I know what you mean about thinking you should have a constant blog ‘theme’ to write on, but I honestly think that for me just writing about any old thing I think of or experience in my life is where the consistent theme comes in. The content is rarely the same, but I think a common voice can most often be heard beneath the surface.

Thanks again for your lovely considerate words… they really mean a lot to me!!

It seems that a lot of bloggers seem to be given the same advice about needing to have a consistent theme or topic. I think if I even tried to do that, I’d bore myself silly. I love how you describe our blog themes as ‘you are the theme of yours’ … I’d much rather read about all sorts of different things than always know exactly what to expect from someone’s blog, and exactly the same thing is true about writing about one theme… I just couldn’t do it, even if that theme was something that normally would capture attention. As they say Ricardo, variety is the spice of life!!

I agree with you about Jerry Maguire, there are some really important ideas / inspirations in the movie that have stayed with me over the years. The ‘mission statement’ from the film is definitely a great read!!

It is lovely to have you back! For my part I’ve always thought of you as a bit of a kindred spirit blogger. I have a little list of people I consider my online friends and you are one of them. That is far more valuable than however many ‘followers’ on twitter I may never really connect with.
I too worry frequently about whether or not I should pick a theme and stick to it but that just isn’t how I function, at least it isn’t how I function right now. And I love reading blogs (like yours) that explore the world in all its variety and beauty. Keep it up!

I too have been hammered by so called blogging experts who claimed my blog would fail because I have no “theme.” Basically they said I have to focus on one topic and just hammer away on that but isn’t a blog a online diary of sorts? I am the theme of mine, you are the theme of yours and with that comes an array of topics and if there are those who don’t like it, they can leave. I would rather eat saw dust than write endlessly about one topic. Even if the topic was sex. Yes, hard to believe but true.

All of the elements save for the love story in the film Jerry Maguire still hit home with me. It really had so many great aspects to it but I felt the love story was hackneyed. But a good film none the less.
Ricardo´s last blog ..Happy Halloween

I was just the same as you when I first dipped my toe into the online networking world. It was ALL about the numbers – followers, friends, blog visitors… whatever it may be, all I wanted was MORE! It’s incredible how my attitude has pretty much done a complete turnabout. I guess that’s just due to getting a few years older, getting more comfortable in the online world, and just learning more about the different online networking opportunities that have evolved and been developed in recent years. Now I definitely am more focussed on real engagements, connections and conversations with people that are or at least seem to be on a similar wavelength.

Meeting the many wonderful people (like yourself) through the blog and through places like Twitter had been absolutely incredible, and I wouldn’t change that for the world!! I think I just had to eventually come to a turning point about what I wanted to get out of such networking opportunities… and I suppose it seems that turning point came sooner rather than later.

I agree with you about wanting to see more personal blogs, I also think they tend to be the most interesting blogs to visit. There’s always something different to see – it’s a lovely way to gradually learn all sorts of interesting (and sometimes unexpected) things about other people.

That’s true about RSS feeds – it makes things much easier to just subscribe to people’s blogs that you enjoy and then know whenever they may update next. It’s nice to know that you do that as well – there’s always a core group of online people / blogs that I always catch up on regardless of what I’ve been up to, or how long I’ve been away.

Your blog is wonderful! I love the layout, your words and in particular your honest, eloquent writing (I’ll come by and visit you there properly SOON). I think all that we can ever hope to achieve is to be true to ourselves and most of all ENJOY WHAT WE WRITE – (sometimes I forget to do that!).

I like how you say that your blog is mostly for you… that’s so true – I think the same can be said of me. It’s almost like keeping a diary of sorts… and it can be really enjoyable to go back and look at older posts. I often learn more about myself when I do so.

Once again, thanks so much for your visit and for your insightful and reflective words!

