If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people. -Virginia WoolfYesterday I read an interesting post by Lane at That man Quilts? He asked his readers to consider the question, am I showing the real me in my blog? He'd read the musings of Mrs. P at Quilting In My Pyjamas. She was wondering if blog personas are all they appear to be. Sarcastic Quilter echoed these thoughts on her blog. Her interpretation of Mrs. P's original post included this question, are you really you in blogland? Do you let only a part of you out or all of you or do you sanitize it to make it more politically correct or "likeable"?
After I read the posts by Lane and Sarcastic Quilter, I started thinking about who I am in my blog. Today I went to Mrs. P's post, the one that started it all and read what she had to say. Her opener is, Not sure where I'm going with this post. It's been rattling round inside my head for a week. I'm pretty sure I'm going to offend someone, somewhere (probably with my comment about religion down the page -paragraph 5 in case you want to skip straight there). When I got to paragraph five, I got a chuckle about what she had to say about religion.
Mrs. P was looking for bloggers with common interests. So she had been profile browsing which didn't help much so she started to browse blogs. She was looking for a place to fit in. Don't we all do that? Acceptance and love are fundamental human needs. Even in the virtual world this is true, because behind the pixels beings of flesh and blood reside. And those people want readers. They want to matter.
Cutting to the heart of the question, is my blog persona the real me? I'm not sure if 'yes' is the honest answer, but I think it comes closest to the truth. For the most part you get my public face. Let me put it like this. Some days I stay in my jammies past noon. Those are the days that I hope nobody knocks on my door. If someone does happen to came to the door, I reluctantly answer. But I wouldn't go out into the world without having showered, dressed, and put on some make-up. I try to put my best foot forward. That is the 'me' you see in my blog. I like to dress up my posts with pictures and quotes to illustrate the point I'm trying to make. I use my 'fancy vocabulary' here, more than I would in real life and attempt humor more than I do when conversing directly with other humans. I have center stage here. I can show my creative things without feeling like a show-off. I can brag about myself without feeling prideful. It is a 'safe' place for me to put myself out there because I never see the vast number of people who aren't interested in or don't like my work or me.
This blog started out as a place for sharing my creative endeavors. Now, it is more a place for sharing me. I post what I am interested in. I don't 'sanitize' (cussing on or off my blog just isn't me), or try to be politically correct (I post about my religion quite frequently, hoping that it is in a sharing-part-of-who-I-am kind of way and not in an in-your-face-shove-it-down-your-throat kind of way). My blog readers are not the biggest part in the equation. If they happen to like what I write, then that is great! I don't write to gain and please a readership. Yet, at the same time I LOVE that I have followers. I love that these people chose me.
Who is the real me? It is true that I have days that I stay in my pajamas until noon. Do I get frustrated and irritated by my kids and husband. Yes. Am I trying to hide this part of me? I don't think so. Even though my family sees my 'jammie' days, I still give them the best me I can. Family members deserve at least every courtesy we extend to perfect strangers. Of course, I'm definitely a work in progress, especially in that regard. But I think that you get the real me as much as my family or my friends get the real me.
i read all those too and it made me wonder. i first started my blog to show my crafty side and tried to keep my family off since it's a public blog. and than i got twitter thinking i could be the real me there. but sometimes i wonder 'if i say this outloud, who's going to complete freak out and be shocked that i said it' know what i mean?
ReplyDeletei will say, thanx to the internet, i am way more open and me in real life. if someone says or does something i don't like; i'm going to tell you. not stew about it after lol
i think my blog is mostly the real me. it's been fabulous reading other people's views
and that may have been the longest comment i have ever left on a blog post lol!
ReplyDeleteWell, I for one enjoy getting to know the real you (of course this is the only you I know) lol. You make me want to start my own blog. ;)
ReplyDeleteIn high school, I had the world's biggest crush on a boy named Ryan. He always liked to toy with my emotions because he was well aware of my crush. And then one day he finally told me that he wished I would just stop acting different around him. "You're not yourself around me". I though it then, and I still think it now--that's hogwash! I am who I am, and I am whomever I am acting at any random time. They are all part of ME. So, just because someone's getting part B of me, or part X of me, instead of part A of me, doesn't mean you're not getting the "real" me. I'm a whole alphabet, I am. So, to Ryan or anyone out there like him, today I'd say, "just spend a little more time with me if you want to know how my alphabet is really spelled". Elizabeth, I love your blog you as much as your in-person you. Are they exactly the same? Of course not! So?
ReplyDeleteLove ya!
A great post. Inspired by other great posts (or in my case a whole load of rambling!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog Elizabeth. I'm looking forward to seeing who you are over the coming months !