“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” ~Theodor Seuss Geisel

Where to start the ending?

The last three months that I’ve been blogging for the Kink Academy haven’t always been easy. Many things that I hadn’t anticipated happening, seemed to creep up on me. There were a lot of great things, presenting at both the NELA Fetish Fair Fleamarket and Momentumcon; and some other, personal things that weren’t always so easy to deal with. It sometimes made it difficult to even want to think about writing, much less writing about kink.

One of the truths that I was reminded of while blogging for the Kink Academy is that in my life, kink takes time, effort and work. It’s not all fun and games. And it’s not always easy to shuffle commitments to make room for kink. But I also found that it was necessary for me to find the time. It’s such a large part of who I am, that blogging for the Kink Academy gave me time to explore kink, even when the world around me was at it’s most vanilla. It saved my sanity a few times when I thought I’d go crazy with all the shades of vanilla I’d had to deal with.

When I first applied for the job, I’d had great ideas and people that were willing to help me explore. The ideas stuck, but the people weren’t always available. That was okay though. I managed to learn even without having a partner in crime for a lot of things. Even if I had to use the dining room chair. It surprised me to learn that many of the things taught could be adapted and incorporated into areas of my life that had very little to do with kink. What was even more surprising to me was reading my fellow students’ blogs and realizing that we had a lot of things in common. And even if we’d watched the same video, the way that each of us used it was different.

My original goal was to write about how the information contained in the Kink Academy videos could be incorporated into my life. I thought that this would happen seamlessly by watching them and doing what was in them. I’d pick a subject, I’d learn how to do “something” and I’d do it. What it ended up being was more about how I wanted to incorporate the ideas of what I’d learned into my entire life. New ideas, different ways of seeing things, and things that made me uncomfortable were all given a look-see. I used the Kink Academy videos as a way to expand my outlook, not just my practical skills.

I don’t know that I would have watched some of the videos had I not been blogging about them. And I would have missed out on a whole lot. It would be unlikely that I would have watched a video about Age Play as it isn’t my kink. But I watched Lee Harrington explain it in such a way that, even if it’s NOT my kink, I can at least understand it and talk somewhat intelligently about it with others. I’m glad that I spent so much time wandering around the site and just watching and learning. It increased my understanding of so many different kinks and outlooks, that I see a wider world of kink than I’d normally see in my own small world.

I watched far more videos than I wrote about. I wished I’d had time to write more about Renee’s Gender series and Belt Bondage, or Cecila Tan‘s Submissive series, Sarah Sloane’s Polyamory series, or Madison Young’s Zen Submissive series. I noticed early on that I was drawn to the women educators on the site. It’s likely because of my own affinity for strong, self-assured, women who are comfortable in their kinkiness, but I was, and continue to be, impressed with the wonderful presenters on the site – Princess Kali, Lady Cyanide and Megan Andelloux among them. But perhaps the biggest impact in my own life was from watching Mollena’s series on Service. It made me think some hard things about myself. It made me ask some questions of myself that I hadn’t before. And it gave me lots more questions that I hope to explore by continuing my education at the Kink Academy. There are also some very good series’ that I’m looking forward to seeing more from including Sir Guy’s series on Dealing with Law Enforcement. And I’m waited with bated breath for a florentine flogging video that I heard was coming soon.

It’s difficult to choose which was my favorite experience. I’m split between the Full Contact Dom punching video that I used to give the killer massage to Septimus (which I continue to use and improve upon), and the flogger making series by Goddess Nyxx. I can’t even shop anywhere now without wondering if something would “make a fun flogger”!

All in all this was a wonderful experience for me. I’d do it again in a minute. Or, I’ll just continue to support and use the Kink Academy and expand my knowledge, while increasing the number of questions I ask. I know that I’ll be able to find something at the Kink Academy to help me find my way.

Thanks for a wonderful three months!

~Silverdreams