My friends, I was overwhelmed by the responses to my post on whether I should continue my blog. Thank you for your kind comments and suggestions. For now, I will probably continue to post, but at a lesser pace. Some of your suggestions, I will put to use. If I don't get something posted every day, I'll try to make myself believe that it's OK. See. I'm already in trouble.
Last night, one friend told me in an email to ask the real (as opposed to the virtual) people in my life what they thought of my time spent blogging. Grandpère was the only person present, so I asked him. Now he has complained about my time spent on the computer in the past, but he seems to have become used to it. (Or should I say trained?) I asked him if our lives together would be better if I quit the blog. He looked at me as though I were crazy. Well, I am, you know, but he's accustomed to that. He said, "No, it doesn't matter to me, one way or another." So much for that. We have interests in common, but we often go our separate ways in pursuit of activities we enjoy. I believe that may one of the secrets of our long marriage. Too much togetherness has always seemed sort of smothering to me.
Thanks to all of you for your lovely expressions of support and for excellent suggestions on ways to make blogging less onerous for me. Hugs and kisses all around.
Photo from Flickr.
Thank the Lord! A much more sensible solution. Tho' I can see where blogging might very easily become more than a little obsessive-compulsive, hamster-in-the-wheel-ish. Follow Doxy's lead - post every three months.
ReplyDeleteI was afraid you were going to disappear into cyber-ether, eloping with Rural Rector.
See I missed it!
ReplyDeleteIn one of your comments on the previous post you question your capcity for living up to peoples expectations. Don't even begin to use that as a measure. You can never predict what their expectations are so will always disapoint some and please others. Have a break, post once a week whatever balances with the rest of your stuff. I would love to post daily but don't always have the time, so I don't, but I don't beat myself up about it and reccomend that you don't either.
Mimi, I read your 'to blog or not to blog part 1' post late last night -- too late to prop myself up and comment -- and then grabbed yesterday's mail to look at as I soaked in the tub before bed. What should I find in the Scientific American (June issue) but an article by Jessica Wapner, 'The Healthy Type: The therapeutic value of blogging becomes a focus of study.' It's on p. 32 of the magazine but also online at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type
It is a short article worth reading in full. But I would like to comment about why blogging of the kind you do (which I love to participate in) may be found to be 'therapeutic'. I find it a great outlet myself to post comments on other people's blogs regarding matters both serious and silly. Why? Among other things, blogging RESTORES TO US OUR VOICE AS CITIZENS of our nation and of the world, and as members of the Church. We are living in a time when so much of what happens to our country, the world community and ourselves is being controlled by big institutions and mediated by propaganda. Blogging undermines that. It enables us to find each other regardless of geographic distance and speak out against the crimes and the lies, imagine alternatives, and organize actions (including prayer which is a powerful kind of action).
It goes without saying that selfishly I hope you will continue, but not at the cost of your own well-being. I haven't had time to read all of yesterday's comments yet but will just encourage you, if you do carry on, to put this on a schedule that allows for your life to be balanced. Maybe treat it like a job that you do a certain number of hours per week, at a particular time of day, and stay within those boundaries. The blogging should nourish your soul and keep your spirits up, not wear you down or wear you out.
Whatever you decide we'll stay connected, dear Mimi.
At one end of the spectrum is MP, with his million posts a week pace (which leaves us all wondering if perhaps that cloning program gotten to the UK ahead of the US - I mean, how does he do it?) and at the other end are some who post once a day, once in a while, or even once in a blue moon. The beauty of rss readers like bloglines and google reader is that it doesn't matter. The aggregators out there can do the hard work of keeping us up to date, no matter how often you post.
ReplyDeleteYou should post when you want. Sometime last year, maybe it was when Mark had a cry out for help, or maybe it was the city of God appeal, it occurred to me and probably others that we are a part of a Christian community just as real as your local St. Waszzit's in the Glen church (without the committee meetings) and we would all miss the voices who speak in our community.
To all of you, "Yes!" I have been straining and feeling pressured to keep up with various and nameless folks out there, who produce prodigious numbers of posts, while ignoring the many fine examples of bloggers, who write at a slower pace. Trying to "keep up" actually took much of the joy out of writing on my blog.
ReplyDeleteSo, there you have it!
ReplyDeleteOf course keep blogging! Our community would be different without you.
ReplyDeletePuleeez don't go away. Don't worry about blogging every day. It's meant to be an outlet not a chain around your neck. Blog when the muse hits you and let it be when you don't. But please don't yank this blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying. I know of a post that I could put up, but I'm not going to do it. Three in one day is enough, even though two of them fell in my lap.
ReplyDeleteWhere was I? I missed the To Blog or Not to Blog thread!
ReplyDeleteBlog.
Now that that's all sorted, let's talk about me. I'm still trying to get myself to get started, but know full well that if I do, once a week entries will be all that I can manage, if that. Of course, if I stopped reading other blogs I might have time, but what's the fun in that?
KJ, where were you in my time of need? And now you want to talk about YOU!
ReplyDeleteBlog!
Grandmere Mimi--please don't stop. Your blog is so peaceful. Pick the pace you need. The blog o'sphere would become a ghetto without you.
ReplyDelete--blessings,
margaret
Margaret, LOL. You made my night, love. A ghetto, indeed! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this comments thread yet but, even though I only met him for a few hours, I can almost hear Grandpère responding that way.
ReplyDeleteI love the craziness we share.
Grandmere, you're needed here. I haven't been around much this week, but would have been greatly saddened if you had disappeared on my return. Please keep sharing, as you feel fit.
ReplyDeleteWe need you!
Well sheez. I missed this whole thing. I'm glad you've decided to keep blogging. I would really miss you if you stopped.
ReplyDeleteYou and Grandpère are sensible people. Too much togetherness = squabbling. :)