Re-learning old habits
Blogging used to be so easy!
I recall nights of fevered typing on my old Mac clamshell (the ones that looked like a UFO) believing that I had important things to share with the world. I partially blame my higher education for rewiring my brain to think more academically. I want to revise everything as I type it instead of letting ideas and words flow more organically.
I think a hefty amount of my hesitancy is also complacency. It’s much simpler to keep ones thoughts to oneself and not feel the challenge of crafting ideas into something coherent and possibly meaningful to someone else. Although to be perfectly honest, after finishing my thesis this year I really have enjoyed taking a break from the keyboard.
However, part of my training as an educator/counselor is constant self-reflection. Shouldn’t blogging be second nature by now? But in this new online social milleu of Twitter and Facebook it seems that brevity is favored over depth and immediate relevance over reflection. It sometimes seems like a battle to decide which program to log into and update every day. It actually reminds me of being a student again, lost in a swarm of overwhelming data and deadlines. It’s good to remember how that feels so I can stay in touch with the students I’m advising!
I think I know how you feel. Academia has a way of taking a person outside of ordinary life and the ways of writing that really connect with people. The longer you educate the worse it gets in my experience. It’s a re-learning process.
There is an argument to be made for brevity OR depth certainly; but is there not also an argument to be made for brevity AND depth simultaneously? It’s very difficult but that’s what I aim for haha.
Well, we are all students of life (we hope).
July 16th, 2009 at 9:54 am