So here is a little exchange I recently had with a follower named L, not going to use her first name as I'm not sure how she'd feel about that and I strive to respect the privacy of my readers :)
Received on February 2/19 @ 10:34 pm
"Hmmm...
I had wondered if you liked receiving people's responses or comments on your blog topics, or if you liked them introducing new topics...you being more on the receiving end of people's thoughts.
I think I know,
L"
My response sent on February 03/19 @ 8:23 am
"I like both!
I find it fascinating to hear peoples thoughts on the things I've posted about and always welcome new topics to ponder and possibly blog about that my readers are facing.
Marcus"
The followup received on February 03/19 @ 2:36 pm
"Right...but do you want dialogue?
From your posts, you seem very much a thinker...a thinker of human behaviour, of connections among people/friends/family, and also of connecting with self, understanding one's actions/thoughts.
If readers/people reach out to engage in dialogue regarding any topics, blog or otherwise, do you participate? Or do you see it as feedback from your readers, for your blog?
I saw your blog as thoughts that you'd like to engage in. But maybe they are thoughts that you want to voice, or find cathartic to express...more of an outlet for you.
Your posts do stir, 'hey, I agree' or 'yeah, that happened to me'. Or 'Oh, this idea might be liked by someone like M'.
Is the purpose of your blog to engage in conversation? What's your purpose Mr. Marcus? Or more of a cathartic outlet for you, more one-sided?
Either is great! Just need to know if you want emails or not.
L"
I've been thinking quite a bit about these exchanges and here is what I've come up with so far......
I blog to let my own thoughts out from within the confines of my mind, I blog to get people thinking about things that they might not otherwise have given any consideration, and I blog about issues that touch close to home for both myself and my followers. The "Bell Let's Talk" day is one such issue that not only touches me because of my own struggles in the past but from exchanges I've had with people who have shared some heart rendering moments, some good with laughter and joy, and some not so good with heartache and tears.
I describe myself as an extroverted introvert and know that that simple statement made Corinne laugh more often than not as she used to call bullshit on it whenever I spoke it out loud. But the truth is that I really do see myself in that context and the blog lets me actually reach out and have a dialogue with people that I might never have the chance to do so if I depended on my actual face to face interpersonal skills.
Topics come and go over the course of the week and month that I find interesting to myself and think maybe others might as well, thus an entry gets written and sometimes there is feedback and sometimes there isn't.
I monitor the blog statistics to see how well an entry might be doing in terms of views and where around the world it might have gotten the most views from in terms of geographic locales.
I absolutely love it when someone writes me to comment on an entry or pose a thought or question about something else, more often than not running with it to create a new blog entry.
So I guess my answer to L's question is this.......I use the blog as my own cathartic release in the hope it makes people stop and think about things, even if just for a moment, and offer a venue for dialogue about the world around us, with the reader option to call me out on my thoughts, offer me an alternative, or provide a comment whether in the positive or negative.
When I made the decision many years ago to completely uproot my life and move over 3,000 miles I was asked this question - what if it doesn't work out?
My response was change is good, even if it doesn't go as expected, it's still good as it made you think about things in your life.
That is how I view the blog..........whether someone agrees with me or not, it got both of us to think about the topic and possibly have a dialogue.
I've been accused of being a thinker, to be more life a left handed person than the right handed person that I am, as if that is somehow something bad, but it's not bad at all, you couldn't be more right about me if you tried and I'll always embrace that side of me and hope my followers know that about me.
When my daughter was really young and hesitant about broaching certain subjects with me I told her the following and eventually did the same with my son.........you can come and talk to me about anything, I promise to listen to you with an open mind and more importantly, an open heart, I promise to respect what you say to me but that does not mean I have to like what you say or agree with your words........but that doesn't mean I'll try to change how you feel but rather that I might discuss alternatives so that you at least stand by your words from a position of knowledge and understanding.
My name is Marcus and I blog to express my feelings and to provoke you to think about things with the understanding that I'm open to hearing what you think and maybe we can come to some common ground on things and if not, let's be respectful towards one another.
Today's musical suggestion is "Over My Head' by Echosmith
Comments, questions, or possible topics you'd like to see addressed in a future entry are always welcome at ooasm2018@gmail.com
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