I have decided to move away from this blog and social media in general. You may ask, well then why bother using social media to say so? Why not just stop posting and leave it at that?
Good questions. I've thought a lot about this. (I probably think too much these days.) I don't like to leave things unfinished or unexplained. Maybe it's like the anecdote of the composer (I've heard it about Bach, Beethoven and Mozart -- all three, but more frequent tellings of Bach) whose family member sat at the keyboard and played seven tones of the scale, then stopped. This drove the composer so batty that he rushed in from another room (some stories about Bach say, his deathbed) to play the resolving eighth note.
Consider this post my completion of the scale. I want to thank those who have read my words and encouraged me along the way. I have enjoyed getting to know a few people that I wouldn't have known were it not for blogging.
This blog was never a comprehensive record of my life; rather, I presented the life lessons I learned from everyday living. Knowing I wished to share here forced me to examine certain experiences with a lens that truly helped me see the good. I am grateful for that.
Yet writing is hard for me. I don't like it so much anymore and think I'd rather devote the energy it takes to do it without worrying about an audience. My blogging journey is done. I will keep the blog online while I contemplate how to archive it. I like that a blog allows me to send emails of my posts -- with both pictures and text, and I may use it to write letters to my parents. But this is my last public post.
As to social media in general, I find it fuels my insecurities right now. I get sucked into a game of comparisons that is best avoided by not participating online at all. Through blogs and social media I have learned of personal snubs and times our family gathered without us. Although I don't have a Facebook account myself, I keep checking through Jeff's account because I'm worried I'll miss something important happening to someone. There's a term for this: FOMO, the fear of missing out. How stupid is that? If the only way I'll learn of someone's life is through the internet, how close a relationship do I really have?
That, then, is the crux of why I'm moving on. I want to give more time to interpersonal connections and less to the internet. Thank you for being my friends and reading this. See you in the real world!
