I can't say why I actually put a hold to my blogging activities since the beginning of the year. I could say it was because I was busy (but being busy never prevented me from posting regularly back in 2006, or even 2008 and 2010), or perhaps being busy led to the fact that I could not focus my thoughts to form coherent sentences (this part is true... of late, each time I get an inspiration to blog about something, my thought process is always interrupted by well, interruptions in many different forms, and probably bad feng shui. Don't ask. Besides, during the short blogging break, I realised that talking about myself had actually made me more depressed then I'd actually be if I didn't write about it, because you see, things happened as they normally would the past month and a half, (some good, some so bad and shocking that you'd think it's fiction), but because I hardly dwelt on them, they didn't have the opportunity to depress me, odd as it may sound.
So, I was thinking all this while... how do I continue writing, and prevent making it as personal as I possibly can? I tried to figure out a new format, a new name, a new URL even... but I figured it would be pointless without content. Perhaps, I should try to get back into the groove, blog about less personal stuff (for instance my trips to North Sumatera last year and a recent visit to Sri Lanka) first, get the writing mojo rolling, and give the fingers some exercise and then figure out what I'm going to do.
Meanwhile, I'll try catching up with what has been happening around your blogs....
I worry bout the same thing...that i put too much of myself into my posts and that i get too personal. But i do find it very therapeutic in helping me deal with all the demons....and after a while i guess you just get used to it that it stops bothering you anymore. Risk-benefit analysis babes
ReplyDeleteWelcome back anyway :)
Bad feng shui? You mean your writing desk is facing the wrong way? Or you are?
ReplyDeleteI find very personal posts have unpredictable consequences. Sometimes I feel it's done me good to express something and get it out in the open, sometimes I feel embarrassed and uncomfortable and feel I shouldn't have said anything. But I leave it there, because I feel deleting posts is somehow rather cowardly.
Well, I tend to be intensely personal. It helps me. But you have to do what's best for you. I'm sure you'll figure it out. AT any rate, I'm glad to hear you are still around!
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for giving me a great excuse to use. From here on out, I'm blaming everything on bad feng shui.
Welcome back! I was getting worried about the long silence.
ReplyDeleteI think most of us with personal blogs tend to feel the same way about how much of our personal lives are should we allow ourselves to share to the world. I often feel that way and, although we try to be as anonymous as possible...it rarely works.
And just like Sabrina, I find blogging therapeutic as it helps me vent out my feelings, and helps me think clearer as well as get other people's insight into my frustrations.
My latest worries are not being allowed to say as much as I want to say because I have family who read my blog and that has always been the larger part of my worry- unable to be free in what I want to say.
You will know what's right for you.
Saby: It used to be therapeutic when I first started... though admittedly I was never as open about my life as some people. Maybe I've just shrunk back even more into my shell and don't feel like sharing anymore.
ReplyDeletenick: Well, I used to write in a different location when I first started, and had much, much more privacy... I've not deleted posts either, but I've 'unpublished' published posts before.
SAW: Bad feng shui is an awesome excuse, no doubt... I kind of believe some of it, though, especially regarding the position I'm sitting in now where there are big windows AND a door at the back of me.
Got this from a feng shui advice website:
# Don't place your desk so that your back is to the door-this will cause you to be jumpy, easily startled, and distracted because you never know who's behind you or you'll feel like you're being stabbed in the back.
# Don't place your desk so that your back is against a full wall of windows-this position may make you feel as though nothing solid is backing you up.
LMC: I've lost all anonymity except to people who accidentally stumble on the blog... Funny thing is, I don't really mind what I'm sharing, just that it suddenly occurred to me that the sharing may (or may not - as it's just my theory based on my feelings and not backed by any scientific study)have caused the bouts of melancholy and depression in the past year(s)
PS: Your second last paragraph actually really hits home
As someone whose blogging mojo comes and goes (but it's mostly gone) I can completely sympathise.
ReplyDeleteWriting about yourself should be a cathartic experience and while that catharticism (is that a word?) can lead to self-doubt, it should, in my opinion, ultimately be a positive experience.
Good to see you popping up again and I hope recent events haven't been too traumatic.
Welcome back, try posting a little less often. Maybe once a week, it worked for me.
ReplyDeleteI understand the feeling. I've dropped in and out of blogging for the last year or so, and I've swung the opposite way too. I think originally it did me good to write about things that bothered me, then I stopped doing that. Lately I've found myself wanting to wait until the outcome of things to blog, rather than blogging about the process as I used to. It doesn't seem to relate to being busy as I probably have more time on my hands now. Don't know what it is... maybe they just ahve a certain lifespan. If you stopped blogging I would miss it though!
ReplyDeleteHey Terra , glad & wonderful that you are back ! Woohoo !
ReplyDeleteAbout your blogging mood , please don't stop and carry on what you do best. Well besides engineering things - blogging suits you perfectly well . & I enjoy all your post be it personal or social - it's indeed therapeutic just like Sabrina said .
King Of Scurf: I suppose it depends on what we really want... I've always been the quiet, anti-social kind of person, and this happened to be the only place where people knew more about me than people whom I met with frequently (very few of my real life friends know that I even blog), and suddenly it all feels a bot weird... For the time being, I'd probably write a little less personal stuff....
ReplyDeleteRyan: Yeah, I believe that will surely help... once a week, or twice if it's possible shouldn't be too bad.
AHD: I think you've got a point there about blogging having a lifespan... and 6 years (I started in 2005 elsewhere) is a long, long time indeed. I'll still be around I guess, probably only less personal (but even then, only time will tell) Actually, you've been missed too since you dropped your frequency in blogging.
ReplyDeleteMsUnicornGirl: I'll try not to stop... (I don't think I could, either, not at once, anyway)
I like reading travel blogs, so if you decide to go in that direction I'll come along for the ride
ReplyDeletei guess busy + lack of interest.
ReplyDeleteha ha ha.
but still... we blog!
Sometimes an extended break is just the thing to redirect your energy. I hope you find your way soon. I enjoy your perspectives.
ReplyDeletenursemyra: I haven't actually got down to it... But I must. I think...
ReplyDeleteFaisal: Lack of interest, eh? You know... you might be right!
Travis: Well, I sure hope so too...