Overcoming Inertia - Part 2 · 28 January 2008
Thank you all for your comments on the last post. Your responses are just another reason I’m amazed and awed by those who have the touch of popping in here and there, visiting dozens of blogs each day and making insightful and interesting comments on them, sending the perfect email just to keep in touch, or calling up old friends to start new adventures. I never mastered the art of efficient social networking. Instead, I tend to immerse myself in a small number of things with a small group of friends, poking my head into the deep recesses and dark corners of my few chosen pursuits. But the blogosphere is big, quick, and breezy and my attempts to adapt my style of minute inspection into a culture of skimming led to a bit of frustration.
I realized that some of the reason that I haven’t been writing is because I don’t think I can commit to the community. I hate doing things in half-measures. Looking back on my New Year’s Post from last year, I see myself trying to convince the me going into 2007 that I didn’t have to accept half-measures, that even if I couldn’t do everything I could still dream I could.
Dreams are wondrous things. They give us the power to believe we can do things that we can’t see a clear path towards. They inspire us as children to say we’ll become exotic professionals like paleontologists because we love dinosaurs or lawyers because we like to argue, even before we have half an idea what a paleontologist or lawyer needs to know. As adults, they provide the impetus to keeping working through hard times, knowing that we have worthy goals at the end of our labors.
But broken dreams are dangerous. They teach us that sometimes just trying out best and believing in ourselves isn’t enough to make us successful in our dreaming. And if we don’t learn to accept our failures, our dreams can sour, and haunt us instead of helping.
The me coming out of 2007 has spent January reminding myself of the many successes of last year, and taking myself to task for dwelling on the few failures. I gave myself some good advice at the beginning of 2007, dream big, but accept realistic progress so I should have no regrets in saying that last year was a year of progress. With that worked out in my head, my one resolution for the year is to shake the New Year’s slump that has had me feeling a bit “blah” lately.
So, here’s looking forward to a great 2008, to catching up on some housekeeping tasks on Honeyed Words, to continuing to progress in my studies, to honing my writing, and to accepting that I’ll never be a social butterfly but that there is room in the blogosphere for a couple of ponderous bookworms too.
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Nymeth · 29 January 2008, 09:32
Believe me, Kim, I absolutely suck at social networking. I have trouble handling the pressure of it. Feeling that I HAVE to keep in touch and check on people and whatnot makes me extremely uncomfortable. The trouble I have handling it has cost me more than one friend.
But for some reason, online I don’t feel that pressure at all. I’ve noticed that the book blogging community is incredibly understanding… unlike “real” friends sometimes, no one resents you for disappearing for a while or not commenting on their posts or whatever. No one judges you. We all like to hear from each other, but it’s no big deal if someone is too busy or just not in the mood to keep up.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Not being 100% committed does not mean you’re doing things in half-measure. There is definitely room here for ponderous bookworms.
I hope the blahness goes away soon enough, and that 2008 brings you the things you wish for.
Dark Orpheus · 3 February 2008, 17:27
What you and Nymeth wrote about not being good at social-networking and keeping in touch sounds so familiar I just had to smile.
It sounds to me that you are a person who puts great value in doing things well, in putting the right amount of effort and commitment in the tasks under-taken. If I was an employer, I would want to hire you.
But with blogging – remember, it should be fun. Allow the blog to enhance your life, not burden it. And it’s okay to stay offline sometimes, if that’s what you want.
And would you believe me that alot of the time, it’s okay to just try? Success isn’t the only positive result. There is another possibility – the growth and learning that comes from the process of trying to do something.
Ponderous bookworms are most welcome. As for social butterflies – we have too many of them already.
heather (errantdreams) · 12 February 2008, 13:54
Don’t worry about not being good at the social stuff. Neither am I. :) You don’t have to be a social butterfly to enjoy blogging. Sure, you might not end up with one of those blogs that everybody and their sister reads, but who cares? If you’re having fun and enjoying yourself, isn’t that what matters? And anyway, when it comes to things like books and cooking, a LOT of us are comparatively non-social, so we won’t take offense if you’re feeling non-social too. :)
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