I know *exactly* what you mean about applying your offline responses to how you react to different actions online – for instance, when someone doesn’t respond to something you write, or to a comment you direct towards someone in particular, it can feel like a personal insult… like people are purposely ignoring you… I’ve certainly found myself doing EXACTLY the same thing. I think all you can do is to just be happy in being yourself, and if someone wants to engage, then that’s awesome – if not, the reason they don’t respond can be for any number of reasons. I know I’ve loved some people’s tweets, but haven’t responded to them because I really had nothing to add. Well nothing to add apart from to say something like, ‘You’re awesome!’ … sometimes such a comment feels less insightful or appropriate than just saying nothing at all… So I can certainly relate to where you’re coming from…

I think the ‘open’ nature of Twitter can be a strange thing to adjust to, particularly for people like us who are ‘into’ a WHOLE lot of different things. Sometimes I just want to talk about something stupid, or something ultimately meaningless – yet other times I want to reflect on something really important. I hate feeling like I can’t be a multi-faceted person, or feeling like I should try to censor what I say because ’some people’ may not like it. I have to just ‘get over it’ and hope that people just accept rather than judge. I have certainly experienced such judgement first-hand on Twitter, and it has left me feeling a little hurt at first. I think though the time away to think and reflect has certainly helped me want to be just more like me, rather than who I think people want me to be. Let’s be multi-dimensional people together!!

I know I’ve already said it, but I really want to let you know how much it means for you to read through this (admittedly very long) post and then go to the trouble of leaving a very thoughtful comment – honestly it means A LOT!!

It’s such a modern day problem isn’t it? This struggling to find who you are within both an offline and an online world… but it’s nice to know that there are others who struggle with the same kinds of thoughts… perhaps there is comfort to be found from just knowing that we aren’t alone…

As far as blogging, I wish more people would write personal blogs that change with their interests, I find them far more interesting than the predictable ones! WIth the addition of RSS readers to blogging, there’s less need to be regular as anyone who cares about updates will subscribe and receive them no matter when they come in. I tried a few angles with my blog at first, too, and ended up deciding the only way I could keep it going without it feeling like a job would be to keep it personal and not worry if one day I was blogging about painting, or crafting or whatever my latest fad has been. My blog is mostly for me, I’m more interested in communicating with those who actually know me, or are interested in getting to know me, than those just trying to get clicks back to their own work.

So I’ll be looking forward to more posts, on whatever you care to write about, whenever you care to do it ;D

Caf xx
Caf´s last blog ..Coping With Heartfelt Happiness That’s Laced With Envy

This is what jumps out at me most right now, and what, emotionally offline – sometimes I react to most. I think I’ve become too attached to that feeling of being ‘listened to’ or ‘read’.. not generally by looking at the number of followers or anything but just by anything I wrote, if *nobody* responds, that silence feels as if its purposeful invisibility, or as if I’m being ignored, and I know.. rationally, logically, that’s not really it. But I tweet like I talk, I type like I talk, and thus I’m really me there, so.. sometimes it does feel like I’m not entertaining enough if I can’t even elicit (sp?) a response.

I am not particularly obsessed or focussed on any one aspect or any one thing, but I’ve felt a pressure to represent myself as a person who is always one way or another – never a combination of many things.

Also, this. Wow.. I wish I could write something this eloquent, really. But you’ve hit the nail on the head for so many aspects, and I’m understanding why you needed time away to reflect. Whilst attention is good, sometimes its hard to be judged when I tweet about boys, but then oh, wait, I can tweet about world affairs, or oh! I know about sports too. Sometimes it can be so limiting to try and think of entertaining 140 character things in order to be noticed, and to try to be TRUE, even though the dreaded ‘unfollowing’ can occur.

Anyway, I’m not sure if my commenting will have an ‘end’ point or anything, I just want to say this post, well.. everything you’ve reflected on, I relate to immensely. Each time I try to take a couple of days away from Twitter, well its been good but at the same time, then I feel juvenile for thinking that anyone would even notice I’m not there. Or maybe its even more attention seeking to say, I’m taking time away. Can’t win!

Thankyou for sharing, Tracey.
Kimberley´s last blog ..Mouth watering American icon coming to Australia..