Moral of the story is that there are all these venues, and still no way to get out frustrations.
Then I realized, that's what diaries and journals are for.
That might sound completely ridiculous to you, because you probably write in your journal three times a day and even have a special room in your house for all your old journals. Such is not my case. I have a journal. It sits right next to my bed, a good holder for my tv and dvd remotes.
The extra sad thing about my journal is that I usually only write in it when something awful happens to me or someone I love. My nieces and nephews will glance through them after I die and think my life was crazy tragic, or something. Which is not the case, if you were wondering.
I just thinks it's interesting that as a culture, we have all this access to technology that is supposed to bring us closer together, and yet I feel much more isolated sitting here at my computer.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a "woe is me" sort of post. It's mostly a "reflecting on life's situations" kind of post. Texting has replaced phone conversations with loved ones (which allow you to actually hear someone's voice) while instant messaging has replaced our need to have face to face communication with our friends. I won't lie, Facebook helps me keep "in touch" with several friends who I don't normally hear from. I would just rather get together more often.
Anyway, enough said. Venting over. Well, at least as much as I can do on here. Now, where did I put my pen?
4 comments:
I totally know the feeling. Sometimes you need to just unplug in order to get some perspective. I hope you were able to create what you needed.
Reading your post made me think of something I started a few months ago almost by accident.
One night I realized that something that had happened at work that day was a small miracle, and I suddenly wanted to record it. So I wrote about it in my journal like this: "Blessing of the Day:..." (and then just a few sentences about it). The next day was a hard one and I was feeling down, so on a whim, I decided to make myself do it again. I picked a Blessing of the Day and wrote just a few sentences about it.
I know that sounds cliche, but I didn't do it as a project. I did it because I needed to. Still, I quickly discovered that when I made an effort to at least record God's blessings, it became easier to write more regularly and I started to see good things in my life more easily. Since then, probably about 80% of my entries have been nothing more than "blessing entries" of like 2-3 sentences.
Now let's be honest. It's not like I write every day. Not even close. Still I do it more now than I used to (when sometimes I would have nothing in between consecutive General Conferences). And I think that I'm actually recording more important things. (Although I still do have my occasional super-whiney entries.)
Anyway... Sorry this is a really long story. And I hope it doesn't come across the wrong way. I just wanted to let you know that I think you're awesome and I'm sorry life is hard sometimes, but I'm sure you will find what you need.
I know how you feel, and this is something that I've pondered myself. I think we're all so eager to jump on the social media bandwagon, which is fun and definitely has its place, but even with all the communicating that we're doing that way, we still miss out on something essential: actual personal interaction. Not only that, but all the social media outlets that we turn to, so that we can inform the world about every thought that pops into our heads is really, very public.
Sometimes we need to vent about things that we don't want the world to know about. Sometimes we feel slighted or hurt by friends, and just need to get those feelings out on paper in a way that will allow us to move on, instead of inviting speculation.
Thank goodness for a pen and paper, as well as being able to look someone in the eye when you're talking to them! I'm all for new, cool technology, but if the old methods have worked for so long, there must be something worthwhile and necessary about them that shouldn't be overlooked.
Amen, couldn't have said it better myself. xoxo sister
Amen to all of that. I think that all of this new technology is just a distraction and making us non-social intraverts. If it's any consolation, I would much rather talk to you on the phone than write to you on facebook anyday. You're just too darn busy though. ;-) And, if you want to vent and don't feel like writing in a journal but don't mind typing... I use www.livejournal.com You can post private or non-private posts. Thats what I use for my journal.
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