liadanslyre

blogging...
the good
the bad
and the ugly.

my opinions about the medium and the boundaries that may benefit it.

primer to this post...
i have been blogging for almost two years now. on the whole- i find it to be a fun and fairly harmless hobby. over that time- i have noticed some tendencies within the blogdom- that could serve as pitfalls in the medium. these are just my observations and opinions. it should be noted that i could be very wrong about my opinions and observations. so- take it with a grain of salt; my hope is that it is received in the spirit in which it was written.

things i consider when composing a blog post...
b/c i follow jesus, i try to filter my thoughts, my speech and therefore my writing through phil. 4.8**
(i know that not everyone is a christian that stumbles across this blog- but evenso- it's a good filter. if you experiment with it for say- a day- let me know how it goes.)

i, ofcourse, don't succeed all the time-
but it's a filter (or compass) nonetheless.
i consider that anyone could be reading this...
there seems to be a mentality out there (in the blogdom) of 'i need an outlet and this is my exercise of the first amendment and it's my right to put whatever i want on here and blah blah blah.'

i'm not disputing that this is true. it is true that you have the perogative to post whatever you want. the real question is can i live with what i've posted. can i bear the consequences? if i write something that is complex, can i bear to be misunderstood?

things i would never put on my blog...
i would never put something on my blog that is a sensitive process.
some examples of this?
i would never post any of my artwork on here.
why?
b/c i would be crushed if you said they sucked.
likewise- i would never post an emotional process that i was sifting through that was unresolved.
what does that mean?
say i'm facing a particularly lonely time in my life. i wouldn't pontificate about it at length on my blog. why? b/c if anyone said the wrong thing (which when i'm in an emotional funk could be just about anything anyone says online)- i would flip.
i would avoid negative talk about my job, or my coworkers.
right or wrong; people get fired for that kind of stuff.
i would avoid mentioning my place of employment altogether.
i would avoid processing things that involved relationships with other people (that were complicated or negative)

so now what... how do i apply these things?
i do post some personal things on here. but they are things that i feel very resolved about- very comfortable with...

meaning, if someone writes something nasty; i think to myself,
'hmm. someone thinks i'm weird. good thing i don't care'.
as opposed to 'what's wrong with me??!!'
(which would be my response if i wrote something i was not personally resolved about).

what i'm not suggesting is that people cannot blog about their lives honestly.
sometimes (this is totally my opinion) honesty, transparency and the like are the evangelical christian's trump card. i think it can lead to emotional masturbation and i'm worried about it.
so i'm writing this post. owning one's feelings isn't simply confessing it to the anonymous masses via the internet- it is confessing it to God, to another and then (if the feeling is negative and unproductive) taking action to change it (via repentance, service, bible reading and submission to the spirit among others^^).

people compare blogging with journaling.
each time i hear it i get very nervous.
our lives,
no matter what kind of life it is-
no matter what walk of life-
no matter what have precious contents.
the inner workings of each and everyone of our hearts- are so beautiful, and wonderful. even in the muck and junk- but we are (atleast i am) fragile.
and if you laughed at that in me, i just don't need it.
so i don't do it.
well- i mispoke.
i do it.
i just don't entrust it to the two dimentionality of the internet.
i entrust myself, my heart,my thoughts, my feelings to people.
people who i can hear the tone of their voice, people who can tell me i'm full of shit and i know that they say it in love, people who can hug me, people who i can read their body language.
entrusting those things to the internet- might work for some-
but not me.
so i don't do it.

i think blogging can be a authentic interesting and thought provoking medium. it just seems that discretion and dicernment are the bloggers best friend.

what do you think about this topic?
talk to me...
cannell- comment dammit!

** 8 finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. if anything is excellent or praiseworthy?think about such things. ~ phil. 4.8

^^ no intention to oversimplfy this. but this is for starters and i speak from expereince. i have learned a lot about how to be geniune but not a slave to my emotional life... but that's another conversation (notice i did not say post).