A few posts ago I wrote that I had “rediscovered” WordPress. To be more exact, I discovered a very vibrant community where people actually express real feelings!
I’d like to expound a little more on that previous post because I’m still very enthusiastic about this “discovery.”
On the web, and just like in real life, we can become stagnant, accustomed to going to the same old places, seeing the same old people, thinking about the same old things. This was me on the web for the past couple of years. I had a very strong love affair with Facebook which was at times a bit too intense looking back. I just really enjoyed connecting with just about everyone I had ever known. For me, I could pick up an old relationship as though we had just seen each other yesterday. I remember things very vividly and remember not only the events but also the feelings, the way of thinking and am very comfortable picking up exactly where we left off.
I quickly learned that most people cannot do that when you get to my age which is in the thirties. My old connections have forgotten much and some haven’t even written back when I’ve reached out. Luckily, I forgive them, they just don’t have as great a memory as I do and I forgive them for that.
But just like a high school fling that burns hot will soon burn out, so has my relationship with Facebook. I’ve told Facebook I just want to be friends, and long-distance friends at that. I’m returning to my one true love that has lasted over a decade which is my blog. I created my blog, I own my blog, my blog won’t use me for advertising purposes or tell me what I can and cannot do. The blog is me, I am my blog and this is my life story which since it is run on my own server is physically with me, always.
As I mention in the About section this blog is to record my own life. It is the easiest and most permanent method I know of to record my life as it happens. As Carson from Downton Abbey says “The business of life is the acquisition of memories.” I wholeheartedly agree and I want to record as much of it as I can not only for my own sake but for my future descendants. We can scarcely comprehend the heights technology is going to take us 50 – 100+ years from now and I like to think that by creating this content perhaps my descendants will be able to make a hologram of me which will speak these very words. I mean how cool would it be if you could see how an ancestor of 100 years ago lived, what they thought, and perhaps left messages for you? I think it is a pretty amazing idea.
So I suppose if I had to define the purpose of this blog it would be to offer myself some very good reading material when I’m old and want to read about my own life. Secondly it is for my descendants to learn about Dad, Granddad, Great Granddad, Great great Granddad, and so on and so on and so on.
The think I need to do now is get back to business and writing things down! Enough of the fluff of Facebook. I do still enjoy seeing everyone’s pictures and passively keeping in touch with a like or a poke on their posts but I need more.
And more I have found with the WordPress community!
Now, I’ve used WordPress for over a decade but it has always been my own install. I was vaguely familiar with WordPress.com and that there was a community there but it really didn’t concern me. I was concerned with creating my own webpage for the entire Internet and writing my own thoughts and opinions, not necessarily reading others.
But the other day I decided I wanted to read a few personal blogs and blogs I found on WordPress.com! The first thing I had to do was figure out how to browse the blogs. I did a quick search and found a hot tags page here. For the past week I’ve been clicking on “personal” and boy do these people write about personal things! I’ve never seen a community that is so open and so personal on the internet!
There is some variety but for the most part I would say that the blogs I’ve found on the personal section are as such:
1. Young – Lots of college aged people
2. Female
3. Depressed or need to write to deal with something bad
4. Extremely open – One can often find profile pictures but not real names. It seems they want to be open with the internet, but would prefer that people they actually know don’t read it.
After 4 years of being pretty stagnant between Facebook, G+ and the news it is refreshing to see there are real people out there with the same struggles, thoughts, anxiety, hopes, dreams, successes, etc that we all have! Wordpress.com seems like the most “human” place on the internet and humanity is something that quickly can get lost here.
I wonder if you, the reader, have someone you could completely open up to, talk about anything at all, explore the complete depths of your innermost feelings, desires, thoughts, aspirations, basically the real, unfiltered thoughts that make you who you are. Do you have someone you could speak with about so deeply a topic?
I do not, I don’t think I ever have. In fact, I think the only place I could actually do this is on my blog. But even then I filter because it is on the open internet. Yes, I guess I could do a private post but what fun is that. I did keep a private journal for a part of my life but I’m much more interested in keeping it open for the prime purpose which is a record of my life, open to inspection, mostly for the future 50 years or so from now.
I get the sense that the WordPress community is a place where one can be open like this, because everyone is just speaking to the internet, just throwing their thoughts and emotions out into this cyber void and know that it will be seen but without the fear and filters saying those same things to people in real life would bring.
To think about it everyone has an expectation of you, how you should act, of who you are, and any deviation from that would be seen as weird. People have a set image and people are comfortable with set images, it adds stability and a feeling of control to their lives. However, to really reach into the soul and be able to share with someone else on that level, well, I never have, and even if I’ve come close it was with the help of alcohol and most of it was probably forgotten the next day.
Furthermore, by writing one can structure their own thoughts, and by writing them down give them form, pluck them out from the stream of consciousness, the ever flowing mind and give them a physical presence. Make the thoughts immortal. We think, therefore we exist and by writing down these thoughts doesn’t it make us immortal in a sense? I’ve written down a piece of my mind in this blog post, a piece of who, what I am and set it on the internet where theoretically it could last forever.
To me, writing in this blog is exciting, it is a worthwhile pursuit, much more than clicking on some mindless “entertainment” on Facebook, or some stupid list of 10 things that passes for news these days.
I feel like I’m back home and to my surprise there are others. I can’t believe they were hidden from me all this time.
