My daughter and I have this annoying conversational quirk. We will ping from topic to seemingly unrelated topic. Yet to us there is a logical transition. To others it appears to be disjointed fragments. Add to this that we can pick up a conversation, after being apart, right where we left off. We call it our ‘six degrees of separation.’
I had an internal six degrees process today starting with a rant earlier this week and the reasons for it, to getting two-cents from a complete stranger, to paying that kindness forward, to telling the world about my epiphany, to wondering whether I would have reacted differently if I didn’t have a way to tell the world.
Has blogging changed you?
Has it made you wiser, kinder, more tolerant, less afraid ~ because to be so makes for better copy, or merely a better you?
Taking a philosophical turn while interacting with a inconsolable toddler sounds more parental-esque than writing about your total mental implosion. Having to lay your baby down in a safe place and walking way amid a crescendo of full-lung capacity is not nearly as intriguing as speaking of how they are only young once and they have such pretty eyes or sweet smiles.
Still all you really want is to self-medicate until your tag team partner returns home. Even then you can only hope that he or she will take over so you can just sit down for a minute or two in peace and quiet. But to write about that is darker than you want to appear.
You offer a vagrant a hot meal instead of withdrawing in revulsion because if you stop breathing through your mouth his overpowering stench will bring up the cinnamon-raisin bagel and Venti Vanilla Bean Frappuccino Blended Creme you had at breakfast. Altruistic gestures are a sure Hit magnet while projectile vomiting (unless it’s coming from our angelic offspring) is not.
Have you compose a heartwarming, and perhaps a touch naughty, list of loving attributes to your significant other to mark a special milestone, but neglect to mention you sleep in separate beds, in separate bedrooms, living more as roommates or platonic best friends than lovers and spouses. To divulge any more intimate details would not be good blog fodder or too incongruent with your other posts to the contrary. Sex sells.
Or, has writing about your day-to-day made you more acutely aware, forcing you to look closely at yourself, turning your life into a self-imposed fish bowl, knowing you will be sharing, and having to decide whether to remake yourself so you won’t be lying to the world.
Do you think more about what you say and do now that you’ve put yourself on display for all to see?
I believe I do. I believe that I am more conscious of my actions and reactions. I think longer and harder about what I say and do now because I didn’t necessarily like what I did or said before, and I didn’t want to admit how shallow and superficial I could be.
I do think differently. I do try to see the different angles, the different reasons and whys of something. I’m not changing facts or dialogue, but I am not the same person I was when I first started this adventure.
Has blogging changed you?
(Disclaimer: The events depicted in this post are fictitious. Any similarity to any blogger living or dead is merely coincidental.)
Submitted as part of Shell’s “Pour Your Heart Out” writing prompt at Things I Can’t Say. Please stop by to read the other posts, and give a little comment love.
Originally posted Dec. 18, 2008
Thin spiral notebook 
Blogging has definitely changed me. As someone who has always tended to close myself off to others, writing has helped me feel more comfortable about opening up. Is there much that I don’t say on my blog? Yes … not necessarily because I’m hiding that side of myself from the world. Usually it’s out of respect for someone I care about who would prefer I not be so open where they are involved. But overall, blogging has changed me.. for the better.
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This post opens up the door for a lot of discussion on the nature of blogging itself. I found myself at a point in my life where I wanted to be less afraid of putting my views out there, so blogging has helped me to face that fear and practise getting past that hurdle. I’ve also found that I do think more carefully about what I say in the `real’ world because my blog is articulated in a specific manner of `telling’ or giving information that seems to spill over into my other thought processes. I’ve always found my writing voice is far clearer than my spoken voice but I lacked the confidence of both and blogging has definitely improved that.
I’m glad you mentioned your conversational quirk. I do this ALL the time and no one else but my half-sister does it. It took me years to realise that other people didn’t see the logical connections between the fragments of conversation that I did. Excellent post.
🙂
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Blogging has done three things for me:
1) Put me in contact with people who are like minded. I didn’t think ANYONE thought like me. It has been nice to converse, albeit over the computer, with people who share my drive to write and talk.
2) Made me more aware of difefrnet viewpoints. I wasn’t judgemental coming into blogging/being on the internet. Writing has made me almost totally devoid of negative judgements.
3) Expanded my reading and writing capabilities.
I think blogging, if you enter into too with an open mind and heart, can be artistic and satisfying. I have almost no negative experiences.
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What an insightful post Tara. I pick and choose what dirty laundry to air out on my blog….it always seems to be pretty minor stuff. If something of more concern is going on, I generally don’t post about it….mainly because I’m uncomfortable with it, not because I don’t think my blogging friends would mind. I guess I just don’t post about negative or dire things very often. I have read a great deal of blogs that pretty much tell everything….nothing is barred. Blogging for me has been a special connection to many wonderful personalities who have become my friends…albeit it through cyberspace. My only problem is that I spend too much time sitting at the computer when I should be doing more active things….but I’m also in a time of my life where I am less active than I was.
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I never really thought about it like that, though you have a very good point.
I tend to think more about how blogging has changed my view of others and those who make different choices than I do. B/c I get to read more about those and develop an understanding that I didn’t have before.
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A thoughtful post. I know I don’t air all my dirty laundry online, but I also try to walk a fine line to keep my posts genuine representations of who I am, which is ever growing and ever evolving. I know that I can be my best self when I hold myself accountable to the aspirations I share through my writing, so I think it helps me to be a better person. But I also know that like with any other public setting, I am more apt to be my crankiest, frustrated, etc. in private. I don’t sugar coat things, but I don’t broadcast every negative emotion I have either. I don’t have the need to do that online, though I know others find it helpful to share. I also don’t use my blog primarily as a journal, though I’m okay and even enjoy when others do. It’s their prerogative and often I find the sharing enjoyable:) Thanks for a thoughtful, as always, post!
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Nice post., Tara.
Blogging has shrunk my world, activated a dormant global awareness. It was a real eye-opener to see that I have had almost 20,000 unique visitors from 82 countries around the world, including so many cultures, races, religions. And that awareness turned on my internal editor. I’m much more conscious of my words, less likely to just blurt something out without considering the readers or listeners who might be offended.
I’ve always said that “we are all the center of our own universe,” and believed that different world views are as valid as mine. But blogging has really brought that home.
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