Part of Something Bigger
It often feels like I've written more than most, I've been around longer than most, and yet I've never really sought attention, or garnered any fame. I guess much of the reason for my relative obscurity is because I jumped platforms like a hot potatofrom WordPress, to LiveJournal, Yahoo 360, Blogger, Posterous, Tumblr, Vox, Ghost, Posthaven, Medium. You name it, I wrote there.
I've been a *nightmare *to follow.
Perhaps “rolling stone” is a good term, and tremendously romantic from a literary point of view. It brackets me with the Kerouacs and Ginsbergs of this worldfree spirits forging their own path through life. The only problem is that I'm not a free spirit. My life is surrounded with requirements, pressures, expectations, obligations, and stresswhich are probably responsible for my deplorable blogging record (either that, or laziness).
In the recent past when life became hectic, I thought the social networks and micro-blogs would be a good alternative. I was wrong. There is a shallow element to micro-bloggingyour thoughts and experiences are too often passed over with a single click of a “like” button. Where your circle of “followers” may approach the hundreds or thousands, in reality you know nobody, and have little real opportunity to foster relationships.
I realised it was time to change my use of the social internet when a single photo of my face garnered an order of magniture more attention than a thousand word think-piece that I poured my heart and soul into.
I considered walking away entirely.
Something stops me from doing so. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I am more than willing to speculate on a willingness to tilt at windmills.Over the last couple of years I have read occasional proclamations that “blogging is over” – and while I beg to differ, I know I'm probably wrong.
The words we record are a shared record of our thoughts, experiences, and ideas. They are measured, crafted and curatedput together with care. That we have found each others words at all across the vast stretches of the internet proves that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves – and that the world doesn't have to be quite so empty.
I like that.