I just spent the weekend with an amazing group of people, teaching them about blogging, doing exercises and giving tips. Basically, imparting as much as I could in that time frame. There were several moments over the course of the weekend, when I would tell stories about my seven-plus year blogging journey, when my brain did a little ‘ping’. This ping signified a truth, or basic, that I’ve known and believed in, but may not necessarily put into practice.
Such examples include: whenever I get survey feedback, or I take a hard look at my stats, it is always clear – abundantly clear – that the number one people really like to read are the posts I write about parenting and my personal reflections. It’s hard to ignore, and I don’t, but I’m going to have to learn to keep on writing about this subject in potentially different ways in the future. The kids are growing up. I mean, look at Keira in the photo above. It only really hits home when I compare pictures from now to when I first began – and my ’10 years of Facebook’ video also drove this home – how much everything has changed.
Bloggers – it could be argued – adapt well to change. We’re early adopters (mostly), and are relatively at peace with the need to keep abreast with the shifting, developing digital environment. But have we lost our wholeheartedness? Our vulnerability?
I wonder if I have.
For example, during the course, I remarked about the decline of Blogrolls over the years and posited reasons why (people became more solipsistic, worried about losing traffic to others etc). Then I thought – was that why I got rid of mine? I can’t remember.
I’ve used the above photo for another reason: I have no idea if it’s any good from a composition viewpoint. It can be another secret anxiety, the ‘not good enough’ mentality. But I’m using it because there she is, in the centre, light on one side, shade on the other.
That’s where I want to be, back in the centre, keeping a balance while venturing into either area when required.
I’m going to keep working on it.
Are you working on finding – and keeping – your centre?
