Social-ism

I was out the door earlier than usual today, having taken J.P. to school, so I can be ready for an early conference call.  Right now, I'm relaxing for a minute or two with a cup of coffee at 8th & Roast, gazing out the front window at people hurriedly driving up 8th Avenue headed to work.

I don't post on the blog as much as I used too, certainly, and that makes me more than little sad.  I've thought about that a lot and come to the realization that there are several reasons for it.

First and foremost, I'm busy with work, family and really, just trying to survive.  I'm tired most of the time, although it's often a contented tired.  Not always, but often.  Because free time is at a minimum, I think I've spent what little I have trying to squeeze in a run, watching a television series I'm interested in or reading.  

For a variety of reasons, one of which is that she isn't on the computer much anymore, my mom has stopped reading the blog.  I realize, now, that in more ways than perhaps I understood, I was writing for her.  She enjoyed the posts and photos so much, shared them with her friends, and always commented positively on a post within a day or so of my having written it.  

In truth, too, I tend to post when I'm happy and in a great mood.  I've been under a bit of of stress for a while now, some of it self-imposed, I know.  When I'm worried or a little down, I'm just not as reflective.  I am indeed a worried, and I'm not sure if that's something about my personality I can change at this stage of the game.

Lastly and most significantly, as much as I love Twitter - and I do love Twitter - I think it's the biggest reason for the dearth of posts on the blog.  Twitter provides an outlet, in 140 characters or less, for me to post my thoughts, ideas and feelings the moment I have them.  In many ways, Twitter is a reflection of our society today, a society built around the desire for instant gratification and the need to have things - including attention - when you want them.  For me, creatively, I think Twitter gives me an outlet to be creative a few times a day (or not at all) and to do it quickly, in between things or while driving (gasp!).  By the time everyone is in bed and I have a few minutes to myself, it seems like I've already spent the creative energy that I might have had on a particular day in small bursts of Tweets throughout the day (or every few days).  

In a way, for me, Twitter has affected my blogging like e-mails affected letter writing for so many.  Very few people write letters anymore, when they can send a quick e-mail instead.  Ernest Hemingway wrote more than 7,000 letters in his lifetime.  Today, no one writes letters.  

For 2016, I'm going to try to blog more and as I think of it now, to write a few letters.