Mushy blogger lovefest

Warning: I’m about to get all kinds of mushy.

I don’t think any of us are fully aware how much potential we have to influence people. I do think that a lot of people who don’t blog or tweet or use social media very much at all, think that the idea of blogging is a tad narcissistic. I remember telling a friend of mine last summer that I was considering starting a blog and his reaction was a hefty eye roll followed by accusing me of believing that I’m important enough that random people on the internet will want to read about my every waking move. I assured him my blog wouldn’t be a daily collection of Facebook statuses, just a way for me to filter my overloaded brain, process and create and connect with myself and others. To talk about my FEELINGS. He rolled his eyes again.

How exactly can I make someone understand what sparked my love affair with the internet and why almost one year later my life direction and choices are often inspired, reaffirmed and/or influenced by women I’ve never met? How strangers can help give me guts? How a post or a comment or debate can make me want to hug my computer because for all that’s scary in this world, there are not only people who get IT but are able to articulate it better than I ever could. Why my bulletin board is hoarded with print outs and hand written scribbles of quotes I’ve stumbled upon?

Ever wonder why so many bloggers write about their addiction to cheese or cake or champagne? It isn’t because they (we) believe that liking all things gouda, death by chocolate or fizzy makes you some kind of original, it’s because bloggers seize every opportunity to ACTUALLY LIVE THEIR LIVES. They tweet their brunches and weekend plans, links to recipes and motivational essays. They post the things most people are too afraid to admit. They set goals and hold themselves accountable, they take chances and sign up for BiSC and VEDA. They don’t let things just pass them by or life simply happen to them because they know to be young in 2011 means the possibilities are nothing short of endless, that life is too short to wait for “worthy” occasions, that cheese and cupcakes are fucking delicious and champagne makes everything better, so yes please and thank you I will have some. They live examined lives and they live them NOW, inspiring others to do the same.

So, why the love fest? Why the fuck NOT.

This blogger I’ve never met, who lives an easy 3000 miles away from me, commented on my anxiety ridden post saying we as humans are very adaptable. Some of us may fear change, but we survive by adapting to it. This girl, who posted this comment which probably didn’t feel like rocket science to her, upon reading it sobered me the hell up. I felt as if she tossed cool water on my fevered face. Her two sentences helped start a shift in how I perceived my current situation.

And then, same said lovely girl posts her To-Don’t List and talks about never letting yourself be bored, how lucky we are to have the freedom to go out and LIVE, how we have the ability to change and create our own lives as we see fit. So, for the past two days, her words have been swirling in my head, popping up every time I think about my beautiful, sweet little life and am about to complain about it, making me ask myself tough questions about whether I’m doing justice to the symbol I had tattooed on the back of my neck. I brought up her words over Blue Moons with my sister which prompted a conversation about life changes and fear and taking direction. And if I never typed this post on my lunch break, she might never know how much her words impacted me and that is simply not ok.

The blogging world thrives on reaching out and forming connections and I’m hella happy I’ve found my way here. For all of the times I want to throw up my hands and be done with it all, you brilliant, gorgeous women remind me exactly why I keep logging on.

Thank you.