Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Lonely amid the chatter
I have this blog. I'm on Facebook. As of last week, I am on Twitter too. Yet I feel more isolated than ever. I have friends I have not spoken to in months, years even. I never invite people over, other than my in-laws. The house is too messy for visitors, and I never have the time or energy to fix that. Maybe I would have more time to get my life in order if I quit all these Internet vicarious living platforms.
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I have felt this way from time to time too Ingrid. I think we tend to isolate ourselves from others when life is hard. The messy house is just another symptom of too little time, too much stress, and not feeling up for it. The best medicine is reaching out, here, there or anywhere but it can be hard to do. Just know that you are not alone, there are lots of people who care about you. This tough time too shall pass. I promise! XOXO
ReplyDeleteI quit blogging when I just felt like I didn't need to anymore and was only continuing because my long-term readers expected it as a way to keep up with my life. That was when I turned to Twitter. (I'm the Rosa Amarilla who is following you, by the way. :) ) I can make quick posts that let them see what's going on, but I don't feel compelled to write long posts that go into detail anymore. If they want to know more than 140 characters tells them, they can call or email me. But it also keeps me from feeling obligated to send a lot of emails or make a lot of calls every few days.
ReplyDeleteI have a MySpace account, but I only check it about once a week. It's mostly for advertising my Zazzle gallery and being able to see the pictures my sister takes of her kids. People who are my friends on MySpace know that Twitter is a better way to find out what's going on with me.
The only other social networking site I pay attention to is Ravelry. It's for people who knit and crochet, and no one has ever expected me to be super-active there. After all, I couldn't be crocheting anything if I was constantly making posts to the site. I have a deviantART account that gets updated when I have art to post. I've never participated on their forums, or any of the other socializing they offer.
Simply condensing the socializing can really help. For several years, any site I belonged to that offered journals and messaging showed on my profile that I had a blog. That meant people knew how to find me, but I was doing my socializing from one main place. I pretty much do the same thing now, except it's my Twitter page that I link to.
Kelly, I did not know that was you. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI have a MySpace account. I never go there. I go to Facebook because I have lots of high school and coworkers/excoworkers on my friends list, plus family. And I like I can post/share articles and other things that catch my fancy.
Twitter's OK so far, although it is alarming how many people are in it trying to make a buck, just like regular blogging. I can't keep up with the stream, and I don't always know what to post. What I like the most is I am communicating in English and Spanish. I have found a lot of Puerto Ricans in twitter.