You may have noticed that things around the blog have changed a bit. I’ve made the leap of faith to hosting my own blog using WordPress.org open source software. Basically it means I have more control over my blog all the way down to the coding. My blog has all the same posts, comments, and content that was on my previous blog. Also, the web address is exactly the same as the old. And, if you have links to particular posts or pages, those are all in tact. What is different is the look and feel as well as a lot of “behind the scenes” things that help me do a better job of blogging and creating and responding to your ideas, questions, thoughts, etc.

For you the reader, the transition should be seamless … but if you notice any oddities, I’d be glad to know and figure out how to fix them. So here’s a quick look at the old and the new:

OLD

• my blog with “old” format
• can still be seen at http://nuns2day.wordpress.com
• won’t be updated

NEW

• my blog with “new” format
• the current live site at http://anunslife.org
• will be updated as usual

I still have a lot of tinkering to do, especially with the look of the new format. But for now, it has everything and over time it will continue to evolve. Any suggestions or feedback along the way is always helpful.

My blog provider WordPress.com has this nifty little feature that allows me to see what kind of hits I get from search engines. I think it is my favorite feature. Today I was looking at it and found that the search term “how to get out of being a nun”. I don’t know who entered that the search term or why, but I’ve got to say: I feel your pain.

Basically I never wanted to be a nun. I had my life all planned out — and it most certainly did not involve celibacy, obedience or poverty (the three vows we sisters profess). Life has a funny way of not going the way we plan it all the time. While I was in my last year of college I got to thinking about what I was going to do and how I wanted to live my life. I was involved in my Catholic faith community at school (after a couple year hiatus exploring other faith traditions) and considered my options as a single, Catholic woman. I was aiming for married life, having done the “single” thing. A third option, however, was something I had never considered. So, in a (misguided) spirit of fairness, I thought I’d look into religious life just to say that I did. Then I could cross it off the list. Well so much for that. What happened was that the more I looked into it, met sisters/nuns and brothers/monks, the more I was attracted to the lifestyle. All the while I was thinking NOOOOOO! How do I get out of being a nun?????

I tried my best to get out of it. Let’s see … there was ignoring it, not going to church, doing stupid things to make me feel like I was not nun-material, yelling at God, not talking to God, looking up old flames, checking out Buddhism (until I found nuns there too), and taking up running (trust me, it sounded like a good idea at the time; I was willing to try anything to get me as far away from God as possible).

Finally, I gave into it. Best decision of my life.