almost the killing blow after more than five years of stress and struggles.
A few short months after I launched The Kessel Runway, my husband lost his job. Our family had to make a lot of adjustments as he transitioned from full-time work to full-time student, pursing his PhD via scholarship. To say it’s been hard at times would be a massive understatement, and we are forever grateful to our amazing family and friends who have supported us through this journey.
So, why am I sharing all this? December 1st is the date I publicly launched this blog back in 2014, and today, on this December 1st 2020, my husband officially starts his new job.
2020 has been pretty much the worst year ever for most of us, and my family has certainly felt it. While we count ourselves very fortunate to live in New Zealand, the global pandemic made our financial situation all the more worse, and the stress has taken a huge toll on our family. Our daughter had just started at university, and my husband had nearly finished his PhD when our country went into lockdown, and everything we though we could count on changed drastically.
As you can guess, I sadly put this blog on the backburner. A stay-at-home mom, I had to put my husband and daughter first – at such crucial times in their careers, I needed to support them as much as I could. My birthday, wedding anniversary, and Mother’s Day all happened during our lockdown, but my family went out of their way to make me feel special, with some wonderful gifts I really treasure.
I have to be honest, there have been times this year where I thought I might give up on this blog entirely. It hurt when people I admire stole ideas from me, even when I had featured them on my own blog in the past. I get a lot of anxiety from social media (something I am trying really hard to work on), but it’s almost impossible to keep up with new Star Wars fashion releases without following brands on social media. But even though all that, I never quite completely gave up on TKR.
Now that my family has started a new chapter together, I have more time to spend on this blog again. I am hopeful, and excited again, and have the mental energy to think about more than just bills and keeping the roof over our heads.
If you’ve read this far, I thank you so much. Thank you for visiting my blog, for being a part of this Star Wars community, and I hope that 2021 brings us all a brighter future.
May the Force be with you.
