We have become those people our mothers warned us about

If you are older than thirty, I am sure your mother warned you about people who carried on conversations with themselves or invisible friends. These are the people beset by circumstance or bad judgement who attempted to cheer themselves up or talk out their frustrations on the way to, and from, work. Before there were blogs, these people spent their time muttering to themselves as they went about their daily lives.

You should understand that these were not the castoffs from mental institutions that now throng the streets screaming obscenities. These were everyday people trying to get it together somehow.

Today, we have millions of people pouring their hearts out on the internet and most of them have an audience at one time or other. I’m not sure that the size of the audience makes a difference to those who write. I think it’s the act of writing and the fact that someone may be listening that is helpful. If someone responds, all kinds of things can happen. Perhaps some of them are good.

I see many bloggers asking, “Why am I writing? Why do I continue to write? I rant about my life, but nothing changes.”

I think they should continue writing as much as possible. If not for anyone else, then they should do it for themselves. I had a realization about this in the last few days.

It does not pay to stop blogging. I took a brief respite from blogging, because I had a sudden increase in workload and I thought that stopping would help me to stay focused. Wrong!

I spent several days doing difficult work and the results received less than spectacular reviews. Looking at the situation in retrospect, I see that I lost my objectivity when I stopped blogging. The work I did did not address the basic problems being faced. This does not happen when I am doing daily posts to my weblog, and this is why.

Blogging, for me, is like a self-guided tour of my life as it happens. My blog is like a not-so-private commentary on what is happening and what part I am playing in getting, or not getting results. It is introspection, but it extroverts me as I write it down.

As I write about events as they transpire, I find that any frustration evaporates as I document the facts. Things begin to drop into place and I see reasons for even the most undesired events. Almost always the reasons have to do with things I have failed to observe before moving in to provide help. My motives may be pure, but good results depend on exact and timely application of effort, not on good intentions.

As a result, writing a daily post on my weblog is a part of my continuing education. When I blog frequently, I find myself examining my life with new eyes every day. I get the same inspiration from reading the blogs of friends who write fearlessly about their lives and concerns.

All is not sweetness and light, but when I read the writings of Fred, Beth, Marie, Denny, Nicole, and Terry I find new reasons to make my life contribute to others.

There are many more that I read every week. You know who you are and you all inspire me to write.

In closing, it’s a good thing that we write our innermost thoughts where they can be gleaned by like-minded others. Otherwise, we might be muttering to ourselves in public and disturbing passers-by.

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