I am the most fickle blogger I know. I have to stop being fickle. I turn 50 and I can't manage to do anything well it seems! Anyway, to all of you out there, just thought I'd say Sayōnara. I am going to be signing off today, probably for good. I'll give it a week or so before I make the sight go invisible. Just need to put my energies elsewhere. It's been fun, despite being off and on for me, and I appreciate you all. Maybe I'll see you around the city. Joel.
Monday, October 08, 2007
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12 comments:
Joel:
Your on-line voice will be missed. I understand that these discussions come at a considerable cost. I greatly value the thought, care, and patience that you've put in.
Joel, I respect the demands on your time and patience...but I hope you'll find a way to keep posting at least occasionally. You bring a lot to the local scene, and it would be a real loss for you to disappear. I hope you'll at least keep the blog up as an archive...
Hoping you'll reconsider...
Go ahead ya big sissy!
No seriously. You're one of the sane people out there, even if I do disagree with some of what you say. We've talked privately about what this medium can do to you. We've talked about the bad, but we've also talked about the good. "Every rose has its thorn," to quote the great Axle Rose.
Pull back if you have to, but keep your options open for those times when you just HAVE to say something!
You've got some important things to say and beautiful pictures to paint (post).
DON'T LEAVE ME OUT HERE BY MYSELF!
(hugs!)
Joel, say it ain't so!
I hope also you will reconsider. You will be missed.
Joe Guarino
I appreciate everybody's comments. You're all very kind. I really don't want to do on-line therapy here, but there are a swirl of considerations. It's hard for me to pop in and out of things. I want to be all in or all out, either be consistent or not do it. But how to be all in without it always being there in the back of my head? And how to be all in in a way that actually adds value - for me, for readers, for the community? How to do the many possible administrative things that build up the site and the readership so it feels more like it's worth the time? It feels beyond me to do that, beyond my ability. I'm not real savvy at this stuff. For me, since I do a lot of this while "at work," how to have it feel like part of my overall calling here. I really suck at the whole white collar "office life" thing. My mind and body are rebelling against it, and I can't seem to find a daily pattern that works. OK, yes, I feel like a sissy. And I am seeing the thorns more than the roses. Although I like to write, I just can't seem to find my traction in this medium, figure out what is my purpose. It's too demanding and too personal not to have a purpose. I have felt my primary purpose has been to defend the integrity of the historic Christian faith - not to evangelize, and not really try to persuade, but to protect it from disrespect or misrepresentation or misunderstanding, to help keep a level playing field for it so to speak. I've also wanted to convey, though I hardly feel worthy of this, the larger and richer meaning of Christianity in a day age when it has been co-opted by shallow silliness and Madison Avenue techniques and dispensationalist wackiness and political interest groups. Christians, yes, even the historic orthodox ones, the "conservative" ones, also love and have a stake in the created order, the beauty of human beings and human relationships, art, music, politics, the common good, etc. Fec once gave the advice that I need to be able to tell people something they don't already know. I took that to mean being able to add value, contribute, fill a hole. I guess I keep searching for what that is, and I don't know. Meanwhile, life presses, and there is only so much one can do. I will think and pray about what you're all saying. Maybe you have some advice. I'm all ears. Joel.
I pray for peace for you, in whatever you're led to do.
Blessings, M
Advice, worth what you pay for it: when you feel pressured to post but don't feel called to post -- don't post.
Put the computer down and go do something else. The web will be here when inspiration strikes.
Be an occasional blogger, a counter-puncher -- your response to my "pro-family" post was great (as was the subsequent conversation), and your comments at other blogs are often-postworthy in themselves.
Be a focused blogger: write about three topics, or one topic, whatever. Don't try to be all things at once.
There are no rules in this medium. RSS feeds mean readers will find you when you write. You don't have to be an insane compulsive linkfreak to be a good blogger.
Your work is important. The voice you give to people for whom others love to speak is valuable.
All that said, maybe you need a break, or maybe this blog has run its course and something else will take its place in time. One thing I'm sure of is that we have not heard the last of you.
Ed,
That's good advice. I'm not burned out by this medium, but by my struggles with the whole office deal. I may need to walk away from that for a time. Got to talk about that with our folks tonight and it was very helpful. Maybe I took my frustrations out on my blog compulsively. I have been encouraged again to get that daily pattern of life down where I am staying fit and have some stimulation in my office environment (I am alone all day in a little room and there are no office mates) it is thought I will be less sluggish and bored and inwardly stressed (that's what a lot of sitting and administrivia does to me). Maybe I can borrow one of these computer geniuses out there for an hour or two to help me with a couple of blog admin things. The idea of finding a pace that works is key - it can become compulsive. Usually when I write, it is because I feel an urge to write, not that I fell that I have to, but then I sort of get sucked into stuff and it takes over my brain! I find what people are writing out there interesting and am always wanting to jump in, but I do have a job! Anyway, I am feeling a little encouraged and maybe slightly embarrassed for another possible flip flop!
Ed's advice seems very good.
Keep your blog around so it's here when you need it. Post when you feel led to, don't when you don't. We watch RSS feeds and We101, so we'll see you when you pop back in.
You really have made important contributions to the Greensboro blogosphere, and I for one definitely appreciate it.
And JW, I believe you're thinking of Poison, not Axl Rose. :)
I will miss you Joel, but I really do understand. You have been, and I hope still are, looking for “your place” out here. I had hoped the suggestion I made a while back would appeal. It has for me obviously or I would not have mentioned it to you. Blogging is addictive and soon takes over more and more of our life if we don’t pull back and set limits. Perhaps you will consider taking Ed’s suggestion and keeping your blog open for those times when you feel there is something we out here need to understand with our hearts and not just our heads, because you always think with your heart too. Or maybe share another picture and story of a place that will bring us fond memories too. Or, just to tell us, your friends, that today you are happy and wish us the same. Sincerely wishing you the Best from a Crazy Old Bird
Thank you for all for your kind comments. What's really impacting me more than anything right now is the negative consequence of this sedentary lifestyle, and my need for more exercise at various levels. I have to up-the-anti again on what I've been doing. I think once I am more fit due to more strenuous and consistent exercise, I'll have a slightly new brain chemistry , and I will sleep better, have fewer migraines, have much less of this tightness in my chest which drives my crazy (not a heart problem and historically "cured" by fitness), fewer arrhythmia bouts (also historically "cured" by fitness), I will feel less frustrated and be more clear about what is most important to do day to day. Meanwhile I think I will follow Ed's advice.
Joel
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