On or Off?
An elephant dressed in a clown costume could stroll by me and I wouldn’t notice it. I know this, because it happened yesterday.
Kidding.
Seriously, though – how do I completely miss things that Husband sees when we’re walking down the same sidewalk? The large dog careening towards us. The altercation brewing between two neighbors. The people waving at us from across the street.
He sees it all. I see none of it.
I’m trying to be better about this. More observant. More aware.
I mention this because it’s the only reason I noticed the new Dos Equis billboard on Santa Monica Boulevard this morning. Lil Mil and I were strolling from church to Husband’s lawyer league softball game when I saw it: the face of the Most Interesting Man in the World and this quotation:
The bulk of your life should be off the record.
It’s an enticing idea. It’s meant to be. Instinctively, I want it. A life lived “off the record.” But here I am, putting more of mine on it.
+ + + +
Do you wish your life were more private? Does social media (facebook, twitter, myspace) make living *off the record* impossible? Is a life *on the record* a consequence of blogging or the impetus for it?
Eva @ Eva Evolving
Monday, 24 May, 2010 at 13:31Ha! I love those Dos Equis ads. They’re odd, but always make me laugh.
I suppose for me, blogging keeps me accountable – to myself. If I write it, I will do it. Writing helps solidify important lessons, to work through questions. And I wouldn’t have to blog in order to write, but I love to feedback. I love learning from others – and that sense of community is so motivational.
denise
Monday, 24 May, 2010 at 11:13Oh, you touched on a topic on which I vacillate and ruminate A LOT. I always try to consider what I’m sharing and why I’m sharing it. As long as I’m ok with the answer, I share.
Sometimes I think I’m being oh so very coy and clever about what I share and what I don’t… and then I realize I’m still putting so much (too much?) of my life out there.
Conundrum time.
Corinne
Monday, 24 May, 2010 at 10:14A lot of me is on the record.. on the blog. But as much as I’m ok with that space, I don’t care to put too much on Facebook. I don’t know why! Twitter is fine, little bits and pieces, and yes, they all connect to the blog, but I feel like the blog is my home. So I can be open there, in what I create, where the other spaces are more like I’m a guest and are just snapshots of what life is like at my home. I don’t know if that makes sense. Like, I wouldn’t walk around without a bra while visiting you, but I would at my house. Bad bad metaphor… but you can get where I’m going with it. I hope!
Rudri
Monday, 24 May, 2010 at 9:56I think there are two different camps on this subject. My sister and my husband often say, You are going to put __________ on the blog and my usual response is yes, I am. I think there are certain items that should be kept off the record, but I think as writers we have this tick to write it down, to make it permanent, and push publish. For some, I know it doesn’t work. They are guarded and they are private, but I think there has to be people who are willing to lay it on the line. It is essential for progress, for the writer and his or her audience.
Great Post for your under one hour limit. Here’s to keeping the momentum going.
Amy
Sunday, 23 May, 2010 at 20:24The bulk of my past 8.5 years is on the record in my LiveJournal. In a way, it feels good to have let everything out over the years, but on the other hand, have I spent so much of my life writing about my life that I’ve missed out on truly living it?
My college best friend and I met through a blogging site called Free Open Diary. Back then, she journaled constantly. I journaled constantly. Oftentimes, that’s how we kept up with each other.
Then she moved back to her hometown and became so wrapped up in living life that she stopped writing about it. Now, I never know what’s going on with her, but if she wanted, she could log onto my LJ and know pretty much exactly what’s going on with me. But she’s too busy to even do that, so while we’re friends, we’re not really all that close anymore. (Well, except when it counts, I guess.)
Has keeping a blog handicapped me? I feel like my ideas for writing a novel or songs or poetry are very diminished because my blogging muscles are so strong and overpowering. But I like having this written record of my life and something to look back on. What if I get Alzheimer’s one day, ya know? Or some other form of dementia? What if my life that I’ve lived for 60, 70, 80, or more years is suddenly a long stretch of nothing?
In a way, it has made me more observant. It’s also made me more understanding of how others behave and feel and how I relate to those behaviors and feelings. It’s also been my therapy and lifesaver. If only I’d stuck with it throughout my teens, back when I first started writing, but abruptly stopped when my brothers were finding my diary and telling my dad, who I was most angry with and hurt by, what I was saying about him.
My LJ was public for yeeeeears, okay, like four years, until my stepmother found it and began, like my brothers, telling my dad what I was writing about even though she swore she wouldn’t. Now, it’s locked and filtered and I have to let people in to see it. So I guess some people have had an all-access pass to my life and thoughts (or the majority of them), but I really don’t want to think of the person I’d be if not for my blogging.